The Changing Political Landscape 1918-1945

Question 1

How did WW1 impact the decline of the Liberal party?

Answer 1

• Asquith wanted to prevent state intervention as much as possible but his indecisiveness in war tactics made him disliked and blamed for heavy war losses in the press.
•Liberals then had to take illiberal measures such as introducing rationing and conscription
•Lloyd George then formed a small war cabinet without Asquith supporting more intervention- ‘new liberalism’ - start of rift
• The Liberal government’s mishandling of the suffragette movement and its policies towards Ireland during WW1

Question 2

Why were there divisions in the Liberal party?

Answer 2

•Lloyd George and Asquith disagreed on their opinions and views of Liberalism. Many Liberals still supported Asquith. Therefore Lloyd George formed a coalition government with the Conservatives.

Question 3

How did Cash for Honours cause the decline of the Liberals?

Answer 3

•Lloyd George exchanged titles for money and provided his supporters with top positions in the party rather than Asquith’s supporters
•The money Lloyd George made wasn’t shared with the Liberal party until it was too late - couldn’t afford to provide enough candidates and therefore lost to Labour in 1929 election as opposition to the Conservatives

Question 4

How did the increase in the size of the electorate lead to the decline of the Liberals?

Answer 4

• increased in 1918 after introduction of the Representation of the People Act - increased from 7.7 million to 21.4 million
• working class made up 80% of the suffrage - in theory more would vote for Liberals / Labour however votes were spread evenly due to rebranding of Conservative party

Question 5

How did the Chanak incident cause the decline of the Liberals?

Answer 5

•Lloyd George wanted war against the troops when they wanted to remove British troops form Turkey
• Army generals and the public disagreed with this - just after the end of WW1
•Therefore Tories disbanded coalition government and Lloyd George forced to resign. Liberals become a smaller party

Question 6

How did the first last the post electoral system cause the decline of the Liberals?

Answer 6

•system favoured a two party system. The Liberals had considerable electoral support but wasn’t converted into seats in Parliament
•Therefore Liberals remain a small party

Question 7

How did the Conservatives dominate the political landscape?

Answer 7

• rebranded by Stanley Baldwin as a one nation party - attracted the working class, viewed as patriotic, working class women more likely to vote for Conservative party due to their family values
• Baldwin’s ability to exploit Liberal weaknesses
• until 1948, the election system enable some wealthy landowners to vote in three different constituencies, whilst uni students, mostly middle and upper class could vote in two - gave Conservatives extra support. The establishment of the Irish Free State in 1921 led to a decline in Liberal seats there but still dependable support for the Conservative

Question 8

Who was Stanley Baldwin?

Answer 8

Leader of Conservatives and PM in 1924 election

Question 9

How did Stanley Baldwin aid the decline of the Liberals?

Answer 9

• Spoke out against Lloyd George at disbanding of the coalition government
• Adopted protectionalism to attract Asquith’s supporters then removed free trade to further separate the Liberals

Question 10

Why did the Labour Party become more popular?

Answer 10

• The war led to a huge growth in trade union membership as the working class expanded after WW1 - 4.1 million 1914 to 6.5 million 1918
• The fees for the membership funded the party and provided it with more members. Therefore Labour could afford to provide candidates unlike the Liberals
• Left the coalition government and remained united after the war unlike the Liberals

Question 11

How did the Labour Party lead to the decline of the Liberals?

Answer 11

• In 1924 the first Labour government came into power, led by Ramsey Macdonald
• Asquith and his Liberals supported the small Labour government believing that it would fail
• However Ramsey Macdonald ruled with economic caution and was successful at handling foreign affairs e.g with Irish Free State
• Proved Labour could rule successfully unlike the Liberals

Question 12

Who was Ramsey Macdonald?

Answer 12

leader of the Labour party and first Labour prime minister in 1929

Question 13

Why did Ramsay MacDonald want the decline of the Liberal party?

Answer 13

Wanted Labour to become the main opposition to Conservatives, wanted more votes

Question 14

How did Ramsay MacDonald cause the decline of the Liberals?

Answer 14

• Asquith supported the small Labour government thinking that it would fail but Ramsay MacDonald ruled with economic caution and handled foreign affairs well
• This proved that Labour could rule effectively, better than the Liberals

Question 15

How was the decline of the Liberals inevitable?

Answer 15

• After the rise of Labour and rebranding of the Conservatives as well as the removal of free trade, the Liberals didn’t really appeal to any of the electorate
• The war debt left the Liberals unliked, aswell as their illiberal measures during the war
• Women made up 50% of the vote - not going to vote Liberals after they imprisoned suffragettes

Question 16

Why did MacDonald lose the support of Labour MPs?

Answer 16

•Wall Street Crash 1929 led to economic depression globally, Macdonald had to make drastic spending cuts e.g reducing unemployment benefits by 10%
• Deemed as not acceptable, Labour meant to support the working class

Question 17

How and why did MacDonald remain PM after losing the support of his MPs?

Answer 17

• King George V refused to call general election during the economic crisis
• Therefore MacDonald was forced into a coalition government with the Conservatives - (the National Government)

Question 18

What was the impact of the formation of the National Government on the Labour Party?

Answer 18

• led to a divide between those who joined the National Government and those who remained
• the official Labour party at the 1935 election lost support, only had 52 MPs

Question 19

Why did the National Government remain in power for 10 years?

Answer 19

people believed they stood for the nation rather than individual classes

Question 20

Why were the Conservatives willing to let MacDonald lead the National Government?

Answer 20

So that he and Labour would be blamed for unpopular economic policies.

