Economic issues 1914-22 Flashcards
(23 cards)
How many shells had been produced by 1915? How had this changed in 1918?
Two million in 1915, 187 million by 1918
What demands became huge during the war?
- Providing transport
- Providing food
- Ensuring adequate supply of coal
- Vast quantities of war materials to itself and its allies
What were the effects of the huge demand of war on the British economy?
- Pushed up prices
- Created shortages of materials AND workers
What was the Neuve Chapelle offensive blamed on? When was it?
- 1915
- Blamed on shell shortage
What did Lloyd George successfully campaign for in 1915?
- Ministry of Munitions to oversee purchase, production, supply of all war materials
- He headed this himself
What industries came under state control from DORA?
Railways, docks, coal mines, etc.
What did the Ministry of Munitions do?
- Set up a central purchasing system to buy essential war materials
- Organised British science to help the war effort
- Encouraged development of new weapons, eg. tank
- Built its own national factories and encouraged others to switch from peacetime to war production
What did the Ministry of Munitions control?
- Prices
- Wages
- Profits
- Rationing
- 90% of all imports
How many factories did the Ministry of Munitions control directly by 1918? How many others were supervised by the ministry?
- 250
- 20,000
How did the state alter daily life in Britain?
- Altered the clocks with BST
- Reduced strength of alcoholic drinks
- Limited opening hours for pubs
Why was a Department of Food Production set up?
- To increase the amount of home grown food
- Huge armies assembled had to be fed, but this was difficult because of a shortage of labour and U-boats sinking ships
What did the Department of Food Production implement?
- Gov subsidised farmers to plough wasteland
- Allocated scarce fertilisers
- Supplied prisoners of war to work the land
- Encouraged women to volunteer for farm work
What happened in 1915 to help the British economy?
Income tax was greatly extended
How did the war benefit unskilled workers?
They were given more bargaining power because of the increasing number of jobs
What was the effect of war on housing?
Worsened it by a lot. All resources directed to the war - no houses were built, and even minor repairs were skipped
How substantial was the housing deficit even after Addison’s Housing Act?
800,000
Why was Geddes’ Axe needed? What did it result in?
- Economic recession led to gov considering retrenchment policies
- Resulted in a cut back of social provisions for hospitals, education, housing
- Made it harder for unemployed to claim benefits
- Repealed 1920 Agriculture Act
What was the Treasury Agreement? When was it made?
- Unions guaranteed improved conditions and wages in return for no striking and dilution
- 1915
What is dilution?
Employing unskilled workers in skilled jobs
What was a common feeling by the trade unions regarding war?
Feeling that burden of war fell disproportionately on the workers
Give some examples of strikes that took place during the war
- 1917 Vickers Gun factory — engineers strike about wages, causing a 2-3 week delay
- Some iron and steel workers strikes against a tax on ginger beer which they claimed was essential to their work
What was the “hands off Russia” campaign?
Dockers refusing to load ships with weapons to be used against communists in Russia, for example
How were the staple industries faring after the war?
- Lots of structural unemployment
- In the coal sector, Poland and Germany began single-handedly supplying the world’s markets
- Ships also began using petrol instead of coal, lowering demand further
