6. Economic issues 1914-22 Flashcards
How many shells had been produced by 1915? How had this changed in 1918?
Two million in 1915, 187 million by 1918
What demands became huge during the war?
- Providing transport
- Providing food
- Ensuring adequate supply of coal
- Vast quantities of war materials to itself and its allies
What were the effects of the huge demand of war on the British economy?
- Pushed up prices
- Created shortages of materials AND workers
What was the Neuve Chapelle offensive blamed on? When was it?
- 1915
- Blamed on shell shortage
What did Lloyd George successfully campaign for in 1915?
- Ministry of Munitions to oversee purchase, production, supply of all war materials
- He headed this himself
What industries came under state control from DORA?
Railways, docks, coal mines, etc.
What did the Ministry of Munitions do?
- Set up a central purchasing system to buy essential war materials
- Organised British science to help the war effort
- Encouraged development of new weapons, eg. tank
- Built its own national factories and encouraged others to switch from peacetime to war production
What did the Ministry of Munitions control?
- Prices
- Wages
- Profits
- Rationing
- 90% of all imports
How many factories did the Ministry of Munitions control directly by 1918? How many others were supervised by the ministry?
- 250
- 20,000
How did the state alter daily life in Britain?
- Altered the clocks with BST
- Reduced strength of alcoholic drinks
- Limited opening hours for pubs
Why was a Department of Food Production set up?
- To increase the amount of home grown food
- Huge armies assembled had to be fed, but this was difficult because of a shortage of labour and U-boats sinking ships
What did the Department of Food Production implement?
- Gov subsidised farmers to plough wasteland
- Allocated scarce fertilisers
- Supplied prisoners of war to work the land
- Encouraged women to volunteer for farm work
