History - recovery

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When was VE day? Why was it celebrated?
8th May 1945. War was over and Germany had been defeated.
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What was Britain's national debt after the war?
£3,500 million.
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What percentage of Britain's total wealth had it lost?
30%.
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What did the USA end?
The Lend-Lease agreement (money & goods supplied by the USA to its allies during WW2).
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What fraction of Britain's housing stock had been destroyed?
1/3.
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How much of Britain's factories and shops had been destroyed?
Half.
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What fraction of Britain's merchant fleet had been sunk?
2/3.
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What did military deaths total at?
264,433.
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What did civilian deaths total at?
60,595.
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What remained in place? Why?
Rationing as Britain could not afford to buy food from abroad.
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What was income tax raised to? Why?
50% to help the government pay for post-war reconstruction.
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What happened in September 1944?
The Minister of Labour and National Service, Ernest Bevin, designed a demobilisation plan to return all to life outside the military.
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How were people going to be released?
Based on their age and service number; this gave each person a release number.
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Who was released ahead of their turn? (3).
Married women, men aged over 50 and 'key men' who had a skill vital in the post-war reconstruction.
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When was the plan put in place?
18th June 1945.
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How many men and women were demobilised over the next 18 months?
4.3 million.
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What did some people return to find?
Their relationships/marriages had broken down in their absence.
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How had people been affected by the war?
Psychologically and some had been physically disabled by their injuries.
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When was the 'Baby Blitz' and the V-1 & V-2 missile attacks?
BB = 1944, MA = in the final year of the war.
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When were small air raids conducted till? (4).
March 1945 when the last rocket, the last flying bomb and the last convectional air raid hit Britain.
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How many British homes had been destroyed by bombing? How many were damaged?
Destroyed = 500,000. Damaged = 3 million.
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What town centres had been extensively damaged/destroyed? (4)
Coventry, Plymouth, Liverpool and Swansea.
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The 1945 general election was the first to be held since what year?
1935.
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When was the last time the Labour Party had held office?
1931.
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What happened within the first two weeks of the end of the war in May 1945?
The coalition government led by Churchill broke up.
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What did Attlee say about the coalition government?
It was a wartime agreement which had done its job.
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Why did the Conservatives think they would win?
Churchill's status as a war leader. His popularity and fame as the man who had won the war.
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Why did Attlee think his party would win?
It's promises of radical, social & economic reforms would turn people away from supporting the Tories.
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What had happened to the Liberal Party and who led them?
Sir Archibald Sinclair - it had shrunk in size.
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What did each party publish?
A manifesto to say what they'd do if they were elected.
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Which policies were similar? (4)
Health service, housing, jobs and improved education.
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What were the differences between the parties?
The Conservatives did not say how or when these policies would happen, whereas Labour said it would be immediately.
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What did Labour promise? (6)
Jobs, fair wages, good houses, pensions for the old, free eduction and free medicine & health care.
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When did voting begin and end? Why?
Began = 5th July, Ended = 19th July to allow the 5 million servicemen & servicewomen overseas to vote.
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When was the result declared?
26th July 1945.
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Who won? How many seats did they have?
The Labour Party won with a landslide victory - 395 (10.4% increase since 1935).
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Why did Labour win?(4)
They could reconstruct Britain after the devastating effects of war, trade unions promoted Labour as supporting workers, socialism was not seen as threatening as it had been in the 1920s, many blamed the Conservatives for the depression.
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What other reasons are there for Labour's win? (3)
Many didn't see Churchill as a peacetime leader, Labour wanted all to have access to opportunity, whatever their background, Labour politicians had held key posts in the wartime coalition government.
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What was set up in 1941 by the government? Who ran it? What was its aim?
Royal Commission under Sir William Beveridge to look into ways in which Britain could rebuild after the war.
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What did Beveridge publish in 1942?
His report - "Social Insurance and Allied Services: Report" known as the Beveridge Report.
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What did he identify that needed to be tackled by the government?
Five 'Giant Evils' - want, disease, squalor, ignorance, idleness.
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What did Churchill think of the report?
It was too radical.
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Who praised and adopted the report as part of his party's policies?
Clement Attlee, deputy in the war cabinet.
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What was 'want'?
The need for an adequate income for all.
