Lesson 9

Before we start...

Mini Convo

Have you ever noticed patterns that no one else does?

Are you suspicious of reporters, historians, or so-called 'experts'?

Do you hold any 'fringe beliefs'?

How good are you at admitting that you are wrong?

When was the last time you admitted that you are wrong about an idea that you think is important?

Do you own a tinfoil (alobal) hat?

Does the notion that "big events require big causes" appeal to you?

What conspiracy theories can be driven by fear?

With the Windsors, comes change

One government that is often seen as an example of 'reforming' by introducing positive changes that really improve peoples' lives is the Liberal government in Britain of 1906-1914. Many historians label this period the beginning of the welfare state, but why did the Liberal government introduce its reforms. On May 6, 1910, Edward VII dies and is succeeded by George V (the first Windsor). Much of the change, however, is driven by WWI, rather than the royals.

P.S. They're originally a branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (thanks to Prince Albert the funky German hipster, if you recall). The name was changed from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor in 1917 because of anti-German sentiment in the British Empire during World War I.

The Labour Government

A study of poverty in 1901 by Seebohm Rowntree found that in a society where those who didn't work didn't eat, there were three times in people's lives when they were especially vulnerable:

as a young child

when they were old

when they were sick or unemployed

After 1906, the Liberal government, with Lloyd George as Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced reforms to help these three groups:

Children

In 1906 local authorities were allowed to provide free school meals.

The 1908 Children and Young Persons Act introduced a set of regulations that became known as the Children's Charter. This imposed severe punishments for neglecting or treating children cruelly. It was made illegal to sell cigarettes to children or send them out begging. Separate juvenile courts were set up, which sent children convicted of a crime to borstals, instead of prison.

Old age

In 1908 pensions were introduced for the over 70s, which gave them 5s a week, or 7s 6d to a married couple. Old people cried as they collected their pensions, and said: 'God bless Lloyd George'.

Workers

In 1909 labour exchanges were set up to help unemployed people find work.

The 1911 National Insurance Act was passed. Part 1 of the act gave people the right to free medical treatment, and sick pay of 10s a week for 26 weeks in return for a payment of 4d a week. Part 2 of the Act gave people the right to unemployment pay (dole) of 7s 6d a week for 15 weeks in return for a payment of 2½d a week.

The invention of weekends

More reforms passed during this period:

1906 - the Trades Disputes Act ruled that unions were not liable for damages because of strikes.

1906 - the Workers Compensation Act granted compensation for injury at work.

1907 - school medical inspections.

1908 - eight-hour day for miners.

1910 - half-day a week off for shop workers.

A Merchant Shipping Act improved conditions for sailors.

From 1911, MPs were paid. This gave working men the opportunity to stand for election.

Initiating Democracy

In 1901 Britain had a constitutional government, but it was not a fully-fledged democracy. In 1918 it became a democracy, with the introduction of universal adult male suffrage and votes for women aged over 30. World War One may not have initiated democratic change, but it determined its timing.

When Britain entered World War One, it did so in the name of 19th century liberal values - the rights of small nations and the rule of law.

What justified these claims, which became the touchstone of British propaganda, was Germany's invasion of Belgium, as its army bypassed France's eastern defences by swinging round them to the north.

WWI was started by MANIACS

M. Militarism – glorification of war and the military

• Competition for military power and strength

o Arms race – competition to build up armed forces and weapons

o Standing armies – soldiers trained and ready to fight

o Conscription – mandatory participation of civilians in the military

o Increase in military spending

o Increasing influence of military in the government

MANIACS

A. Alliances – Partnership agreement to go to war in the event one country in the partnership is attacked. Aim was to discourage other countries from attacking members of the alliance

• Triple Alliance

o Germany

o Austria-Hungary

o Italy

• Triple Entente

o Russia

o France

o Great Britain

MANIACS

N. Nationalism –

• Extreme love and devotion for one’s country

o determination of European nations to show power and strength

• Freedom from foreign rule

MANIACS

I. Imperialism – One country’s domination of the economic, political and social life of another country

• Competition for colonies – countries had some and wanted more, others had none and wanted some

o Economic growth – countries wanted to new markets to sell products

o Power and prestige of expanding global empires

MANIACS

A. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Spark – immediate cause that creates a chain of diplomatic failures setting WWI in motion

