4) Challenges and Crises Flashcards

1
Q

What was the Liberal Governments most famous for between 1906 - 1914?

A

Social reforms

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2
Q

In summer 1914 what was political reform doing to Ireland?

A

Threatening to bring it to the brink of civil war

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3
Q

What was dividing the Liberal Government?

A

Female suffrage

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4
Q

Between 1909 and 1911 what was the constitutional crisis about?

A

The power of the House of Lords

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5
Q

What did female suffrage cause the government?

A

Severe political embarrassment

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6
Q

What did people believe the violence of the strike workers would cause?

A

Civil war in Britain

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7
Q

In the years 1909 to 1911 what was the clash in government about?

A

The Conservative dominated House of Lords vs the Liberal dominated House of Commons.

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8
Q

What were the two stages to the crisis and when were they?

A

1) The People’s Budget - 1909 - 1910

2) The Parliament Act - 1910 - 1911

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9
Q

Why were the Conservatives angry with Lloyd George’s 1909 People’s Budget?

A

They feared that the ideas of re distributive and progressive taxation were attacks on the rich.

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10
Q

What did the Lords do to the People’s Budget in November 1909?

A

They vetoed or rejected it

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11
Q

What convention was broken?

A

That the Lords could not interfere with “money bills”.

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12
Q

What did the convention breaking mean for the Liberal government?

A

This meant that they were left with no legal authority to be able to collect taxes.

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13
Q

What did the Liberals do in January 1910?

A

They held a general election.

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14
Q

What is the Parliament Act that was introduces from 1910-1911?

A

Legislation introduced to limit the power of the Lords.

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15
Q

What was the Liberal party trying to fight the 1910 election on?

A

Whether the British Government should be run by a majority of elected MPs from the House of Commons or a majority of hereditary peers from the House of Lords.

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16
Q

What was Lloyd George’s slogan for the 1910 election?

A

“The peers vs the people.”

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17
Q

What were other suggestions that the Conservatives made on how to make money?

A

Tariffs on foreign imports

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18
Q

What did the Conservatives say that the duty of the House of Lords was?

A

To restrain the Governments from making any sweeping changes that the electorate hadn’t voted on.

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19
Q

Who won the 1910 election?

A

The Liberals but only narrowly

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20
Q

What support did the Liberals need to pass legislation and why?

A

The Irish Nationalists

They only had a majority of two and so had to depend on the Irish Nationalists to pass the budget.

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21
Q

Why were the Irish Nationalists willing to help the Liberal Party?

A

They were willing to help because it would be an attack on the House of Lords, which would weaken and limit the power of the Lords, which would mean they would be able to fulfil their desire of Home Rule for Ireland.

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22
Q

Why did the Lords agree to pass the Budget?

A

The Commons was able to show a majority because of the election.

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23
Q

What was the bill that the Liberals drew up in 1910?

A

It would take away the power for the Lords to be able to veto legislation and also it would limit the power of the Lords.

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24
Q

What did the 1910 Parliament Bill propose?

A

1) The House of Lords would have no ability to amend or reject any bills that the speaker had certified as true money bills.
2) The House of Lords would have no power to veto bills but could delay them for no longer than 2 years. - Suspensory veto
3) The maximum periods between general elections would be changed from 7 to 5 years.

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25
Q

What was the problem with trying to pass the 1910 bill through the House of Lords?

A

It was about weakening the powers of the Lords and so they wouldn’t accept it.

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26
Q

What was Asquith’s solution in 1910?

A

To ask King Edward VII to create enough new Liberal peers that they would outvote the Conservative peers in the House of Lords.

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27
Q

What happened to Edward VII?

A

He died in May 1910

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28
Q

What did the new King suggest?

A

King George V suggested that the two parties should resolve the argument instead of him creating new peers.

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29
Q

When was a constitutional conference held?

A

Between June and November in 1910.

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30
Q

What did the two parties offer at the constitutional conference in 1910?

A

Conservatives - Reform the powers of the Lords.

Liberals - Determined to reduce the Lords constitutional powers.

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31
Q

What did the Conservatives also insist at the conference?

A

That the Lords should have the right and ability to veto any change to the constitution unless the electorate had agreed to the change through a referendum. This would mean that they could block Ireland’s Home Rule.

