Trade and Commerce in the inter - war years

Question 1

What was the Gold Standard a signal of ?

Answer 1

• signal that your economy was reliable and robust
• national strength and stability

Question 2

How did being on the Gold Standard affect British goods ?

Answer 2

• Made British goods too expensive to sell elsewhere

Question 3

How did the war affect trade and commerce with India ?

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

How did the war affect trade and commerce with Canada ?

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

How did the war affect trade and commerce with Australia and New Zealand ?

Answer 5

• heavy exporters of food, relied heavily on British markets, and consequently were hit hard by the disruption of trade caused by the war

Question 6

What was the imperial policy in the inter - war years ?

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

Why did the imperial policy in the inter - war years change ?

Answer 7

• due to the Great Depression

Question 8

Subsequently, what happened after Britain lost trade links ?

Answer 8

• importance of the empire grew

Question 9

What was the impact of the Great Depression ?

Answer 9

• loss of trade links
• calls for imperial preference

Question 10

why were the Dominions against the idea of imperial preference ?

Answer 10

• they wanted go become their own industrial power

Question 11

Aims of the Ottawa Conference ?

Answer 11

• soften the blow of the economic crash by returning to imperial preference
• Britain had abandons the gold standard in 1931

Question 12

Agreements of the Ottawa Conference ?

Answer 12

• Abandoned Free Trade
• Agreements set up for Imperial Preference
• British Dominions formed self trading unit, protected by high tariffs against foreign competitors

Question 13

Impact of the Dominions self trading unit ?

Answer 13

• provided a means in which the Dominions could assist each other through the Depression