Post-war: 1918 to 1922

Question 1

In 1921, how many days were lost due to strike activity?

Answer 1

86 million days

Question 2

What were the war debts for Britain?

Answer 2

£9420 million

Question 3

When did government-control of mines end?

Answer 3

March 1921

Question 4

How did the Labour MP, Vernon Hartshorn, feel about the governments refusal to nationalize the coalmines any longer?

Answer 4

‘deceived, betrayed, duped’

Question 5

What was the impact of de-nationalization of the coal mines?

Answer 5

Mine owners cut wage and lengthened hours in order to compete with foreign coal imports. There was high unemployment so this left the coal miners with no other option. Caused a national miners’ strike to begin in April 1921

Question 6

What other industries backed the miners?

Answer 6

Railwaymen and transport workers - ‘triple alliance’

Question 7

Why was there a split between Asquith and Lloyd George?

Answer 7

Lloyd George understood the need for the State to take extensive powers over the economy, however Asquith found it hard to give up Liberal principals as he did not see the need for total mobilization and he disliked the idea of conscription.

Question 8

What debate in 1918 further caused divisions in the Liberal Party?

Answer 8

The Maurice Debate in February 1918 as it was exposed that the government had lied about the strength of the British army in France 1918. This came at a time when it seemed the German forces were about to break the Allied lines.

Question 9

What were the traditional Liberal beliefs that were challenged due to war?

Answer 9

• ‘laissez faire’ (nationalization occurred during the war)
• Free trade
• Balanced budgets (which was abandoned in the war)
• Limited State Intervention (DORA)
• Freedom of the individual (conscription in 1916)

Question 10

How was the relationship between Bonar law and Lloyd George?

Answer 10

They worked well together, described as by Baldwin (conservative) ‘the most perfect partnership in political history’

Question 11

What was Lloyd George known as after the war?

Answer 11

‘The man who won the war’

Question 12

Why was Bonar Law happy to continue with the Coalition government?

Answer 12

He realized Lloyd George’s popularity and believed that the coalition government would help preserve unity in the country

Question 13

What was the purpose of the Coalition government?

Answer 13

• Prevent any dangerous move to socialism
• Allow combining of talents
• Help restore ‘normality’
• During the war it was patriotic and effective

Question 14

In the election , what did people who voted for Bonar Law and Lloyd George (The Coalition Government) receive?

Answer 14

A ‘coupon’ - a certificate signed by both men hence the nickname ‘the coupon election’ in 1918

Question 15

How many seats did the Conservatives win in the ‘coupon election’ in 1918 and why?

Answer 15

332 seats
Due to the nationalistic mood in the country as the Conservatives had whole heartedly supported the war and this won them substantial support among service men and their families
Also benefitted from the extension of the franchise

Question 16

Why was Lloyd George in a weak position in the post-war Coalition government?

Answer 16

• His power rested on his former political enemies
• ‘Prisoner of the Tories’
• LG had no strong political base of his own
• He was a leader of one-wing of a divided party that was in decline
• LG still had his old radical instincts for social reform which were impossible to fund after the war

Question 17

What reforms did LG’s government initially try and introduce?

Answer 17

• 1918 Education Act - raised the school leaving age to 14 and improved teachers salaries
• Addison’s Housing Act of 1919 - 170,000 houses were built to ensure a ‘decent standard of living’
• 1920 unemployment Act was extended to cover an additional 12 million workers
• The Agricultural Act in 1920 - maintained war time guarantee prices for wheat and oats.

Question 18

Give some key problems for Lloyd George in 1918 immediately after the war

Answer 18

1. Competition from the rising economic power of Germany and the US
2. Increasing growth of trade unions (8 million post-war)
3. Divisions over Home Rule for Ireland
4. Problem of demobilizing 5 million men
5. Tough negotiations for the post-war settlement

Question 19

Give some key problems for Lloyd George in 1922

Answer 19

1. Economic depression - cuts in government spending limited any reconstruction or reforms
2. Addison left in March 1921
3. Increase trade union activity and industrial disruption
4. Anglo-Irish war in Ireland
5. Bonar Law resigned due to ill-health > one of LG’s closest allies to the Conservatives

Question 20

What other factors led to the fall of Lloyd George?

Answer 20

1. Chanak affair - failure to consult his coalition partners
2. Honours Scandal - selling peerages to finance his party
3. Conservative success in the Newport by-election
4. The Carlton Club meeting

Question 21

What did the conservatives realise in the Newport by-election?

Answer 21

They realised they had enough support to break away from LG coalition and win power for themselves

Question 22

What two Conservative leaders spoke against Lloyd George at the Carlton Club meeting in 1922?

Answer 22

Baldwin and Bonar law

Question 23

What was the result in the November 1922 election?

Answer 23

Conservatives won with 330 seats, Labour with 142 seats and the Lloyd George & Asquithian Liberals won 116 seats between them > proved the decline of the Liberals

Question 24

What was ‘Geddes Axe’?

Answer 24

The austerity cuts that caused housing subsides to be withdrawn, £46.5 million worth of cuts in the armed series and £18.2 million cuts from Education

Question 25

Recession is…

Answer 25

a slowdown in economic activity which can lead to businesses closing down and thus more unemployment

Question 26

When and why was the Sankey Commission set up?

Answer 26

1919 and to investigate wages and conditions in the mines

Question 27

What did the Sankey Commission reveal and what recommendations did they give to the government?

Answer 27

• Revealed the poor living conditions of many miners and their families and the chaotic structure of industry
• Recommendations: wages rises and a shorter working day which were agreed by the government.
• Nationalization was not agreed however

Question 28

When was the establishment of the Communist party of Great Britain?

Answer 28

1920

Question 29

What happened in Clydeside in Glasgow in 1919?

Answer 29

90,000 demonstrators filled George Square demanding the 40-hour week and raised the socialist red flag. The fear of revolution led tot he government ending troops and tanks.