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32
Q

What happened to the conference?

A

The conference broke down.

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33
Q

What were the Irish doing to Asquith?

A

They were pressuring him to reject Conservative proposals.

34
Q

What did King George V finally agree to and what were his terms?

A

He would create enough peers for the Liberals so they could pass the Parliament Bill as long as they won an election with that particular issue as the main focus.

35
Q

When was the second general election held?

A

December 1910.

36
Q

What were the results of the December 1910 election and were they similar to the January 1910 election results?

A

Liberals - 272 seats
Conservatives - 272 seats
Irish Nationalists - 84 seats
Labour - 42 seats

Yes they were similar

37
Q

What support could the Liberals rely on after the December 1910 election?

A

The Irish Nationalists and the Labour Party (working majority)

38
Q

When did the Commons pass the Parliament bill?

A

May 1911

39
Q

Why was the House of Lords sharply divided about the Parliament bill?

A

Some wanted to cooperate with the bill and accept it but others were opposed to it and wanted to reject it.

40
Q

What happened on August 11th 1909?

A

There was enough support for it during the day of the crucial reading that the House of Lords would accept it to avoid the House of Lords being swamped by Liberal peers.

41
Q

What were the different names given the Lord about how they felt about the bill?

A

1) Those, who wished to cooperate were called - “rats”
2) Those, who were still unsure and were lead by Lord Lansdowne were called - “hedgers”
3) Those, who were determined to oppose the bill to the very end and were lead by Willoughby de Broke were called - “diehards” or the “ditchers”

42
Q

What did the constitutional crisis and passing the Parliament bill mean for the Lords?

A

The Lords could now only delay legislation that was important to the commons.
Never again could the Lords permanently override the commons.

43
Q

What did the constitutional crisis and passing the Parliament bill mean for the Liberals?

A

The Liberals were able to move forward with their legislative programme.
The political power had also shifted to the lover House and so the House of Commons now had more power than the House of Lords.

44
Q

Who took over as leader of the Conservative party in November 1911?

A

Andrew Bonar Law

45
Q

What did the Parliament Act/Bill help make the Constitution?

A

It helped make the constitution more democratic

46
Q

What had happened for women in the 19th century?

A

They had made progress in achieving legal equality and political emancipation on a government level.

47
Q

What opportunities did an increased amount of women have?

A

They had more opportunities in educational professions and more professional careers.

48
Q

What were Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith doing to obstruct the emancipation of women?

A

Campbell-Bannerman - Prime Minister from 1905 - 1908 was only half-hearted in his support for female suffrage.
Asquith - Prime Minister from 1908 made no secrets for his opposition to female emancipation.

49
Q

What were political parties unclear about when it came to female suffrage?

A

The impact of the female vote and which party would benefit.

50
Q

In 1910 why did many Liberals hesitate when giving women support?

A

In case the result disadvantages the party.

51
Q

Why was there reluctance to tackle another contentious issue?

A

The social reforms of the Liberal party were already taking up so much Parliamentary time and causing so much controversy that people were reluctant to tackle other issues like that.

52
Q

What was the issue between men and women, who couldn’t get the vote?

A

People found it hard to separate the issue of female suffrage from the issue that some males still couldn’t get the vote and people didn’t want to give women the vote so that other men would try and get the vote as well.

53
Q

What was the traditional view of men and women?

A

That men were strong and that women were mentally and physically inferior.
That men and women were in different spheres and had different roles in society.

54
Q

Did all women support the idea of female suffrage?

A

No not all women did and some were perfectly fine living their life as normal and not bothering with political matters.

55
Q

When did local suffrage societies and campaigning first become active?

A

1860s

56
Q

In 1897 what female suffrage society was formed and by who?

A

The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society and it was established by Millicent Fawcett.

57
Q

What did the NUWSS believe they should do to achieve their objectives?

A

They believed they should peacefully protest by using discussions, processions, petitions and meetings as non-violent methods to achieve their goals.

58
Q

By 1914 how many members and societies did the NUWSS have?

A

500,000 members and 400 societies.

59
Q

What is the WSPU?

A

It was the Women’s Social and Political Union and it was formed in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and daughters Silvia and Christabel.

