Post Ww1 Tade And Commece Flashcards
How was sea travel affected during ww2
German u-boats were attacking British sea travel in start of the war. Britain lost 11.7m tons of shipping in the war and 54% of the country’s merchant fleet strength at start of the war
What happened to major colonies in se Asia
Japan invaded, cutting off trade and supply , eg rubber from Malaysia
What happened to exports during ww2
Factories prioritised weapons over exports
How did Britain raise revenue during ww2
Sold 1/3 of biritish assets in overseas investment
Borrowed money from USA in form of lend lease, emerged with large debts
Colonial reserves held in Britain (sterling balances) were used to help Britain pay for war effort
What was the role of John Maynard Keynes near end of war
Negotiated a massive loan (900m) from USA although conditions involved sterling being freely exchanged into dollars. This was after America withdrew Lend Lease
What happened to British exports
Value to the world dropped largely 1913-34, exports to the empire also dropped but not as much
Sports within the empire increased
Imports from the world favoured up until 1931
Who argued for imperial preference after Great Depression
Lord Beaverbook
Aims of otowa conference
Restore imperial preference after fall of gold standard
Agreements at otowa conference
British introduced a 10% tax on all imports but the crown colonies were exempt
Agreed to abandon free trade. British dominions formed self - contained trading units, protected by high tariffs against foreign competition
Result of otowa conference 1932
Provided a means In which the dominions could work together through the depression
Helped the dominions more than the British, dominions prioritised themselves over imperial links, by 1938 50% of imperial exports was with each other
Australia / No more reliant on imperial preference than ever, relied on it for food exports
Crown colonies ( Burma, Malaya eg :) rly on food/tin exports which ruled frustration with British rule
What was sterling crisis of Spring 1947
Free convertibility allowed Bank of England to exchange sterling to dollars at a fixed rate
US dollar loan was supposed to build sufficient reserves to allow this
6 weeks in the Uk ran out of dollars showing how weak the economy was. This was largely because of large imperial demands abroad
Aftermath of sterling crisis
Uk had to reduce value of it’s own currency to deal with economic difficulties caused by the war and trade imbalances
Adopted a dual policy - imperial control lessened in places cost outweigh the benefits ( India)
Colonial development focus to those seeming beneficial (Malaysa)
Colonial development and welfare act
1st one 1940
Wrote off some colonial debts
Provided colonial grants or loans of up to £5 a year
A further colonial development and welfare act of 1945 :
Increased aid available to colonies to £120m over 10 years
Required each colony to show a 10year plan on how it would be used
Why was Malaya significant after war
Large rubber and tin industry making it significant in international markets. Received large government investment hoping it would earn large amounts of foreign currency, partly because there was a wartime shortage of rubber in USA - these raw materials helped payback loans to USA
How else did Britain gain dollars
Diamonds from SA
Cocoa from Africa
