Trade and Commerce in the inter - war years Flashcards
What was the Gold Standard a signal of ?
- signal that your economy was reliable and robust
- national strength and stability
How did being on the Gold Standard affect British goods ?
- Made British goods too expensive to sell elsewhere
How did the war affect trade and commerce with India ?
- India contributed almost £146 million to the war effort
- Suffered inflation and shortages, during the war as a result.
- Some benefits- India became less reliant on British imports, which boosted domestic manufacturing
How did the war affect trade and commerce with Canada ?
- Canada benefitted from the war, emerging as an industrial power
- Canada looked to the USA for investment and markets as the inter - war period progressed
- Began to develop closer trade links with USA
How did the war affect trade and commerce with Australia and New Zealand ?
- heavy exporters of food, relied heavily on British markets, and consequently were hit hard by the disruption of trade caused by the war
What was the imperial policy in the inter - war years ?
- went through two distinct phases in the inter - war years
- Britain tried to go back to recreate the economic system which existed pre 1914 ( free trade system ) which involved returning to the Gold Standard in 1925, in order to stabilise international trade
- In the aftermath of the Great Depression,a greater emphasis was placed on the importance of the Empire from British commerce and imports from Empire
Why did the imperial policy in the inter - war years change ?
- due to the Great Depression
Subsequently, what happened after Britain lost trade links ?
- importance of the empire grew
What was the impact of the Great Depression ?
- loss of trade links
- calls for imperial preference
- collapse of international trade and markets for British industrial exports
why were the Dominions against the idea of imperial preference ?
- they wanted to become their own industrial power
Aims of the Ottawa Conference ?
- soften the blow of the economic crash by returning to imperial preference
- Britain had abandoned the gold standard in 1931
Agreements of the Ottawa Conference ?
- Abandoned Free Trade
- Agreements set up for Imperial Preference
- British Dominions formed self trading unit, protected by high tariffs against foreign competitors
Impact of the Dominions self trading unit ?
- provided a means in which the Dominions could assist each other through the Depression
Consequence of Britain prioritising production for the war over making goods for exports ?
- Britain’s competitors were able to win markets traditionally that were dominated by British exports
What were Britain’s traditional industries ?
- textiles
- shipbuilding
- coal, iron and steel
Impact of Britain losing markets for their traditional industries ?
- income which was used to pay for the running and defending of the empire experienced great difficulties between the wars.
Did the financial sector struggle between the inter - war years ?
- financial sector, banks and financial institutions, which generated profits from lending money overseas experienced great difficulty in the war years.
Why did the economic burden of the Empire grow ( why were British poorer )
- debt
- lost of international markets
- traditional industries and financial sector experienced great difficulty
When did Britain go off the Gold Standard again ?
- In 1931, after the Great Depression
impact of countries of the Empire fixing the value of their currencies to sterling ?
- gave access to thee British market for countries in the Sterling Area
- ensured a profitable outlet for British overseas investment
- softened the impact of the damaging effects of the collapse of the international economy in the aftermath of the Great Depression.
What country competed with Britain for textiles ?
- Japan
Importance of Empire for British ?
- supply foodstuffs and raw materials to Britain
Why did British colonies suffer as a result of the Great Depression ?
- Burma and Malaya were hard hit, Malaya relied on exports of tin and rubber and Burma on exports of rice
- Colonies who produced food or raw materials, saw tumbling prices in the 1930s.
- incomes fell bringing poverty and even starvation and fuelling dissatisfaction of colonial rule.
Why did Australia and New Zealand experience serious economic problems in the inter - war years ?
- cost of their ( largely manufactured ) imports from Britain outstripped the income of ( foodstuffs and raw material ) exports