60
Q

Why was the WSPU formed?

A

It was formed because Emmeline Pankhurst and the others believed that there wasn’t enough progress towards women’s suffrage and they believed that violent methods were a good idea.

61
Q

Why did the WSPU become increasingly violent?

A

Because the Liberal Party couldn’t find Parliamentary time to debate the question.

62
Q

Between 1911 and 1914 what did the Suffragette’s actions include?

A

Arson, Physical assault and also hunger strikes when they were arrested and put in prison.

63
Q

What was the Cat and Mouse Act in 1913?

A

When imprisoned the suffragettes would refuse to eat and so the prison wardens had to force feed. The wardens would use metal clamps and put tubes into the women’s mouths. In response to a public cry the Parliament passed the Cat and Mouse Act of 1913. This allowed the government to release the hungry strikers and re-arrest them when they regain their strength.

64
Q

What did the government do by failing to support female suffrage and militant intervention?

A

They alienated the militant and female suffrage supporters.

65
Q

What actions did the WSPU take when they stepped up in violence?

A
  • Window breaking
  • arson
  • attacks on museums, churches and art galleries
66
Q

Who did the NUWSS ask support from?

A

They already worked closely with the Liberal Party as an ally but started to look for the Labour Party as an ally in Parliament.

67
Q

What were the impacts of militant tactics on female suffrage?

A
  • There was an increased amount of publicity, which increased the funding, awareness of female emancipation and the amount of recruits.
  • Women, who weren’t violent joined the NUWSS and the numbers rose from 12,000 in 1909 to 50,000 in 1914.
  • Anti-suffragettes organised themselves into a movement in 1911 called the National League of Opposing Women’s Suffrage.
  • For many, the militant actions of the suffragettes made them believe that they weren’t responsible enough to have the vote.
68
Q

After the December 1910 election how many Irish Nationalists were the Liberal Party depending on in the commons?

A

84 Irish Nationalist MPs in the House of Commons.

69
Q

Who were these Irish Nationalist MPs lead by?

A

John Redmond

70
Q

What did the Irish nationalist MPs want?

A

Irish Home Rule and they believed that the 1911 Parliament Act had finally made this possible.

71
Q

When did the third Home Rule Bill start its progress through Parliament?

A

1912

72
Q

What is the third Home Rule Bill?

A

It is a moderate measure that would give Ireland its own Parliament with the power to make laws on purely Irish matters. The British Parliament would still take control of Foreign policy, defence, trade, pensions and national insurance. Ireland would still continue to send MPs to Westminster.

73
Q

Who opposed Home Rule and why?

A

The Conservatives had opposed Home Rule for a long time because they supported the view of the Ulster Unionists and the mainland Protestants, who lived in the North-east corner of Ireland because they believed that Ireland shouldn’t be independent and should remain a part of Britain.

74
Q

What was the Conservative’s argument for opposing Home Rule?

A

They said that it would undermine Great Britain’s great power and status by breaking up the British empire.

75
Q

What was their reason for opposing the Liberal Party changing the constitution?

A

They had no authority to change it because Home Rule had not been an issue in the 1910.

76
Q

What were the Unionists in Ireland scared of?

A

They feared discrimination in a Catholic dominated country where there was a growing emphasis on the Gaelic heritage.

77
Q

What did Ulster Protestants not want to happen?

A

They didn’t want to lose the wealth they had gained through the major shipbuilding and textile industries to British control or someone else’s control. Ulster businessman didn’t want their businesses taxed heavily just to help the poorer more rural parts of Ireland.

78
Q

What is the short story of the Home Rule Bills?

A

The first Home Rule Bill was introduced in 1886 and was defeated in the House of Commons and never introduced into the House of Lords. The second Home Rule Bill was introduced into the House of Commons in 1893 and made it to the House of Lords but unfortunately it was defeated in the House of Lords.

79
Q

With the House of Lords power to veto gone in 1911 who did the Ulster Unionists rely on to resist Home Rule?

A

The leadership of the Lawyer Edward Carson.

80
Q

What did Carson do in 1912?

A

He drew up the Ulster Covenant know as the Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant, which he used to protest against the British Government’s introduction to the Third Home Rule Bill.
Thousands of Ulster men signed it and some in their own blood.