The period between the world wars

World War I.

BRITAIN IN THE XX CENTURY

LECTURE 08

7.4.4.

7.4.3.

7.4.2.

7.4.1.

7.3.4.

7.3.3.

7.3.2.

7.3.1

7.2.4.

7.2.3.

8.1.1. The danger of war with Germany had been clear from the beginning of the 20^th century, and it brought France and Britain together. By 1914 the political situation in Europe was extremely dangerous. In June 1914 the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand was killed in Serbia. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia, which was an ally of Serbia, declared war on Austria-Hungary. Automatically, it meant a war with Germany. France was Russia’s ally, so it was now also at war with Germany. In August 1914 Germany's troops invaded France through Belgium. Britain, which had been Belgium's ally since 1838, immediately declared war on Germany Thus, practically the whole of Europe was fighting. The First World War began.

8.1.2. World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons – tanks, aircraft, machineguns, poison gas, U-boats. The war at sea was more important than the war on land, because defeat at sea would have caused Britain's surrender. Being an island state, Britain had always depended on imported goods. Beginning with 1915, German submarines started sinking merchant ships which carried supplies to Britain. 40 per­cent of Britain's merchant fleet was sunk during the war. There was one period in the course of the war when for six weeks the British population was on the point of starvation. Since 1916, the British population was greatly disillusioned with the war. It caused a spiritual crisis for the whole generation.

8.1.3. World War I proved to be the decisive break with the old world order, marking the end of absolutist monarchy in Europe. The post-war failure to deal effectively with many of the causes and results of the War would lead to the rise of Fascism in Italy, Nazism in Germany and the outbreak of World War II within a generation. The War was the catalyst for the Bolshevik Russian Revolution, which would inspire later Communist revolutions in a number of countries, and would lay the basis for the Cold War.

8.1.4. The peace settlement for World War I – t he Treaty of Versailles (1919), severely punished Germany for its aggression by setting limitations on the size of the German military and leveling high reparation payments. Britain absorbed some of the German colonies in Africa and received a small part of the reparation payments, but otherwise attempted to soften more severe French proposals for revenge.

8.2.1. The situation in Ireland exploded during the world war. In 1916 the Easter Rebellion caused a profound change in Britain’s relations with the Irish. While thousands of Irish participated in the British war effort, pro-independence activists saw the war as an opportunity to win total freedom. On Easter Sunday in 1916 an armed uprising took place in Dublin. The British brutally suppressed the Easter Rebellion. In 1918 Irish representatives to Parliament refused to take their seats and instead declared an independent Irish Free State. They formed their own Parliament. The British refused to recognize the rebel government, but the Irish republicans had the support of the people, especially during the following years of guerrilla warfare. In 1921, the Irish Republic was proclaimed.

8.2.2. Finally, both sides accepted a bill establishing the independent Irish Free State. It became an independent nation, but it remained part of the British Empire. Under this arrangement the six northern Irish counties, which were predominantly Protestant, continued to be part of Britain. Some members of the Irish Republican Army never recognized this provision and conflict continued into the early XXI century.

8.2.3. The worldwide economic depression of 1929 struck Britain hard. Unemployment rose to 2, 5 million within a year and to 3 million by the beginning of 1933. The government put emergency measures into effect to raise income taxes on the wealthy, to reduce salaries of government workers, and to reduce unemployment benefits. Despite the effects of the Great Depression, Britain was still one of the great world powers. It was a leader in the League of Nations. Later the colonies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa became independent countries, although they remained part of the British Commonwealth of Nations, a loose confederation of nations and political entities with historic ties to Britain.

8.2.4. The period saw many outstanding achievements. In 1928, Alexander Fleming made his crucial discovery that came about accidentally in the course of research on influenza. His chance observation laid the basis for the development of penicillin therapy.

At about the same time Scottish engineer John L. Baird succeeded in transmitting a recognizable moving image. He made the first ever publci demonstration of television in January 1926. Three years later, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began transmitting its news and variety shows using his invention. It was the first commercial use of television.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-07