Question 21

what was the abyssinia crisis in 1935?

Answer 21

Fascist Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

Question 22

How did Stanley Baldwin’s National Government deal with the Abyssinia crisis?

Answer 22

They let Italy take 2/3 of Abyssinia - proved unpopular when leaked to the press, forced to abandon plan.

Question 23

Why were there divisions over rearmament and appeasement to deal with the spread of Facism in Europe and the rise of Nazi Germany?

Answer 23

some people wanted increased production of weapons, others wanted to cooperate with the League of Nations to negotiate peace.

Question 24

How did Stanley Baldwin’s National government deal with the divisions over rearmament and appeasement?

Answer 24

Baldwin compromised; increased rearmament in line with requests from the League.

Question 25

What was non intervention treaty in the Spanish Civil War July 1936?

Answer 25

Spanish fascist groups tried to overthrow democratic Republican government. Britain, France, Italy and Germany signed a Non Intervention Treaty

Question 26

why did the breaking of the non intervention treaty cause problems for Stanley Baldwin’s National government?

Answer 26

Italy and Germany provided the Spanish fascist groups with weapons- Baldwin was aware of this but did nothing.

Question 27

Why was King Edward VIII abdicated in 1936?

Answer 27

He wanted to marry a divorcee - Baldwin’s National government had to remove him from the throne.

Question 28

How and why did the National Government change between 1937 and 1940?

Answer 28

• Baldwin forced to resign in 1937 due to the problems he had faced
• Replaced by Neville Chamberlain (Labour) who then resigned in 1940 as people disagreed with his willingness to appease Nazi Germany - signed Munich agreement 1938
• Replaced by Winston Churchill until the end of the war.

Question 29

What was the Munich agreement 1938?

Answer 29

Chamberlain agreed to let Hitler take a border area in Czechoslovakia in exchange for a pledge of peace - made him unpopular

Question 30

Why did support for the CPGB (Communist Party of Great Britain) increase during the 1930s?

Answer 30

because of its anti fascist activities - people in GB supported democracy, fascism goes against that.

Question 31

Why did support for the CPGB decline between 1939 and 1941?

Answer 31

the Soviet Union (communist) signed an anti aggression treaty with Nazi Germany - Soviets siding with the fascist Nazis on the other side of the war

Question 32

Why was the threat of political extremism in Britain during the 1930s relatively low?

Answer 32

• the CPGB only gained 0.4% of the vote, therefore only gained one seat in Parliament - barely any influence
• the needs of the working class people were already represented by Labour, no real need for communism.

Question 33

Who founded the British Union of Fascists?

Answer 33

Edward Moseley

Question 34

Why was it hard for the Fascists to gain support in the 30s (economic recovery)?

Answer 34

• Fascist groups thought that Britons would want an alternative to capitalism but were wrong
• This was because the 30s weren’t so bad for Britain - new technologies, housing boom, economy beginning to recover
• people therefore had placed trust in the National Government to stay strong and united throughout economic struggle and represent the whole nation, therefore winning in a landslide victory in the 30s

Question 35

Why was the Fascist party not supported (Europe)?

Answer 35

• Britain didn’t want fascism after seeing what had occurred in Italy and Germany

Question 36

Why did Moseley’s fascist party try and fuel anti semitism?

Answer 36

• was trying to gain support through hatred like Hitler - however didn’t have a raging hatred for Jews like Hitler
• therefore the Fascist party started making anti semetic campaigns, especially in the East End where there was a high concentration of Jews

Question 37

Why did the Battle of Cable street occur?

Answer 37

• Moseley organised a march through the Jewish neighbourhoods in the East End - 770 000 people signed a petition to stop this, but the government refused as Britain is a democracy
• Therefore a crowd gathered to try and stop the march, mostly consisting of communist groups, trade unionists and Jews.

Question 38

What was the short term effect of the Battle of Cable street?

Answer 38

• the popularity of the party spiked due to the publicity it gained from the Battle of Cable Street - people wanted violence and someone to blame for the struggles the country were experiencing.
• the most anti - semitism seen in the East End occurred the weekend after the Battle of Cable Street

Question 39

Did the Battle of Cable Street have a long term impact on the Fascist party?

Answer 39

•not really - Moseley had in fact called off the march, protesters ended up fighting the police.
• the Battle didn’t stop the Fascist party but showed that Britain was able to stand up to the threat of fascism and ultimately didn’t want it for their country

Question 40

What was the Fascist Party’s stance during WW2 and was it popular?

Answer 40

• wanted Britain to stay out of the war - their membership as a result increased from 6000 to 30000 within 2 years

Question 41

What was the Fascist party’s stance during the abdication crisis?

Answer 41

• campaigned in support of the King, but didn’t gain much popularity
• did this as Mosley was friends with King Edward VIII - he had always been interested in Moseley’s ideas and ideas for the Fascist party.

Question 42

Why did the Fascist party ultimately decline?

Answer 42

• the party made excuses for Hitler- eventually made them lose popularity
• People were horrified by Hitler’s treatment of Jews in concentration camps - wouldn’t support fascism

Question 43

who was Nancy Astor?

Answer 43

• the first female MP to take her seat in Parliament
• 1940 set up the Women Power Committee
• however only gained her seat when her husband ascended to the house of lords

Question 44

How many women could vote after the 1928 representation of the people act and how significant was this

Answer 44

• 8.5 million - significant as women had equal voting rights to men
• however at the time there were only 17 female mps, women weren’t receiving representation in government therefore their issues weren’t addressed

Question 45

Why were women rarely risked in safe seats?

Answer 45

people were less likely to vote for a woman than a man