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria assassinated

o Heir to the Austrian throne in Bosnia-

o Black Hand – secret Serbian nationalists group with ties to the Serbian government

MANIACS

C. Conflict in the Balkan Peninsula

• Large # of different religions, nationalities

• Russia and A-H wanted to colonize the Balkan Peninsula

MANIACS

S. Series of Alliances declaring war on each other

• Domino effect - chain or series of diplomatic failures resulting in war

o U. Ultimatum from A-H to Serbia fails. A-H declares war on Serbia

o R. Russia, Protector of the Slavs, and France mobilize against Germany,

o G. Germany declares war on France using the Schlieffan plan, going through neutral Belgium

o E. England, declares war on Germany for attacking neutral Belgium

The first 'total war'

People in Britain were affected by six main ways:

Recruitment - there was a huge poster campaign to get people to join up, and the government had to introduce conscription in 1916. Conscientious objectors could be imprisoned. Women were recruited into the armed forces as nurses, drivers, cooks and telephonists.

The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) - this was passed in August 1914. DORA allowed the government to take over the coal mines, railways and shipping. Lloyd George became Minister of Munitions and set up state-run munitions factories. The government worked with the trade unions to prevent strikes.

Reduced workforce - there were fewer workers because so many men left to join the army.

Rationing - a fixed allowance for sugar, meat, butter, jam and tea was introduced in 1918. British Summer Time was also introduced to give more daylight working hours.

Propaganda - newspaper and soldiers' letters were censored. "The Tribunal" (a pacifist newspaper) was shut down, and lies were made up about German atrocities. Posters encouraged morale. The film "The Somme" was a semi-successful attempt at using film for propaganda because the graphic nature of actually seeing the men die upset many viewers.

Civilian casualties - 57 zeppelin bombing raids after 1915, and the German navy shelled Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough.

Propaganda

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles (1919) was unpopular, not only with the Germans, but also with the people who had drawn it up. Even at the time, the peace-makers left the conference feeling that they had failed to make a treaty that would keep the peace, and historians have ever since blamed the Treaty of Versailles for helping to cause the Second World War.

This table (from the BBC) summarises how Versailles was 'the hated treaty'

Germans British French Americans

League of Nations Hated it OK Hated it Hated it

Guilt Clause Hated it OK OK Hated it

German army reduced Hated it Hated it OK Hated it

Reparations Hated it Hated it OK Hated it

German lost land Hated it Hated it Hated it Hated it

The League of Nations

The League of Nations has been commonly regarded in history as a dismal failure. Although it did suffer major failures during the 1920s and 1930s, its successes must not be overlooked and its drive to wipe out world disease was taken on by the United Nations and continues today.

In the 1920s, the League was very successful in its work for a better world - it took half-a-million PoWs home, helped Turkish refugees, attacked slave traders and drug sellers, and supported measures against leprosy and malaria.

It was also quite successful in settling border disputes - for example, it settled a dispute between Sweden and Finland over the Aaland Islands, and stopped a war between Greece and Bulgaria.

However, when it was faced with a strong nation prepared to ignore it - for instance Italy in 1923 over Corfu - the League could do nothing.

IRISH INDEPENDENCE!

The British like to pretend it didn't really happen...

The Labor Party

In 1924 Ramsey MacDonald became the first Labour party Prime Minister. How did a movement, which was started less than three decades earlier to support working-class people and values, evolve into a mainstream political party?

Why Labour?

The LRC (1900) campaigned for Labour candidates in election. After 1913, the Trade Unions were allowed to fund Labour candidates, and this allowed the LRC to finance election campaigns.

- Payment of MPs (1911) allowed working men to stand for Parliament.

- Labour and the New Social Order, the Party's manifesto (1918) - advocating nationalisation of industry and the redistribution of wealth appealed to working people.

- The Representation of the People Act of 1918 gave the vote to more working-class people, who looked for a 'worker's party' to represent them.

- After 1916, the Liberals were split between those who supported Asquith, and those who supported Lloyd George. This weakened the Liberal Party. Then Lloyd George fell from power after he agreed to the Irish Free State in 1921 there was a second split in the Liberal Party that ruined it forever.

