life in the 1920s

life in the 1920s

1. first world war

   • end nov 1918

2. post war adjustments

   • from 1916 pressures of the war meant that political leaders and parties worked together
     • coalition government under liberal party leader David Lloyd George
       • continued to lead until 1922 after a series of scandals and the growth of the labour party
         • 1922 stanley baldwin
           • opponent Ramsey Macdonald
             • labour party
             • got in to power 1924 briefly 7again in 1929 as the 30s begun
           • conservative

3. extening welfare

   • coalition gov created laws great impact on the lives of the public
     • housing and planing act 1919
       • local council survey houses and start building houses to replace slums
       • gov subsidised low rents
         • gov helped pay low rents
       • England and wales 214000 houses built
       • started long tradition of councils providing housing for their residents
     • the unemployment insurance Act of the 1920
       • passed at a time of little unemployment straight after the war
       • set up the dole
         • 39 weeks of benefits
           • funded partly by the workers and the unemployed
           • provided weekly payments of 15 shillings for men and 12 for women
         • very important after unemployment rose 1921
       • education act 1921
         • raised school leaving age to 14
           • primary education free for all children
             • 5 to 14
         • provided a educated workforce

4. post war economy and its impact

   • 1918 economic problems
   • nineteenth century techniques not good enough old fashioned
     • coal ship building textiles never to recover from the war
       • needed less no demand
   • brief economic boom
     • people had money not like the war when they had nothing
       • more goods so prices rose lead to people finding cheaper things from foreign countrys
         • worsened the British market
   • economy struggled in the 1920 because traditional industry struggled to modernise there techniques and shipping industry declined 1919 after dominating world trade for a century

5. general strike

   • gov took control of the coal mines during the First World War
     • 1919 coal mines exhausted
       • demand fell because of the oil industry
     • 1921 coal mines given back to owners
       • as coal prices had risen the coal owners wanted to cut the miners wages
         • opposed by workers
           • trade union congress TUC started a general strike on the 3rd of may 1926
             • miners couldn’t go on strike locked out of the mines by the mine owners because they wouldn’t accept the pay cuts
               • the aim of the strike was to cause so many problems that the gov and mine owners would listen to the trade unions
                 • didn’t work because the gov stockpiled good and services continued with middle class volunteers
               • failed because the TUC was divided some supported some didn’t
                 • gov was not going to back down
               • miners lockout lasted seven months forced to accept longer hours for less wages

6. problems with Northern Ireland

   • first two decades of the twentieth century Ireland wars still part of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
     • start of the twentieth century increasing claims for Irish independence /home rule
   • British gov made promises for home rule as civil war hung over Ireland however ww1 put the crisis on hold
     • in Dublin 1916 a nationalist rising was suppressed by the British stirred demands for further independence
   • David Lloyd George failed to introduced home rule for Ireland in 1918
     • in general election 1918 the republican Sinn Fein party won a majority of Irish seats.
       • ups refused to take seats in parliament at Westminster instead choosing to set up a first Irish parliament in Dublin
         • 1919 Declaration of Independence
   • Anglo-Irish war
     • fought between british and irish between 1919 and 1921
     • the war ended with the Anglo-Irish treaty 1921 that established the independent Irish free
       • six northern states decided to stay in the united kingdom and became Northern Ireland
         • remained in the uk ever since
         • the split was to cause further issues for Ireland and Britain
   • the changes of women
     • women employed in factories and warehouses during the first world war therefore having income and a certain degree of independence .
     • many women lost jobs when men came back from war wanted it back
     • gained vote in 1918 age over 30 and all women in 1928 over 21 had the vote
     • women had confidence and for once felt like they had power.
       • new independence shown in new fashion new ways of living like the flappers and drinking and smoking which at time deemed masculine .
     • however women still were expected largely to be at home have kids and look after them