Britain- British politics 1918-29 General timeline and Fall of DLG

Question 1

When was the coupon election?

Answer 1

December 1918

Question 2

When was the ToV?

Answer 2

June 1919

Question 3

When was the Unemployment Insurance Act?

Answer 3

December 1920

Question 4

When was Government of Ireland Act

Answer 4

December 1920

Question 5

When was the Treaty of London

Answer 5

December 1921

Question 6

When was the Geddes Axe?

Answer 6

February 1922

Question 7

When was the fall of the coalition government (Lloyd-George’s)

Answer 7

October 1922

Question 8

When was the general election after the fall of LG’s coalition and who won?

Answer 8

November 1922
Conservatives- Bonar Law
Up until 1923- Bonar Law becomes ill and has to step down

Question 9

Who takes over government in December 1923 and for how long?

Answer 9

Labour
Minority government with Ramsay MacDonald
9 months in government

Question 10

When was the general election after the Labour party’s first and minority government?

Answer 10

October 1924
Conservatives
Baldwin

Question 11

When did Churchill reinstate the Gold Standard

Answer 11

April 1925

Question 12

When was the Locarno pact?

Answer 12

December 1925

Question 13

When was the ‘Flapper Act’?

Answer 13

March 1928

Question 14

When was the Kellog-Briand Act?

Answer 14

August 1928- February 1929

Question 15

When was the Local Government Act?

Answer 15

March 1929

Question 16

When was the general election that Labour won?

Answer 16

May 1929

Question 17

Why did the conservatives and DLG decide to continue their coalition?

Answer 17

• DLG had gained a great name and prestige
• Conservatives depended a lot on DLG as a leader- Bonar Law was a lot less dynamic and coservative policies didn’t enthuse as much of the electorate.
• Both concerned about the rising Labour party
• After his wartime disagreements it would have been hard for DLG to reunite with Asquith, so the coalition was his best option in order to stay in power

Question 18

How many coalition conservatives were there in comparison to Liberals after the coupon election

Answer 18

Coalition conservatives- 332
Coalition liberals- 127
(conservatives outnumbering Liberals almost 3 to 1)

Question 19

What other party won lots of seats but then set up their own Parliament that Britain didn’t accept?

Answer 19

Sinn Fein- 73
Refused to take up their seats and set up the Irish Parliament

Question 20

Why did the coalition win?

Answer 20

• DLG’s personal popularity
• Coalition’s success in the war and responses to domestic issues (1918 enfranchisement of more men and women over 30)
• DLG’s promises of a ‘land fit for heroes’ and harsh punishments or Germany
• Coalition had dynamic ministers in comparison to Asquith who had shown himself to be an inadequate wartime leader
• Some conservative ministers were helped that arrangements for working-class men to vote had not all come into place by the time of the election
• Non-coalition candidates were divided which resulted in them not gaining lots of seats

Question 21

What were te consequences of the coupon election?

Answer 21

• DLG’s coalition was very dependent on Conservative support
• Over 260 new MPs with industrialists and businessmen with the conservatives in opposition to Labour’s trade unionists- meaning that the commons represented different economic interests for Britain far more than previously
• Some new MPs who came from business backgrounds were more difficult to control- described as ‘hard-faced men who looked as if they had done well out of the war.’ They didn’t care for older more traditional ideas of how politics should be run.
• Irish Sinn Fein MPs refused to go to Westminster in order to set up their own Irish Parliament
• The Liberal party’s split resulted in its complete decline from power with Labour rising as the new opposition party

Question 22

In what ways did Britain do well out of WW1?

Answer 22

1. Lower losses of men than other countries
2. Collapse of Austrian and Russian empires had resulted in a growth of the British empire with gains in the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific
3. No serious mutinies unlike French army
4. Huge growth in the army
5. No longer a threat from Germany
6. Entry of USA into the war had proved the power of the Anglo-Saxon alliance

Question 23

In what ways did Britain not do so well out of WW1?

Answer 23

• Pre-war problems became very prominent after the joy of victory died down
• Fears of civil war breaking out in Ireland
• Industrial unrest
• Declining heavy industries
• Expanded empire was hard to manage with lots of internal unrest
• Dominions were increasingly unwilling to be drawn into policies
• Wounded or disabled soldiers and widows, mass mourning

Question 24

Why was Lloyd-George criticised due to his over-involvement in international affairs?

