National security Flashcards
Topic sentence
Additionally, historians argue that national efficiency was the most important reason for the passing of Liberal Reforms.
Evidence 1
The Boer War broke out in 1899 and when it ended, the horrifying nature of state health of the population was revealed. For example out of ten thousands of volunteers who rushed to fight for King and country, 25% of the urban make population had to be rejected on medical grounds.
Analysis 1
This led to the passing of Liberal reforms because this evidence made Britain look weak at a time when other countries such as Germany were building up their empire.
Evidence 2
Royal Commission on physical training in Scotland (1903) investigated the physical condition of children in Scotland by comparing the height and weight of children in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Boston (USA) and Britain as a whole.
Analysis 2
This lead to the passing of Liberal reforms as the survey discovered that children in Edinburgh and Glasgow were severely underweight + height compared to the rest of Britain. As a result of this, education authorities provided school meals in return for voluntary bodies as they were worried about looking weak.
Counter analysis
However many historians have challenged this view that politicians had any genuine concern for the welfare of the poor and instead wanted to pass reforms for political advantage – such as Churchill making a name for himself or the liberal party wanting to gain working class votes over Labour
Evaluation
Clearly, such fears over national security and national efficiency reinforced the concerns that had already been generated by Booth and Rowntree’s surveys and put even more pressure on the Liberals to pass reform as their country couldnt look weak. Therefore, historian Sydney Wood is correct when he argues, “Those who believed it was morally wrong to allow widespread poverty to exist in Britain were therefore joined by others who saw the scale of poverty as weakening Britain’s place in the
world.”