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What was 'disease'?
The need for access to health care.
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What was 'ignorance'?
The need for access to educational opportunity.
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What was 'squalor'?
The need for adequate housing.
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What was 'idleness'?
The need for gainful employment.
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What did Conservatives think of the reforms?
They would be too expensive or they would destroy 'self-help and self-reliance in the ordinary man and woman'.
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What headline did the pro-Tory Daily Telegraph publish? Why?
"Half-way along the road to Moscow" - thought the report was Russian Communism.
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What headline did the pro-Labour Daily Mirror hit back with? Why?
"Hands off the Beveridge Report" - claimed the report was a blueprint for caring socialism.
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Who was Aneurin Bevan? What was his vision?
One of the government's chief minister - his vision was a nation that took care of its people 'from the cradle to the grave'.
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What act was established in 1946 and what did it do?
The Industrial Injuries Act provided compensation for injured workers.
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Which minister was responsible for the Industrial Injuries Act?
James Griffiths, MP for Llanelli, a talented Welshman and former miner from Betws, near Ammanford.
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Which act did he then publish in 1948 and what did it do?
The National Assistance Act - provided the 'safety net' to 'assist persons without resources or whose resources must be supplemented'.
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What three things were abolished?
The Poor Law, the workhouses and the Unemployment Assistance Boards (UAB) of the 1930s.
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How many people were receiving assistance under the National Assistance Act by 1949?
Just over one million.
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What did Beveridge propose?
Extending pensions and unemployment insurance and introducing a health system for all based on the ideal that 'benefits' provided by the state should be 'universal' and would cover people throughout their lives.
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Why were people eligible for benefits?
They had all contributed to the compulsory national insurance scheme.
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What would this bring to an end?
The Means Test.
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What did this become known as and what did it provide everyone with?
The 'welfare state' and would provide everyone with a minimum standard of living.
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What became law on the 5th July 1948?
Free health care to prevent deaths.
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By 1949, how many people had received dental treatment, pairs of glasses and how many prescriptions had been written?
DT = 8.5 million, Glasses = 5.75 million pairs, Prescriptions = 187 million.
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What percentage of the population remained outside of the NHS by 1951?
1.5%.
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What was covered at the start of the NHS? (5)
Hospital accommodation, GP cover, medicine, dental care and spectacles.
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How much did it cost to run the NHS?
£355 million a year.
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Who was responsible for setting up the NHS?
Aneurin Bevan.
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What did Bevan say in a speech in 1946?
"Medical treatment should be made available to rich and poor alike in accordance with medical need and no other criteria".
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Who opposed the NHS? (2)
The British Medical Association (BMA) and doctors.
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Why did the BMA oppose the NHS?
They believed that they would lost money as a result of the NHS because they feared there would be no lucrative private patients.
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Why did doctors oppose the NHS?
They valued their independence and large salaries and didn't want to work for the state.
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What did the BMA not want its members to become?
Salaried employees of the government.
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When did doctors vote against joining the NHS?
January 1948.
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What did Bevan allow the consultants to do?
Work inside the health service and still treat private patients and earn high fees.
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What did the BMA recommend its members do?
Participate in the system.
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What did Bevan say about the start of the NHS?
He had ensured the start of the service by 'stuffing the consultants' mouths with gold'.
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What fraction of the population had signed up with the NHS by 5th July 1948?
3/4.
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How much did the NHS cost to run in its first year? How much more was this than had been originally estimated?
£248 million. £140 million more than expected.
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How many prescriptions did the Ministry of Health assume would be dispensed?
140 million.
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How many prescriptions were dispensed in 1951?
229 million.
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What did the Labour government introduce in 1951?
A charge for some dental treatment and for medicine.
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Why did Anuerin Bevan resign?
The charges for prescriptions & medicine - it was a betrayal of free health care.
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Who introduced charges for false and glasses in 1951?
The Chancellor of Exchequer, Hugh Gaitskell.
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Who stormed out of government because of this?
Aneurin Bevan and a future Labour leader and PM, Harold Wilson.
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What did this mark the beginning of?
The end of the great reforming post-war Labour government
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What did the Education Act of 1944 create?
A Ministry of Education.
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What were the three stages of education and who set it up?
Primary, secondary & further - to be set up by the Local Education Authorities (LEAs).
