Britain At War

Britain At War

Formation of War Coalition
1. Chamberlains Failures
  1. Lose of faith in Chamberlain due to failure of appeasement and failing to procure an alliance with Soviet Russia
  2. Failed to prepare the economy for war urgently . Army was not equipped well enough, and blockades were not tight enough.
2. New Prime Minister - Between Winston Churchill and Lord Halifax, many supported Halifax including Attlee and Chamberlain. However, Halifax himself believed more in Churchill himself
  1. Churchill's Faults - impulsive, dictatorial and constantly interfered in the details of government departments Poor committee chairman Ruthlessly critical
    1. Deputy PM Clement Attlee was although uncharismatic, more organised
  2. As Chamberlain remained leader of Conservatives it was very easy for Churchill to act above party policies
    1. His new government consisted of Conservatives but also Labour MP's, Liberal MP's and talented individuals such as Bevin Beaverbrook and Anderson
3. British Defence
  1. 'Battle of Britain', aerial battles between Luftwaffe and a few hundred RAF pilots Late Sept, evident Luftwaffe had not gained complete control in the air
  2. Hitler's attentions switched to invading USSR, this gave Britain chance to build itself up, gain allies and fight back.
  3. Dunkirk - within weeks of being elected as the New PM Churchill had set into motion a plan to evacuate 300,000 men from Dunkirk
    1. Many thought with the defeat of France with no other close allies the best policy was to negotiate with Hitler, however Churchill fought on
4. Labour and the Trade Unions were needed on side during the war so was initially given 16 seats, this was later increased to 27, mainly to do with Home Front
War Economy
1. Emergency Powers Act
  1. Government had authority to make regulations covering any aspect of life necessary to secure the defence of the realm.
  2. Ministries were set up under this act; - Ministry of Aircraft Production - Ministry of Labour - Ministry of Production
2. Coal Industry
  1. Despite Bevin's work for many industries total output and productivity remained disappointing
  2. Many coal miners went into other war time jobs or joined the armed forces.
  3. Coal mines were still not modernised enough so Britain had to rely on oil imports which made economy vulnerable due to the U-Boat attacks
3. Rationing
  1. Due to U-Boat campaigns imports were restricted to raw materials and machinery Therefore rationing on food and clothing was introduced
  2. Ministry of Food - Lord Woolton Equal rationing 'Mend and Make-do' Home growing was encouraged - 'Dig for Victory'
  3. Millions of acres of land was ploughed up an production shifted from meat to cereal
4. Non-essential industries were run down so that their machinery could be used for war production New production methods were introduced to maximise output and minimise labour
5. Dollar and Gold reserves were spent by '41 Britain was reliant upon America
  1. Taxes - PAYE system introduced '43 Income tax upto 10 shillings Indirect taxes on goods
  2. Loans
    1. $1,000million interest free loans Other countries sent IOU's to be paid after the war.
    2. America provided lend-lease scheme '41 provided war material and essential supplies which would be repaid or returned at a later date £27,000 million in total
Post-War Britain
1. Threats
  1. Japan overran many of Britain's possessions in the Far East
  2. North Africa - Germany had reversed Britain's earlier successes against Italy
  3. U-Boats threatened Britain's supply line in North America
2. Tackling Social Problems
  1. Beveridge Report '42 - slaying the five giants' - want - sickness - lack of education - bad housing - unemployment
    Annotations:
    - '
  2. To maintain morale, wanted to be able to give hope for a better Britain - Increasing demand by public, TUC's and leading churchmen on radio shows
  3. Emergency Hospital Scheme - fear of mass bombing meant State had greater control over hospitals and there was free medical treatment to bomb victims.
  4. Rationing - free milk and extra food to children and mothers
  5. 'mean test' abolished in '41 Employment Policy - future government to maintain high and stable level of employment and those returning from war were not to be left unemployed
  6. Education Act; free compulsary secondary education and school leaving age was raised to 15, then later 16. Grants and Loans to university students
  7. NHS;Everyone has equal access to medical services and hospital care to be free at the point of delivery.
  8. Ministry for Town and Country Planning '43; - deal with blitzed or slum areas which needed to be redeveloped.
  9. Family Allowances Act; weekly benefit of 5 shillings for the second child and subsequent children
3. Wartime Coalition
  1. Successes
    1. Strong Government; Many Labour leaders began to admire Churchill a lot
  2. Failures
    1. Surrender in Singapore '42 Disagreements within Cabinet Criticism of Churchill Opposition from independantly minded Labour MP's and several women MP's
    2. Opposition of 'backbench' Labour MP's over governments negative response to Beveridge Report
    3. Divisions over plans for nationalisation of land and industry. Controls over the State were disputed, Conservatives agree many would have to stay in place while Britain recovered however Labour wanted to keep them premanently

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