History AS (Mr.Ryan)

1918 - 1922 THE POST WAR YEARS

• David Lloyd George was in power and was promising a "land of heroes"

• POST WW1
• GOOD:
  • War stimulated modernisation.
  • Healthy 
  • only 2.6 
  • Healthy export industry.
  • Industrial production grew by 20% from 1918-1920.
• BAD:
  • Many live had been lost in the war.
  • There was a lot of destruction due to war. 
  • The country was now in debt.

• This was all to good to be true because in 1921 production exceeded - and there was a brief - deep depression. 
• - 1921 
• Exports declined by half.
• Atleast 1 million people were unemployed at all times from 1921-1940

• COAL INDUSTRY
• Coal industries suffered greatly from the onset of depression.
• Because Britain was the first nation to introduce industrialisation, many coal mines were older and deeper.
• British miners were being paid more than German and Polish miners, therefore exports dropped.
• Because of wage cuts and longer hours there was a general strike in 1926

THE GENERAL STRIKE

• The TUC called out all miners, railway men, dockers, road transport workers and gas and electric works.
• 80 unions were involved, 2.5 million works and 1.25 million miners on strike, this made up 1/3 of Britain's work force. 
• Ernest Bevin headed the strike organisation committee.
• 4000 people were arrested during the strike
• A bus was turned over in Trafalgar square.
• The flying scottsman train was derailed.
• Churchill, who was chancellor at the time, simplified issues involving the strike by calling for an unconditional surrender. He told police to use whatever force necessary with full support of the government and he spread misleading information about other parts of the country going to back to work to trick them into going back to work.
• During the strike the country ran thanks to troops, volunteers, undergraduates and government supporters.

• The strike ended on the 12th May after the TUC realised they weren't getting anywhere and gave up.
• why did it fail?
  • The government turned the strike into a political war with propaganda.
  • The strike leaders were arrogant e.g A.J.Cook.
  • The country still ran due to volunteers and troops etc.
• Why was there a strike?
  • Wages and conditions became increasingly worse.
  • Miners had a 2% chance of dying in 20 years and a 50% chance of getting seriously ill.
  • In 1925 workers were asked to work longer hours and take a pay cut - anything between 13% and 48%.
  • The Samuel report - a fair report that said workers needed to take a 10% cut in the short term. But the working day should not be extended
• The mine owners, the miners leader, TUC and the government all tried to play the victim, however, they were all partly to blame.

RECOVERY 1922-1929

• YES
  • Earned high profits.
  • 1929-1929 industrial production grew by an average of 2.8% a year - double the rate of the pre war years.
  • Output per worker per hour expanded by an average 3.8% a year in the 1920s - this figure says Britain did better than it's economic rivals.
  • Mining industry productivity increased…