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What was the school leaving age raised to and in what year?
15 in 1947.
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What was secondary education split in to?
Grammar, technical and modern.
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What determined where the student studied?
The '11 plus' exam.
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What happened if they passed? What happened if they didn't?
Passed = grammar, failed = technical/modern.
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Where did many grammar students go after school?
University and better paid jobs.
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What was Britain's housing like at the end of the war?
Very poor and in desperate need of repair.
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What was the government's response?
Build prefab (pre-fabricated) bungalows, designed to last 10 years.
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How many prefabs did the government aim to build?
500,000.
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How many of the 1.2 million new houses built from 1945 to 1951 were prefab houses?
156,623.
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What was Council House provision shaped by? (2)
New Towns Act of 1946 and the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947.
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What was Bevan's vision of new estates?
"The working man, the doctor and the clergyman will live in close proximity to each other'.
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Why did Labour want to nationalise struggling industries in Britain?
To ensure that British industry would become more efficient and competitive.
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What is nationalisation?
Transferring the industries from private ownership to government control.
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Which industries were involved in nationalisation? (6)
Coal, gas, electricity, transport, the airlines and iron & steel.
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What did Labour also promise to the owners and employees of the industries?
Compensation and job protection.
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How much money was paid out to the industries?
£2,700 million.
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How was nationalisation justified?
Industrial efficiency, creating jobs to maintain full employment and lower prices to the consumer.
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Who opposed nationalisation?
Conservatives and businessmen.
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What happened in 1949 in Parliament?
The Conservatives, led by Churchill, fought hard to prevent the Act for the Nationalisation of Iron and Steel from going through parliament.
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Where was the Act passed and where was the Act held up for nearly a year?
Passed = House in Commons, Held up = House of Lords.
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Why did Nationalisation make sense? (3)
Labour thought key industries should profit all, not a few, workers would be working for the nation & themselves, their rights would be protected by national guidelines.
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How much of the economy did Labour manage to nationalise?
20%.
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Describe the nationalisation of coal.
The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act of 1946 came into effect in January 1947. A National Coal Board set up under Minister of Fuel & Power. 850 coalmine owners compensated with £164 million.
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Describe the nationalisation of electricity.
Nationalised in 1947, followed by gas industry in 1948. Aim was to spread both services to all areas of Britain.
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Describe the nationalisation of railways.
In Jan 1948, gov. bought 52,000 miles of existing railway track. Hoped British rail would make rail transport around Britain more efficient, for industry & commuters.
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Describe the nationalisation of road haulage.
Long distance hauliers were brought under the control and ownership of the British Road Services. Bus services & hauliers carrying their own goods were exempt.
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When was the Bank of England nationalised?
1946.
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In 1947, there were ... collieries in Britain, owned by over ... companies, employing nearly .... men.
1,500 collieries owned by 800 companies, employing nearly 260,000 men.
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How much money was invested in coal mines in South wales between 1948 and 1952?
£32 million.
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What did the Conservatives do when Labour lost the 1951 election?
Left the changes Labour had made in place until the 1970s.
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What did people think of the Welfare State?
Unemployment was lower between 1946 & 1950 than during pre-war years, but people were concerned about the growing cost & unrealistic expectations. Some thought it made people too lazy & dependent on the state.
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What did people think of the NHS?
Highly regarded by public, very quickly seen as innovative by observers from around world. Many thought the NHS was too costly, and people's expectations were unrealistic.
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What did people think of the Education Act?
Education was fairer & available to all. Some saw it as a system that reinforced social class & limited opportunity by categorising based on an exam.
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What did people think of the Homes for All policy?
Housing replaced with more modern buildings. Those who could not afford a house could rent one from a local council. Not all built enough.
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What did people think of nationalisation?
By 1951, 1/10 men & women were employed by newly nationalised industries & the state owned 20% of economy. Elec. spread across country & coal production increased. Some thought it just saved failing industries at the taxpayers' expense - inefficient.
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Card 2

Front

What was Britain's national debt after the war?

Back

£3,500 million.

Card 3

Front

What percentage of Britain's total wealth had it lost?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What did the USA end?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What fraction of Britain's housing stock had been destroyed?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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