British History 1900-45
D’après le cours de M. Park du premier semestre 2006
I.Introduction
a)1901 – The Death of Queen Victoria – Great Britain at the dawn of a new century.
When Victoria died, the Victorian period finished. It was the end of an era. She became queen in 1897. She was queen for 64 years, the longest reign of English history. She was just 18 when she became queen of the largest empire in the history of the world, of countries all around the globe (Australia, Canada, the West Indies, …) : the British empire.
In 1837, Britain was the richest, more powerful nation of the world. India exported tea, material, spices, … to Britain that sold it around the world. Britain dominated trade. All trade was conducted in pounds.
It was the time of the industrial revolution. Britain was a small country, but by the middle of the 19th century it produced 50% of the world goods.
It was also a period of great social change. The wealth was not shared equally with the British people. Ordinary people were extremely poor. The gap between the riches and the poors was enormous. Work in coalmines, factories, docks, … Children began work at 4. Work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. They earned almost nothing.
When Victoria died that was finished. Children were going to school. Victorian period = enormous social change.
Victoria was young, pretty, small. She became queen at a time (1920-30)when British people began to think that a republic would be better then a monarchy. The monarchy was not popular. She married a German prince, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He was a very proud and arrogant man. When he went to England he insisted on being involved in British politics. He wanted to know what was happening. Victoria forced the Parliament to give him information and he was involved.
1861 : Albert died. Victoria was devastated. For years she never appeared in public and she wore black. The British people began to be bored with Victoria. They needed to see their monarch. The British government at the time was very worried. There could be a new period of republican feeling. They asked Victoria to be seen in public and she agreed. She began to go back out and quickly regained her popularity.
In 1897 she celebrated 60 years as a queen. There were celebrations all over the world. She was queen and empress.
When the new century came, the queen was a very old and very tired lady. She was dying. She finally died in January 1901.
The monarchy was saved by Victoria. She turned it into the modern institution of today. When she died there was great sadness all over the empire.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the monarchy was strong and stable. Britain had a great empire and was very confident about the future.
But things were changing rapidly. The most powerful nation of the world was the United States. Militarily, Germany was stronger than Britain. Britain was like an ostrich which put its head in the sand. It tried to remained isolated from other powerful countries but it could not and in 1904 Britain was forced to create an alliance with France, called “L’entente cordiale”. Other alliances were created, between Germany, Austria and Italy. Britain created an alliance with Russia. The sides had been created which in just ten years would break into war.
Britain was a socially divided nation, full of prejudices (religious, economic, political). Catholics were not allowed to teach at university. If you wanted to teach at Oxford or Cambridge you had to be part of the Church, to believe in God, and to be a member of the Protestant Church. A woman couldn’t teach. Women could only have babies, work in shops or factories. It was very difficult to have a professional carrier if you were a woman. They couldn’t vote.
Education was for the riches. All children had to go to school started at the age of 5 until 10. After that you had to pay. Most children, after 10, left school and went to work. => educational prejudices.
Most working class families were poor. Their diet : black bread and soup most of the time. They almost never ate meat. When the British army asked for volunteers, they rejected 35% of applicants because they were not physically fit because of their diet (no muscles, no teeth, thin).
Agriculture was in decline in Britain. Most people (80%) lived in towns and cities. At that time France was rural. There were enormous towns in Britain (3m people in London). The conditions were terrible, crime was very high.
There were symbols of wealth. The greatest symbol of personal wealth was a car.
Britain was a paradoxical nation, so rich and so poor at the same time. It was a united kingdom but very divided on many levels. There was a very distinct class system : the monarchy at the very top of society, surrounded by an aristocracy, and then a large rich and powerful middle class, and at the bottom a huge working class.
But at the same time it was a very united society. British people were (and are) extremely loyal to the monarchy, they loved their queen. They cried when they heard the news of Victoria’s death. The monarchy gives some kind of symbolism. At the death of Victoria, they were monarchist.
The transport systems were changing dramatically. Railways all over the country, very comprehensive network of railways centred on London. Dramatic effects on people way of live. Even ordinary people could travel. The London underground existed. Steam ships could transport people around the world In very short times. Cars were too expensive for most people, a luxury for the aristocracy and very rich people. Soon, ordinary people would be able to buy cars. And very soon, by the beginning of the century, there would be aeroplanes.
