1918- 1939 (ECO + SOCIAL) Flashcards
1919 the effects of war
745,000 Britains were killed 9% of all men under 45
1.6 million were wounded
The balence of females in Britain Rose in 1911 595 per thousand of the population to in 1921 638 per thousand
1919 25% of government income was spent on interest payments
Serious decline in housing due to fewer being built but demand increased this gave rise to the Holmes fit For Heroes campaign
Overinvestment in Staple Industries: iron, Steel, ships, coal and textiles
was no longer required in peacetime these Industries lost their pre-war primacy and enter the period of slow decline
The 1918 total government expenditure was over 50% of GNP
Unemployment rose from 300,000 over 1 million by 1920
in June 1921 2 million people were unemployed
The War sped up the Liberal parties decline and benefited the Labour Party greatly there were no more liberal governments in the 20th century and labor replaced him as the main political opposition to the Conservative Party
Lloyd George Coalition [1916-1922]
The representation of the people act 1918 + changes to voting system
This acts acknowledges the sacrifices made by the people of Britain and increases the electorate from 7 million to 21 million
this was done by:
Universal male suffrage over the age of 21 with a 6 month residency qualification
All women over 30 given the vote if they met the correct property qualifications or were wives to husbands who owned property
Men who had served in the war could vote age 19 but conscientious objectors were banned from voting for five years
+ changes to voting system
Polling now took place on 1 day
The amount of financial expenditure permitted per candidate was reduced
A redistribution of seats dividing the country into single member constituencies
increasing the representation in industrial cities
creating a predominantly working-class constituencies
The last two factors severely helps the Labour Party increased their representation in the parliament of 707 MPs
Coupon election dec 1918
This was done to continue the wartime coalition into peace time where Lloyd George and Bona law sent each other’s candidates letters of support which would ridicued by Asquith as a “coupon”
Lloyd George got to stay in power and have prestige of winning the war
while the Conservatives got to use him as a scapegoat so that if their policies failed they could blame it on him
as Lloyd George was 100% dependent on the conservative figures to stay in power
so if nessasary they could get rid of him
He also represented the economic interests of the House of Commons
Lloyd George was also popular so keeping him arround helped improve the coalitions popularity
In the December 1918 general election
the people who were allowed to now vote due to representation of the people act 1918
could not vote until the next election
The coalition government one by a landslide of 478 seats
while asquiths liberals got 28 seats
labour got 63 seats
sinn fein got 73 seats
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Foreign policy after WW1
Treaty of Versailles +
League of Nations +
Chanak Crisis -
Russian Revolution -
The Treaty of Versailles
This was to punish the Germans for ww1 but not to be too harsh to disrupt future relations with them
US President Wilson wanted to not punish the Germans very harshly (thought treaty too harsh)
whereas the torys and the French wanted them to be punished very harshly
therefore he had to impress both of them
this led to him not handling the Paris peace conference very well as he couldn’t really pleased both sides
Treaty was pop in britain for punishing the germans
The League of Nations on the 10/1/1920
The maintaining peace was very popular in Britain
However they also a policy of disarmament after a war
but the League of Nations members have to be ready to fight
But to keep peace and fight means to have weapons which is against disarmament
and therefore a difficult situation
This was pop in Britain as they wanted to keep peace
Chanak crisis
Turkey attacked Greece in 1922 so British troops were sent to chanak to prevent Turkey from militarizing the region
LG wanted war
when his party and the public mood wanted peace this misjudgment decreased his popularity
This was unpopular in Britain as LG almost started another war
which they didnt want
The 1917 Russian Revolution
Britain sent diplomats do peace with the new Russia
But the British Public was not ready to accept it and there was a fear of a revolt and socialism in britain
this was unpopular in britain due to a fear of a socialist uprising and revolt
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Fisher’s Education Act 1918
This raised the school leaving age from 12 to 14 with a local authority option of 15
An increase in grants for more secondary schools be built and more scholarships to grammar schools
£8 million grant given to ex-servicemen to attend University
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Maternity and child welfare act 1918
Increased maternity benefits
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Old age pensions act 1919
Increase the amount of benefits from the 1908 scheme
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Unemployment act 1920
Extends the earliest system (1911) by covering the majority of workers to claim for up to 15 weeks
(increase the amount of ppl who can claim the benifits for up to 15 weeks)
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
National Insurance act 1919
(health)
Compulsory Health insurance was extended to those earning up to £250 per year
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Unemployment insurance 1921
(transitional payments)
After 26 weeks of payments under the insurance scheme set up in 1911 and extended in 1920
There would be “transitional payments”
or as they were known as “the dole”
For people receiving unemployment pay for sickness
To keep unemployed workers from going into the workhouses
[ after 26 weeks of unemployment pay there was more unemployment pay (transitional payments) to keep unemployed people from going into workhouses]
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Unemployment dependencies act 1921
Gave benefits to the families of unemployed workers
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Addison’s Housing Act 1919
(important one)
More low rent council houses would be built to help with the housing shortage
there would be 70,000 houses built per year
with subsides of £260 a house were given by the government to pay for them
213,000 in total were built
400,000 homes were needed tho
They did this as they couldn’t expect healthy people to live in substandard housing
The exchecker pay for the houses and the rents were raised and it also acted as slum clearance
The act was a success but it was not the homes for Heroes that Were Promised by LG
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Coal mines act 1919
A 7-hour day for miners
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Agriculture act 1920
Guaranteed prices for Farmers
Labourers wages were protected
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Economic problems by 1922 summary
Britain was broke
they were in debt
half of them were unemployed
most the Industries have become denationalised
the budget had become cut
they were less trades
many men died
there was a small baby boom
some women didn’t want to go back to work
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Geddes Axe 1922
Sir Eric Geddes chaired a committee in Aug 1921
in Feb 1922 their 3 reports on the economy were published
It was recommended that the government cut £87 million in spending to help the debt recover
The government only could 53 million which was 10% of their total spending this including:
Denationalising the railways into four big companies
increasing the numbers of hours that miners worked
reducing police sallarys
Scrapping fisher’s Education Act 1918
and Addison’s Housing Act 1919 among others
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Black and tans
ex soldiers given the nickname due to the colour of their uniform sent you by Lloyd George to fight the IRA they were seen as extreme and violence
for example in 1920 they burnt down large parts of the city of Cork
Although without reason forces it may have caused a revolution that Britain may not have been prepared to deal with after just coming out of ww1
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
Government of Ireland act 1920
LG passed this to partition the North (the unionists and protestants Ulster)
from the South which was mainly nationalist and Catholics
sinn fein rejected it as they wanted complete independence
however the Ulster did set up his own Parliament for the six Counties near Belfast
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
The Anglo Irish Treaty
+ blame LG
Sinn fein (michael collins) signed a second treaty to make ireland a free state and the North a small British territory therefore Ireland was divided
however this was very unpopular with many sinn fein members
and collins was murdered for signing the Treaty
And replaced by De Valera
This led to a civil war in Southern Ireland between those who supported the Treaty and those who didn’t
This treaty was confirmed by the London agreement
LG was blamed for:
using the black and tans
encouraging a civil war
handling over most of Ireland starting at the decline of the empire (conservitists and unionists)
and dividing Ireland
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
The Downfall of Lloyd George
Stage 1: resentment
Dislike among Conservatives over Lloyd George grew
He had begun to be viewed as becoming more dictatorial and out of touch of public oppinion
Many conservative MPs didn’t trust him and felt he liked moral and political principles
and he was known to have a wife and a mistress and it was said that he was unfaithful to both of them
Unconservative like policies such as the Handling of Ireland and the chanak crisis he became extremely unpopular
and some viewed him as a Tory puppet
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
The downfall of Lloyd George
Stage 2: Honours Scandal 1922
This was a corrupt policy led by Lloyd George as traded patronage such as titles for cash
He was accused of raising funds for his party through the sales of peerages
and using the Honor system in attempt to avoid newspaper criticism
This led to the honours act of 1925
It also led to a lot of criticism from conservative and the general population who knew about it
£10,000 for knight Hood
£40,000 baronetcy
David Lloyd George coalition [1916-1922]
The downfall of Lloyd George
Stage 3: The Carlton Club meeting 1922
In 1922 at a by-election in Newport and independent conservative beat a coalition liberal and therefore it was deemed that it was political suicide to be associated with Lloyd George
1921 bonar law retired as leader of the conservators due to ill health and was replaced by Austin Chamberlain
Who was out of touch with his back benches and the rest of his party he was also attached to Lloyd George
Have to realising this discontent among the backbenchers Chamberlain agreed with Lloyd George to an immediate election in October 1922 as a coalition
This decision was taken without Consulting the party
So the back benches demanded a Party meeting, this was held on the 19th of October 1922 at the Carlton club at this meeting these back benches of the Conservatives had decided that they wanted the party to stand without LG at the next election
At the meeting a surprise guest appearance by bonar law!
