Theme 4 a 1 - The impact of boom, crisis and recovery, 1918-39 Flashcards
When did Britain experience a consumer boom?
Why was it initially assumed that there would be a boom?
- Experience a 2 year boom, ending in 1920.
- Assumed - due to end of wartime shortages- lifting or rationing etc.
What did the short lived boom fail to do?
- Generate high levels of employment needed to absorb the large numbers of men demobilising from the army.
- Caused economic crisis & decline in living standards- exacerbated by the Great Depression of the 1930s..
Boom 1918-20
Who was the prime minister and what had he promised?
What was the post war boom like?
- Lloyd George- promise of a ‘land fit for heroes to live in’ - seemed initially achievable.
- Firms recalibrated for peacetime production, prices continued to rise, government did little to regulate production.
- Initially demobbed soldiers returned to work & seemed living standards would rise & families had money to spend.
Economic crisis in the 1920s & 1930s
How many people were unemployed by the end of 1920?
How many of these were ex-servicemen?
1 million.
one-third = ex-servicemen
Economic crisis in 1920s & 1930s
Was unemployment uniform across Britian?
Give examples?
No!
- Newer industries - emerging- unemployment not as severe in these areas.
- 1932- approximately 12% of those engaged in electrical appliance manufacture were unemployed compared to 70% of those engaged in ship building.
Economic crisis in 1920s & 1930s
What employment did young women often have the ability to maintain?
Employment as teachers or nurses.
Regional differences
What industry was there a decline in- give example?
What did this result in?
- Decline heavy industry- ship building, production of coal, iron, cotton- had huge impact on living standards where they were concentrated.
- Disparity of living standards in poorest & wealthiest parts of the country widened in the 1920s & 1930s.
Regional differences
At the height of the Great Depression in 1932- what were unemployment rates at in London & the southeast compared to Wales?
London & Southeast- 11%
Wales- 40%
Regional differences
What areas slumped?
- South Wales - coal fields.
- Ship building regions of the Clyde and the Tyne.
- Formerly busy ports like Liverpool.
Hunger
Where was it the worst?
What did a survey in 1933 conclude?
When was there a real scientific understanding of the effect of nutrition shortages- what was finally understood?
- Unemployed families- depressed areas.
- Unemployment benefits- insufficient to provide a minimum diet recommended by the Ministry of Health.
- 1930s- understanding of the causes of deficiency diseases like Rickets.
Hunger
What group of people suffered the most from hunger & why was this?
Working class women.
Would ensure children ate first & and men as the primary bread winners!
Hunger
How did many poor working-class families manage to make ends meet?
By getting ‘tick’ ( a cheap staple food) from the local greengrocers & in poorer areas the local pawnbroker enabled families to borrow money.
After 1933- what industries grew?
Where ?
‘Light industries’ such as the production of household appliances- grew in the southeast of England - these more prosperous areas experienced a consumer boom.
In 1932- what percentage of those involved in shipbuilding were unemployed?
Why was this?
70%
Due to economic policy of protectionism & reattaching Britain to the Gold Standard in 1925, which had limited the attractiveness of Britain’s goods as exports to the rest of the world. (You don’t need ships, if you don’t export).
The consumer boom
(try and learn 1/2 of these facts)
In 1930- how many vaccum sales were there a year?
What had this figure risen to 8 years later?
What % increase was there in the sale of electric cookers between 1930-1935?
1930- 200,000
8 years later- 400,000
300% increase.