People felt the possibility of a new and exciting life in the new century. 20th century is the greatest century of change in the history of humanity : revolution in social life, political life, transport. In 1909 the first aeroplane flew, and in 1969 there was the landing on the moon.
b)The birth of the Labour Party
There were very serious social divisions. The Labour Party was created to try and end with those divisions.
At the end of the 19th century, there were two political parties in Britain : the Conservatives and the Liberals. By that time, more and more working class men had the right to vote. The Conservative Party was the party of the aristocracy. The Liberal Party represented the middle class, the bourgeoisie. Who could working class vote for ? One man tried to provide that choice, a Scottish coalminer named James Keir Hardie (1856-1915).
February 1900. He organised a meeting of trade unionists, socialists, and together they decided to created the Labour Representation Committee (LRC).
1900 : general election. 15 candidates representing the LRC. The LRC spent £33 on the election campaign. Two candidates were elected, there were two Labour MPs. One of them was Keir Hardie. The other man was Richard Bell. These two men went to parliament and immediately Bell joined the Liberals.
1906 : another election. 50 candidates represented the LRC. 29 were elected. The LRC changed its name and it became the Labour Party. But the Liberal Party won the election with a huge majority.
c)Liberalism and the birth of the welfare state (1906-1914 : the achievements of the Liberal government)
The Liberal Party was then the most successful party. The principles of the modern welfare state were born during this period : free medical examination for all school children, school diners were introduced, school breakfasts also. The state recognised that people were not fit. The meals were subsidized by the state. All children born in Britain were to be registered but also examined by midwives that gave free professional advice to mothers (cleaning, feeding, changing the baby, …). The state was responsible for the health and education of people. What about the very old, weak, sick?
One of the most important change was the introduction of old age pensions in 1909. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, and the Liberal Prime Minister Henry Asquith were responsible for the introduction of old age pensions.
In 1909, Lloyd George introduced his budget which he called the people’s budget, because it introduced old age pensions, money to be paid weekly to all men and women over the age of 70, 5 shillings a week. It did not depend on how much you had worked = non-contributory pensions. All people in Britain were entitled to a minimum.
This budget was controversial because for the first time it contradicted the philosophy of self-help (save money every week for the future), and because this money must come from somewhere. He introduced a new type of tax, a tax on land. It affected the rich, the landowners. The budget was blocked by the House of Lords because it was dominated by conservative landowners. This led to a constitution crisis.
January 1910 : election. Question : budget and power of the House of Lords. At that time, 50ù of the population did not have the right to vote because they were women, and not all men could vote. Should the House of Lords have the right to block important bills from the House of Commons ? The Liberals won the election and they introduced the people’s budget and a bill to reform the House of Lords. The lords finally agreed to accept the people’s budget but they rejected, of course, the reform bill.
In April 1910, Asquith went to the king, Edward, and asked him to create 250 Liberal lords. He gave a list of 250 men, all of them liberals. The king was in a difficult situation. He died in May, before he gave an answer to Asquith. His son was George V. Asquith waited until August to speak to the new king. George V was not very enthusiastic at the idea. So he asked Asquith to have another election, to let the people decide. So there was another election in the same year, in December 1910. Result : the Liberals won the majority.
1911 : George V agreed to create these liberal Lords. However, before he did it, the House of Lords agreed to pass the reform bill. The 250 liberal Lords were not created.
1911 Parliament Act. Three main points :
- the Lords do not have the right to reject or block any finance bill from the House of Commons.
- the Lords do not have the right to block permanently other bills from the House of Commons but they may be delayed for a period of two years. This gave the House of Commons time to “think again”.
- there must be an election in Britain every five years.
That is still the situation today except point number 2. It was changed in 1949. The 1949 Parliament Act reduced the delay to one year. The bill was obviously blocked for two years by the House of Lords.
=> dramatic change in the constitution.
+ unemployment benefits
+ sickness benefits
= the origins of the British welfare state.
d)The Suffragette Movement
The were women activists at the end of the 18th century. Book : “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”, 1792. In the 19th century there were great women feminists, demanding the right to be educated, changes in the laws of marriage and divorce. When a woman married she became the property of her husband. They had no right to go to university, enter certain professions (doctors, politicians). There were thousands of women, all over the country, demanding reforms and the right to vote.
1897 : creation of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). It was a combination of all groups of women fighting for the right of vote.
1906 : a delegation met with the Prime Minister, Asquith, and they presented their demands. He did not agree with the right of vote for women but he told them to be more patient. Some of the women in the room had no more patience and they created an organization much more violent : Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).
There were then two groups : the NUWSS led by Millicent Fawcett, and the WSPU led by Emmeline Pankhurst.
The NUWSS was moderate. Their motto was “Faith, Perseverance, Patience”. Calm, antiviolence. They believed in persuading men through words, arguments.
The WSPU’s motto was “Deeds not words” (deed = action). They were fighters. They believed in fighting and dying for the right of vote. They were supported by Keir Hardie. Violent actions against properties (golf, letterbox, windows). They were really irritating : they wanted life to be difficult for men. Some of them were imprisoned and went on hunger strikes. The officials did not want them to become martyrs => they forced them to eat, and in 1913 : the government passed an Act : the Prisoner’s Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act = “Cat and Mouse Act” => these women on hunger strike were released, they went back home, ate, and were reimprisoned after they had recovered.
The problem was they were proving to men they were unfit for politics, that they were dominated by their emotions.
1913 : the Suffragette Derby, a horse racing in Epsom, the King had his horse racing (Anmer). Emily Wilding Davison went on the tracks with a banner “Votes for women” and was struck by the King’s horse. She was a really brilliant woman, she went several times in prison, tried to suicide in prison. She died at the hospital after the race ended. Her funerals were incredible : thousands of women wearing the white dress to salute their martyr. (video)
Ironically it was the most extreme violence act of men which won the right to vote for women : both organizations stopped their actions and campaigned for war, forgetting vote for women. They were very critical against men who didn’t support war (clash Emmeline + Keir => traitor)
Women went to work in factories, collieries, docks and worked tirelessly to support the soldiers. They went to war as nurses, ambulances drivers, stretchers. They won big respect from the men : Edith Cavell was a nurse living in Brussels, but she was English and helped British prisoners to escape from the continent to UK. She was betrayed by one of her friends, captured and shot by the Germans. It was a shocking event for the British : she was executed to have helped people.
1916 : introduction of a bill presenting the right to vote for women, which was passed in 1918 : all women over 30 and all men over 21 could vote
1923 : the divorce laws were equalized
1925 : they had the right to keep custody of their children
1928 : all women over 21 could now vote (= men)
e)1914 – “The lights are going out across Europe” – The start of the First World War
On Sunday 28th June 1914, the Austrian-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia were assassinated in Sarajevo. They were murdered by a Serb nationalist Gravilo Princip. This is the famous spark which soon enflamed the whole of Europe.
Franz Ferdinand was an unpopular man with the Serbs and also the Austrians and Hungarians. But this assassination gave the Austro-Hungarian empire the excuse it wanted to attack the Serbs.
When Britain heard the news, the British government was not very concerned. The Prime Minister, Asquith, had much more serious problems to deal with : important strikes, and the possibility of war in Ireland. In 1914, Ireland was on the point of civil war. The question of Irish independence (Home Rule for Ireland) was a serious question for the government. The Prime Minister was on the point to giving independence to the Irish. If he had done that in 1914, the situation in Ireland would be very different today.
Britain was not so much interested in events in Europe. Most people didn’t even know where Sarajevo was. But events moved very quickly : Germany promised support for Austria-Hungary, Russia promised support for the Serbs, France promised support for Russia, … It was like dominoes.
By the beginning of August, Britain was at war. It declared war on Germany on August 4th, 1914. Things had happened very quickly. The British Foreign Secretary, Edward Grey, said on that day in his diary : “the lights are going out all over Europe”. Europe was moving into a period of darkness.
II.The First World War
a)The politics and the battles of war
The government asked for volunteers in the army, and was surprised by the enormous number of young men who volunteered to go and fight in Europe. There was a desire for war, a patriotic desire to fight for Britain. Britain had been at peace for 100 years. The old lion was waking up. There was an explosion of jingoism (= patriotism). Men who did not volunteer were considered cowards. Some men who did not volunteer received little envelopes with three white feathers inside, the symbol of cowardice. There was enormous pressure on men to go and fight. Nobody really understood that this would be a new type of war, what horrors they were going to experience. They all said it would be over by Christmas. Nobody understood that this would be a war with weapons of mass destruction, new types of bombs, missiles, tanks, submarines, big iron battleships, aeroplanes (they had just been invented) and, perhaps the worse, the machine-gun (mitraillette), and gas, chemical weapons. Every type of weapons was being used to kill.