- The Conservatives - who took over the government in 1922 - were also weakened when they failed to deal with a trade depression in 1923.

The General Strike of 1926

1. Trade Union militancy - 1910-1912 was a period of industrial unrest, and in 1913 the miners', railwaymen's and transport workers' unions formed the Triple Alliance. This included a promise to support each other if there was a strike, although, in fact, on 15 April 1921 - Black Friday - the railway and transport unions failed to support the miners when the mine owners reduced their wages and increased their hours of work.

2. Economic Depression - there were problems in the economy after the war, and in 1925 the government returned to the gold standard - it tied the value of the pound to the amount of gold in the Bank of England. This caused a depression and reduced exports, especially of coal.

3. Fear of Communism - in 1924 the 'Daily Mail' published a supposed letter from the Russian Communist leader Zinoviev to British communists, urging them to start a revolution. It was a forgery, but it frightened middle-class people, and made them determined to oppose the demands of the workers.

Results of the General Strike

• The miners were defeated.
• The TUC was ruined - membership fell from 5.5 million in 1925 to only 3.75 million in 1930.
• The Trades Disputes Act of 1927 made general strikes illegal.
• The Labour Party won the 1929 election.

The General Strike was a failure because:

The Government was ready and had spent the nine months when it was paying the subsidy preparing. It set up the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies (OMS) under Winston Churchill to defeat the strike. It took a very aggressive line against the strike using both propaganda statements and army/police action.

The middle class opposed the strike. The incidents of violence and evidence of support for the strike from communists frightened the middle classes. Many of them volunteered as strike-breakers, although others were just fulfilling boyhood dreams to be a train driver or bus driver.

The Labour leaders betrayed the strikers. The Labour Party and the TUC leaders were frightened by the strike.

The Depression

There are two opposing historic images of the Depression in 1930s Britain: poverty - lines of broken, unemployed men, rows of shabby housing - and prosperity - new washing machines, automobiles, electricity and cinemas.

Wall Street Crash

In 1929, the Wall Street Crash plunged the USA into economic depression. The Americans were alarmed, so they called in their loans to other countries and put up customs barriers to stop imports of foreign goods. This created a depression across the rest of the world.

Unemployment in Britain rose to 2.5 million (25 per cent of the workforce) in 1933. Worst hit were the areas of heavy industry (eg coal, iron, steel, shipbuilding) in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the north of England.

However...

In the south-east of England where new light industries such as chemicals, electrical goods and automobiles had been developed, families were affluent. In fact, people with jobs benefited from the Depression because prices fell and they could buy more!

Benefits of the Depression

Some people (especially in the south of England) become more affluent during the Depression:

• Prices fell in the Depression, which meant more money for luxuries.
• Hire-purchase allowed people to get luxuries 'on the never-never'.
• Family size fell, which meant more money for luxuries.
• Improvements at work such as reduction in working hours, holidays with pay.
• Holidays (at the seaside).
• Three million new houses were built in the 1930s.
• There was a 1200 per cent increase in homes with electricity.
• Huge increase in car ownership.
• Vacuum cleaners and washing machines.
• Radios and the first TVs.
• Better leisure such as cinema, dance halls, swimming baths and football matches.
• A better diet. Free school milk was introduced after 1934
• Better health, which meant people were taller, fitter and heavier.

Causes of the Depression

The main trigger of the Depression was the Wall Street Crash, but other factors also helped to create the Depression out of the Crash. To understand them, you need to understand that the root of an economic depression is a reduction in spending, and that the way to end a depression is to get people to buy things (if you are in a domestic consumer driven hyper-capitalistic economy):

Import duties - Import duties discouraged trade, which harmed the economy. The reduction in trade particularly hit the shipbuilding and railway industries if there was no trade, there was no need for transport.

Savings - when there is unemployment and uncertainty, people cut back on spending and save 'for a rainy day'. This then makes businesses go bankrupt and causes the unemployment they feared.

Unemployment - unemployed people have no wage and cannot buy things, which causes more businesses to go bankrupt and creates more unemployment.

Outdated practices - British heavy industry was out of date and labour-intensive. When orders dried up, the only way they could cope was to lay off workers.