he gave a speech against a continuation of the Coalition
the vote
187:87
Lloyd George was forced to resign and Bonar law became the Prime Minister
Bonar law [1922-1923]
nov 1922 election
The conservators had won the election with 345 seats
with labour coming in second with 142 seats
and the liberals being divided with
Lloyd George’s liberals being 62 seats
and asquith’s liberals having 54 seats
Yay now Bona law can be Prime Minister for a very long time oh no he spent seven office and died in October 1923
and he hadn’t said anything about making a successor
Although his secretary reported that he had said that he should advise the king to send for Baldwin
however the expected choice for the new leader was going to be the Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon
But I didn’t let him because he was on the House of Lords
Bonar law [1922-23] and Stanley Baldwin [1923-24]
problems with the gov
-There was a rising labour popularity as between 1918 and 1922 their seats had doubled meaning that the traditional two party Force between the Conservatives and the liberals now had a third party to compete with
- Churchill Called Bonar laws cabinets as a government of the 2nd XI which was a cricket reference for the second team
This was due to most of the cabinet ministers were new and unfamiliar to the public - also there were seven members of The House of Lords which made this a very aristocratic cabinet
- And very controversial as the Parliament Act in 1911 was meant to reduce the house of Lord’s powers however by being in the Cabinets they therefore have a lot of power
- all of the popular conservatives that would have been on the cabinet
- including Austin Chamberlain and Balfour had rejected the carlton club decision and therefore there were not allowed to join Bonar law’s cabinets
- Policies favoured the lower middle class (such as nevile chamberlins housing act) which caused resentment in the working class
- has foreign secretary cousin replaced for Treaty of lausanne which the Turkish hates it with the Treaty of sèvres
- relationships with France deteriorated due to their invasion of the ruhr causing tension and resentment in the new German weimar Republic
- had to pay debts to USA for 62 years
- Bonar Law died of throat cancer in 1923
- the King george V show Stanley Baldwin to be the new prime minister because Lord curzon was a member of the House of Lords
- Stanley bowling decided that they should do tariff reform (to reinforce the economy) instead of free trade this saved from having another argument like in 1906 which made them lose the election
- the general election in December 1923 was fought over the issue of protection free trade was taken up again by the liberals who had reunited behind Asquith and some free trade Conservatives especially in Lancashire
-Baldwin head this election in 1923 to settle the issue of tarif reform as if he had won the election then he would have the mandate and backing to introduce it
Baldwin [1923-24]
1923 election on tarriff reform
-The conservators “won” with 258 seats and 38.1% of the votes
-with labor coming second with 35% of votes and 191 seats
- libs got 29.6% and 158 seats
- however due to the results being very close there was no clear winner as it was not a significant majority
This situation is known as a Hung Parliament - Baldwin decides to let labour being charge of the government
This was similar to balfour’s tactic in 1906 where he let the liberals run the governments so when they fail they could come back in and save the day and become very popular
Unlike Balfour’s 1906 version however Baldwin’s version worked
The decline of the Liberal Party by 1924
- during the war the Liberal Party had split between the supporters of asquith and Lloyd George [ST]
- it had never fully recovered from this and never held office on its own ever again [ST]
-Liberal value such as freedom of the individual have become compromised by government measures during the war for example conscription [LT]
-before 1914 the party had always been able to rely on parliamentary support of the Irish nationalists which were no longer available after sinn fein Boycotted the House of Commons in 1922 [ST]
- the had become unpopular and labour party had become a alternative to the Conservative Party instead of the liberals being the alternative [ST]/[LT]
- they no longer represented major economic interests in 20th century Britain [LT]
The Rise of the Labour Party by 1924
- the working class voters defected from the Liberal Party once they split up and lost confidencebin them, to the more radical trade union financed Labour Party
- it’s strong trade union links provided with a sound financial base
