source questions

Question 1

role of Scots on the western front

8k

Answer 1

• many Scottish people volunteered in large numbers at the start of the war
• Scottish soldiers were often used as shock troops in battle
• 35,000 Scottish soldiers took part in the battle of the loos in 1915
• Scots were important in the battle of the loos this was seen as the Scottish 15th division who actually were the captures of loos
• Scots won 5 Victoria crosses at the battle of the loos
• 1/3 of casualties at loos were Scots
• 51 Scottish battalions took part in the battle of the Somme in 1916
• 44 Scottish battalions took part in the battle of arras
• Douglas Haig a Scottish military commander and commander in chief, launches huge offensive against German lines in the battle of Somme which resulted in huge casualties but failed to break the deadlock or to win significant territory

Question 2

changing role of women

4k

Answer 2

• rent strikes led by Mary Barbour Agnes Dolan and Helen Crawford
• 25,000 households refused to pay rent
• these strikes prevented people from being evicted
• women peace crusade aimed to spread a “peoples peace
• women became more politically active
• women were employed in heavy munitions by 1918 31,500 women were employed in munitions
• “dilution of labour” this lead to women being allowed to work in more skilled jobs such as engineering
• jute industry in Dundee relied on women however they got 45% of the pay that men got
• by 1919 3,000 women had trained as doctors
• many women doctors set up in war zones in order to help the sick and wounded servicemen they set up camps in place like Serbia

Question 3

post war immigration

4k

Answer 3

• unemployment in Scottish hit industries like shipbuilding as foreign competition from abroad increased and domestic demand declined between 1921 and 1923 the tonnage of shipping built on the Clyde dropped from 510,000 to 170,000
• industries like jute also suffered this was due to foreign competition which lead to workers in Dundee being let off
• post war fishing declined due to the loss of hearing markets which lead to unemployment in the fishing industry
• coal production suffered due to cost of Scottish coal extraction compared to emerging producers in eastern Europe which contributed to unemployment
• by the 1920s full time agents to encourage emigration to Canada had offices in both Glasgow and inverses
• the salvation army encouraged emigration from Scotland they provided employment advice to women and young people
• quarries orphan home arranged the migration of children to Ontario Canada
• empire settlement act-meant that the government subsidised the cost of emigration if they agreed to work the land for a certain amount of time

Question 4

impact of war on politics

7k

Answer 4

support for conservatives
-some Scottish newspapers changed their aligence from the liberals to conservatives after the war
-conservatives benefited from support from organisations eg the church
-conservatives were well organised in Scotland with many female candidates and a good junior section
impact of the war on liberals
-liberal party in Scotland was split by attitudes to the war with some splitting to form the anti war union of democratic control
-split between Lloyd George supporting liberals and Asquith supporting liberals liberal party organisation suffered as a result of the split
growth of labour
-after 1918 the Irish vote in Scotland moved away from liberals to labour
-labour party grew with 29 mps in the 1922 election 10 in Glasgow alone
-labour was associated with the more radical ilp especially in the west of Scotland