Some Government actions made the depression worse: - The increase in unemployment meant the government was faced with a vastly increased expenditure on benefits. So in 1931, it raised income tax and cut unemployment pay by 10 per cent and introduced the means test. These measures reduced the amount of money people had to spend and made the Depression worse. - The Import Duties Act (1932) was designed to protect British industry, but this merely reduced trade and made the Depression worse.

The road to WWII

During the 1930s, Britain and France followed a policy of appeasement - they gave Hitler what he wanted in order to keep the peace.

As the League of Nations crumbled, politicians turned to a new way to keep the peace - appeasement. This was the policy of giving Hitler what he wanted to stop him from going to war. It was based on the idea that what Hitler wanted was reasonable and, when his reasonable demands had been satisfied, he would stop.

Although historians recognise appeasement in the actions of Britain and France before 1938, the Sudeten Crisis of 1938 is the key example of appeasement in action. Neville Chamberlain was the British prime minister who believed in appeasement.

Gee, thanks a LOT, Britain :(

In 1938, Germans living in the border areas of Czechoslovakia (the Sudetenland) started to demand a union with Hitler's Germany. The Czechs refused. Hitler threatened war. On 30 September, in the Munich Agreement - without asking Czechoslovakia - Britain and France gave the Sudetenland to Germany.

". . . I want to say that the settlement of the Czechoslovak problem which has now been achieved is, in my view, only a prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace."

-- Neville Chamberlain, 30 September 1938

Reasons for appeasement

There were many reasons why Chamberlain appeased Hitler, but here are the main ones (from the British perspective:

• The British people wanted peace - they would not have supported a war in 1938.
• Many of Hitler's complaints appeared reasonable at the time - especially about the Treaty of Versailles.
• Chamberlain wanted a strong Germany to serve as a barrier against expansion by communist Russia.
• Britain's armed forces were not ready for a war, and they could not have helped Czechoslovakia anyway.
• Many people admired Hitler. In 1938, the American magazine 'Time' declared him 'Man of the Year'.
• Chamberlain remembered the slaughter of the First World War; he thought another war would destroy civilisation.

Who is to blame for the war?

Hitler's aims were clearly stated in his book "Mein Kampf" in 1924:

• Destroy the Treaty of Versailles.
• Create a Greater Germany (a country of all the German people).
• Lebensraum (living space) to conquer land for Germany in Eastern Europe.

Once he came to power, Hitler set about doing exactly what he had said he would do. He left the League of Nations in 1933 For each of his actions between 1935 and 1939, can you see which aim(s) he was fulfilling by undertaking:

1935 - Rearmament

1936 - Remilitarisation of the Rhineland

1938 - Anschluss with Austria

1938 - The annexation of the Sudetenland

1939 - The invasion of Czechoslovakia

1939 - The invasion of Poland

The Nazi-Soviet Pact released Hitler to go to war in 1939.

Britain's role:

1935 Anglo-German Naval Treaty Britain helps Germany break the Treaty of Versailles by signing an agreement to allow Germany a navy one-third of the size of Britain's.

1938 Anschluss

Hitler occupies Austria. First, Hitler encourages the Austrian Nazis to demand a union with Germany. Then he invades when the Austrian chancellor announces a vote to see what Austrians want. After the German invasion, 99% of Austrians vote "Ja". Britain and France do nothing.

1938 Sudetenland

France and Britain agree to Hitler the Sudetenland.

WWII ends in 1945

The end of the war includes: Allied forces take Axis prisoners, the liberation of Nazi concentration camps and refugees, German forces leave Finland, Mussolini dies, Hitler dies, (yes, he dies, you conspiracies theorists),

(BTW)

20 January 1936 : George V dies and is succeeded by Edward VIII

No one cares because...

He abdicated within a year and became Duke of Windsor so that he could marry Wallis Simpson (an American divorcee).

His brother George VI then became king in 1936 and oversaw the rapid break-up of the British Empire, reigning until 1947.

India and Pakistan became independent in 1947, and Ireland left the commonwealth in 1949, becoming a republic.

Elizabeth II

When her father died in February 1952, she became Head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. She has reigned through major constitutional changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation, and the decolonisation of Africa.

As of April 2018, there are sixteen Commonwealth realms: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom.