History war and recovery

• What was good with the cinema for entertainment?

  • 1934, Wales had 320 cinemas, 20 in Cardiff
  • 1937, Liverpool, 40% of population went to cinemas once a week
• What was the growing light industry?

  • concentrated on consumer goods like cars, fridges and radios
  • Gave employment
  • had a good standard of living
• What was the special areas act?

  • brought financial aid to really depressed areas.
  • passed In 1936
  • factories and businesses offered remission of rents, rates and taxes up to 100%
• What was the trefforest industrial estate?

  • aimed to give alternate employment to people who had worked in the coal and steel industries
  • non profit company
  • established in June 1936
• What was Britains policy of appeasement?

  • Gave in to Hitlers demands to keep the peace
  • by appeasing Hitler, Britain was gambling that Hitler was reasonable with his ambitions for Germany
• How did Britain prepare for war?

  • evacuation
  • people encouraged to plant vegetables on any spare land
• what was air raid shelters?

  • Designed to protect people from falling bricks if houses were bombed
  • supplied all over the country
  • 1st type = Anderson shelter, 400,000 distributed from February 1939
• What was a barrage balloon?

  • large balloons filled with gas that was lighter than air + attached to a steel cable
  • denies low level air space to attacking enemy aircraft
• Why did Hitler bomb Britain?

  • Force a surrender
  • destroy morale
  • to destroy industries supporting war like shipyards
• What did the Goverment do that made the depression worse?

  • 1932, raised income tax
  • cut employment pay by 10%
  • import duties tax (1932) = tax on imported goods and designed to protect the British industry
• What was the dole and means test?

  • 1920 unemployment insurance act (dole) gave 39 weeks of benefits
  • 1932, means test, to control and reduce the amount of dole paid. Houses and possessions were inspected
• What caused the Jarrow Hunger March?

  • Shipyards in decline after WW1
  • unemployment went to 80% in Jarrow
  • malnutrition + poor health spread
• Achievements of the Jarrow March

  • men returned as heroes
  • police praised them for organisation and discipline
  • March had a lot of support from the public
• what did the Wall Street Crash cause?

  • Banks collapsed
  • people stopped buying goods
• By 1930 unemployment was 2 million
• By 1932 unemployment was 3 million
• What contributed to the depression?

  • Wall street crash
  • Britain was the first country to industrialise + was rich in nineteenth century
  • 20th century other countries caught up + had more effective + better machinery
  • coal mining + iron + steel in decline
• Impacts of Wall street crash?

  • people were saving money so businesses went bankrupt
  • increase in unemployment
  • outdated practices were still used (manual labour) while other countries could sell goods for cheaper as weren’t using manual labour
• Why was evacuation good?

  • encouraged the need for change
  • saved many lives
  • some saw the countryside for the first time
• Why did Britain ration?

  • Germany sank 96 ships (food ships)
  • by March 1942, 275 British merchant ships had been sunk
• What was the benefits of rationing?

  • people were healthier as had a balanced diet
• What was the role of women in war

  • worked hard and dangerous jobs (mechanics and welders)
  • code breakers
  • freed up men for fighting
• What did propaganda posters aim to do?

  • encourage support for war
  • educate people
• what was censored?

  • soldiers letters sent home
  • telephone calls
  • photographs (if distressing)
• Limitations of Jarrow March

  • No government action
  • prime minister (Stanley Baldwin) refused to comment on petition
• Making ends meet = surviving with little resources
• What was self help?

  • neighbours rally around a crisis (childbirth, intrusion by rent collectors)
  • clubs were set up for the unemployed
• What was the numbers in emigration from Wales?

  • 1921 and 1938, 440,000 people left Wales to work elsewhere
  • Merthyr Tydfil, 10,000 left which meant a large drop in population
• What was good with the radio for entertainment?

  • By 1939, 9 million registered across Britain
  • Plays news, sports + music
• What was dig for victory?

  • posters and leaflets to educate people on the efficient use of food
  • people began to keep hens rabbits and pigs to eat
  • 1939, 800,000 allotments and this doubled by 1943
• What was the spitfire fund?

  • if an individual business raised £5000 they could have a spitfire fighter aircraft named after them
  • scheme by Lord Beaverbrook
• What did Churchill do instead of negotiating with Hitler?

  • organised the military
  • ensure air force could control the skies
  • organised war economy
• What was the economic position of Britain in 1945?

  • Britains national debt (total money borrowed by government) was 3.5 million
  • Britain had lost 30% of its total wealth
  • military deaths totalled to 264,433
  • rationing stayed in place as Britain could not afford to buy food from other countries
• Why was labour a good idea?

  • promise of full employment
  • employees will have full employment
  • free medicine and healthcare (NHS)
• Against the Labour Party:

  • fear of Gestapo
  • dictatorship
  • no mention of any personalities
• for conservatives:

  • protect the empire and make it thrive
  • reliant on Churchill and past achievements
• Against conservatives:

  • Health service private
  • new houses built but prices high
  • Churchill spoke more on hopes that plans
• What was the war damage?

  • town centres like Coventry, Plymouth, Liverpool and Swansea had been extensively damaged or destroyed
  • halve a million homes had been destroyed (a third of the total number of houses)
• What was demobilisation?

  • Transition from wartime to peacetime military forces.
  • increase in divorce rates as wife’s had got used to living alone
  • many complained the process of returning soldiers back home took to long
• What was the Beveridge report?

  • to demolish the 5 giants (want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness)
  • produced by Sir William Beveridge in 1942
  • The Beveridge report was published on 1st December 1942 and within two weeks 19/20 people had read the report and wanted it carried out