The First World War

The conflicts, which dominated British domestic affairs at the beginning of the century, in the 1910s were coupled with a far great conflict — the struggle for power in Europe moving towards open war. Germany was determined to be powerful at sea and on land. Germany made the Triple Alliance with Austria and Italy, while Britain, her main rival, allied with France and Russia into the Triple Entente.

On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia, on August 3, it declared war on France. On August 4, Britain declared war on Germany. The Germans invaded Belgium and penetrated into the territory of France. The French army and the small British forces managed to stop the German army only at the River Marne deep inside France. After the Marne two armies settled down to a prolonged siege warfare. It made a quick German victory impossible and gave time to Britain, France and Russia to mobilise their forces.

British government, who first considered this war "business as usual" changed the attitude — the industry was mobilised for war and a Home Front was created. The situation was complicated by the wars in other parts of the world — in the Middle East the British fought against Turkish troops in Iraq, Palestine and the Dardanelles.

The most important war battles for Britain were at sea, because it possessed the largest and most powerful Navy in the world. The British made a blockage of supplies to Germany, which produced serious shortages and good riots by the end of the war. Beginning with 1915, German submarines started sinking merchant ships carrying supplies to Britain, more than 40 % of Britain's merchant fleet was sunk during the war.

In 1915—1916, for the first and only time in its history, Britain created a mass Army of 5 million men, to fight on the main land front. Almost a million of British soldiers were killed in the war and more than 1,5 million were wounded.

In 1918, after the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia singed a peace treaty with Germany. The German generals hoped to win the rest of the Allies before the arrival of American troops, who supported France and Britain. There were made some successful fighting, but in August the British got a decisive victory at Amiens and during three following months the British and the French drove the Germans back liberating most of occupied Belgium and France.

Though in November 1918 Germany surrendered to Britain and France, fighting, connected with the war stopped only in 1923. It continued on the territories of Russia, Austro-Hungary, Ottoman Turkish and German Empires whose territories were broken up in the war.

Britain after World War I

The war caused many changes in domestic affairs, political and social life of Britain. By the end of the war British government controlled most of the major sectors of the British economy with new Ministries being created. The new warfare industries employed many women, their help in industry, agriculture and medicine could hardly have been overestimated. After the war, in 1918, British women over thirty got a right to vote.

The right to vote was also given to men aged 21, now the number of voters doubled. As the result of these changes the Labour Party won fifty-seven seats in Parliament in 1918 and in 1924 the first Labour government was created. As a result of this victory the Liberal Party almost completely disappeared — liberals with traditional capitalist ideas joined the Conservative Party, and Liberal "reformers" joined the Labour Party.

In Britain the war caused a great increase of taxes — from 6 to 25 %. The workers, dissatisfied with worsening of living conditions, gathered for serious strikes, growing all over the country. The government had to break these strikes and force men back to work.

The situation worsened in 1926, when Britain faced the General Strike which lasted nine days and involved half a million workers. The government had to use the army and police to force the strikers to surrender. General strikers and sympathetic strikers were made illegal. This strike left a lasting impression on the British — for half a century after it was widely remembered and discussed. People's memories influenced their opinion of employers, government and the police.

In 1929, the New York Stock Exchange crashed causing a serious economic crisis known as the Depression in Europe and America. In 1931, unemployment in Britain reached over 2,8 million and by 1933, the most affected areas were the industrial north of England and southeast of Wales. The crisis in economy was gradually overcome by 1935 much due to the development of motor and heavy industries. By this time the plans of German Nazi leader Adolph Hitler to strengthen his positions in the world became clear, so British government invested large sums of money into the industries producing weapons, aircraft and war equipment. These measures gave jobs to many people.

British Foreign Affairs after World War I

The structure of the British Empire changed after the beginning of the war. In Ireland, which was a part of the Empire, the Republican Party appeared in 1918. This party, demanding a full independence from Britain won the elections to the British Parliament the same year. But instead of joining the British Parliament, they started their own Parliament in Dublin and announced Ireland the republic. They also created republican army, which began guerrilla fighting against the British.

In 1921, the British government agreed to give independence to southern Ireland, though Ulster — northern Irish territory remained united with Britain. The Anglo-Irish Treaty was concluded in 1921 and in 1922 the Irish Free State was established. In 1937, Southern Ireland was declared a republic.

In 1926, the Imperial Conference recognised the autonomy of the British dominions, later this agreement was formalised in the Statute of Westminster. By this statute each dominion was given equal rights in the Commonwealth of Nations, though each dominion still recognised the British monarch.

The best spoils of victory in World War I were secured by the USA, which after the war became the world's creditor. This fact strengthened the antagonism between two nations — the position of the world leader was now almost taken by the USA.

In foreign affairs Britain took part in the creation of League of Nations — a new institution aimed at fostering co-operation among the nations and checking the competition that might lead to war. Later this institution proved to be not sufficient, as a severe damage of German economy created favourable conditions for the rise of Nazism, which was overlooked by governments of other countries, who provided the inter-war policy of appeasement.

The policy of appeasement meant that Britain remained neutral to German's claims for power, but this policy fouled when Hitler started to make approaches to Poland. It was clear that a new war would soon begin. Though Winston Churchill tried to plan the rearmament, the progress was very slow — Britain had great deficiencies of tanks, air crafts and ships.

When the war broke out in September, Britain was still seriously unprepared. In May 1940, the British government was headed by Winston Churchill, who led the country through the war.