- the latest party had a good record as after initial discord
-it did play a major role in The patriotic war efforts - it’s senior politicians gained experience as Cabinet Ministers during the war
- it’s improved it’s constituency organization during the war and in 1918 adopted the formal constitution setting out its program and its commitment to socialism
- due to the representation of the people act 1918 now allowing for the working class to vote they had a much wider appeal as the trade unions would directly linked to the Labour Party
MacDonald [1924-1924]
The Red Scare
The prospect of the Labour government was met by Panic by the British people
as the Russian Revolution still fresh in their minds and labour was associated with communism
some people believe that labor would confiscate their lives and end the Empire and alter the British way of life beyond recognition
MacDonald [1924-1924]
dependency on liberals
Due to the Labour government only having 191 seats which was insufficient to defeat the torys they were dependent on the liberals for survival
this limited their ability to introduce any radical domestic legislation and they had to compromise on laws
MacDonald [1924-1924]
The cabinet
-MacDonald was both prime minister and Foreign Secretary
-Snowden was Chancellor
-Henderson was at the Home Office
-John Wheatley was the Minister of health and the only representative of the radical wing of the party
- other than these the rest of the cabinet lacked experience
-therefore may have been unable to successfully and efficiently deal with the problems at the time such as unemployment
MacDonald [1924-1924]
Social reform
- old age pension act and the unemployment benefits were raised
- state scholarships to universities were Revived
among the wheatley’s housing act
MacDonald [1924-1924]
Wheatley’s Housing Act 1924
Provided government aid in building council houses
521,000 Council houses were built
the houses to rent would directly benefit the working class
MacDonald [1924-1924]
Trade unions relations
Unemployment in 1924 led to poor industrial relations during the lifetime MacDonald’s government
for example there was a national Dock striking February 1924
MacDonald [1924-1924]
Relations with the independent Labour Party
This was the group within the party but outside of Parliament they had moved furthers for left wing and I demanded more radical social measures which would end inequality exploitation and Injustice more quickly
However due to the dependencies on the liberals these radical reforms would not be possible has the liberals would not support them and therefore they would never be passed
MacDonald [1924-1924]
Foreign policy
Relations with France improved
MD Accepted the dawn’s plan which ease the German reparation payments and arranged a US loan
MD Attended League of Nations meeting in September 1924 and participated in the move towards collective security
MacDonald [1924-1924]
Zinoviev letter 1924
A forged letter from zinoviev (chairman of the communist international) urging the British Communist Party to support labour
this cause panic and people created conspiracys on a communist take over
This letter was made public of the labour’s main downfall but before the election
therefore is not a very strong point on why they lost the election
The Daily Mail stated that this letter caused the loss of 40 labour seats
zinoviev later wrote two days after the letter was made public, confirming that it was a forgery as he was on holiday when it was supposedly wrote so he couldn’t have written it
MacDonald [1924-1924]
Cambell case and the downfall of the Labour Gov
The left wing newspaper writer Campbell wrote encouraging over 1700 soldiers to refuse to act against striking workers
St Patrick Hastings took him to court on the basis of intent of mutiny
the Prosecution was suddenly withdrawn and labor was attacked for left-wing influence on the judicial system
This caused MacDonald to call for a vote of no confidence in himself to which he lost, as both the liberals and tories had voted against him
however before he lost he resigned, causing the Labour government to end
Baldwin [1924-1929]
oct general election 1924
The conservators one with 48% of the votes and 419 seats which is double the seats from the previous election in the end of 1923
the Labour Party came second with 33% of vote and 151 seats (191 > 151) this loss was not as significant as their votes had increased by a million
The Liberal Party however had 17.6% the votes with 40 seats these had heavily dropped from the 158 seats to 40 seats from the previous election 1923 this means that the votes had almost halfed and their popularity has therefore plummeted out of relevancy