Answer 24

It distracted him from pressing domestic issues

Question 25

What conflicting pressures was DLG facing at Versailles in 1919?

Answer 25

1. The conservatives in the coalition pressuring for harsh terms on German
2. Wilson’s more liberal outlook on Germany and wanting the German economy to remain stable

Question 26

What British aims were met at Versailles in 1919?

Answer 26

1. Restrictions put on the future German fleet, most of the old fleet destroyed
2. German colonies were ruled under ‘mandates’ by France and Britain. Britain gained control over: part of Togoland and the Cameroons, German East Africa, German South West Africa (Namibia), Iraq, Transjordan, Palestine, German Pacific Islands (administered by Australia and Newzealand).

Question 27

What problems were there with the new mandates after WW1?

Answer 27

1. Unrest in Iraq- fighting ‘rebels’
2. Balfour Declaration- to establish a Jewish state in Palestine ‘without’ violating the religious and civil rights of the people that live there → Tensions rapidly increased.
3. Acquisition of German Kiachow and the Pacific Islands north of the Equator to Japan encouraged Japanese nationalism

Question 28

How were countries dissatisfied with the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 28

France → believed Germany hadn’t been treated harshly enough
Germany → Not totally weakened but struggling enough to create nationalist resentment

Question 29

What problems were there in the League for Britain?

Answer 29

• it was unable to enforce policy
• Britain wanted to disarm quickly after the war and not invest its army into maintaining peace in Europe when it already was thinly spread across the empire
• Britain’s predominent responsibility in the League prevented it from pursuing an independant and beneficial foreign policy

Question 30

What was the Chanak crisis and when was it?

Answer 30

1920
Mustapha Kemal lead a nationalist movement to regain land lost in the treaty of Sevres signed by the old Sultanate.

Question 31

What did MPs dislike about DLG’s foreign policy?

Answer 31

1. Too friendly with France
2. Too personally close with the Greek PM -> Locarno
3. Handling of Chanak crisis in 1922- most people were anti-war and DLG just seemed to be pulling Britain into another one

Question 32

What were the post-WW1 settlements with Japan?

Answer 32

• Britain was pressured by US concerns over rising power in Japan to abandon the 1902 alliance
• US pressured Britain into signing a new agreement over naval powers at the Washington Conference- in this Japan’s navy would be limited in comparison to the British and US navies by a ratio of 3-5-5. This was a humiliation for Japan and demonstrated Britain’s lack of power when faced with US demands

Question 33

How did the Bolshevik revolution impact British foreign policy at the end of WW1?

Answer 33

1. Britain didn’t really care whether the Tsar was in power or not- to them it was more important that Russia stayed within the war
2. The Bolshevik’s withdrawl from WW1 and execution of the Tsar caused distrust and anger at the new regime
3. Churchill was pushing for intervention- DLG sent forces to Murmansk in 1919 but decided to withdraw after concluding that the anti-communists stood little chance of winning

Question 34

What of Lloyd-George’s foreign policy was problematic (basically list out all the events in his foreign policy at this point)

Answer 34

1. Britain was unable to prevent France from invading the Ruhr in 1923 to enforce reparations. Consequently this worsened international relations in Europe
2. Britain was forced to abandon the 1902 alliance with Japan through US pressure and then gaining no guarantees on pacific security
3. Britain was unable to overthrow the Bolsheviks- limited intervention showed weakness and lack of descision making
4. Talk of supporting the Greeks in maintaining Sevres but then compensating with Lousanne which returned Smyrna to Turkey and allowed militarisation of the straits- showed weakness
5. Peace treaties increased Britain’s defence obligations (mandates)
6. DLG’s foreign policy was conducted on a too personal level and he acted more like a president than a prime minister
7. Rising economic problems at home resulted in a decreasing expenditure on defence and therefore made it harder to pursue a strong foreign policy

Question 35

In what ways was DLG’s foreign policy more positive?

Answer 35

1. It refelcted the understanding that the US was gaining more power especially in the pacific
2. DLG took a balanced approach with the ToV and Britain was overall most satisfied with the settlements