Unseen Prose Context 1918-1939

Question 1

Easter Rising

Answer 1

-Irish republican insurrection against British government in 1916.
-Irish Volunteers had around 16,000 members and were armed with smuggled German weapons.

Question 2

Government of Ireland Bill

Answer 2

-Published 1920.
-Proposed separate parliament for Northern and Southern Ireland.

Question 3

Violence in Ireland

Answer 3

-IRA engaged in arms raids and assassinations, troops sent in retaliation attack civilian targets.
-Riots between June 1920 and October 1922 killed 501 people in Belfast.
-This was known as the Troubles.

Question 4

Impact of WW1 on Scotland

Answer 4

-74,000 Scots killed.
-Industry, particularly naval, was heavily mobilised.
-Collapse of industry led to a period of economic depression.

Question 5

Political radicalism in Scotland

Answer 5

-Conflict between Unionists and Labour.
-Coalition government with Conservative and Liberal support was proposed but shut down.
-Government of 1930s dominated by conservatives.

Question 6

Impact of WW1 on America

Answer 6

-America gained massive significance on the world stage.
-Woodrow Wilson wanted a lasting peace.
-Many Americans were distrustful towards foreigners, particularly the newly emerging Communist party.
-This led to unrelated strikes and bombings being pinned on them in an incident known as the Red Scare.

Question 7

Economic change in America

Answer 7

-Corporate profits rose by 76 percent and wages by 33 percent.
-4,455,100 passenger cars sold in 1929.
-New consumer goods such as radios, telephones and refrigerators increased quality of life.

Question 8

Wall Street Crash

Answer 8

-Ushered in a period of economic depression across the world from 1929.
-In the 1930s Franklin D Roosevelt introduced the ‘Alphabet Acts’ that aided economic recovery.
-The US pursued isolationism by refusing to be involved in foreign disputes.

Question 9

Impact of WW1 on Britain

Answer 9

-Lost many key exports during the war.
-Massive economic collapse in 1920-21, industries of coal and steel declined.
-General Strike of 1926, in which workers of all industries walked out for 9 days.

Question 10

Division in Britain

Answer 10

-Large class division, exacerbated by economic decline.
-Rise of rental houses and council houses, wide suburbanisation.
-Improvements in diet, medical and social services.

Question 11

Modernism

Answer 11

-Movement involving experimentation with literary form and expression.
-Themes of alienation and a rapidly changing world.

Question 12

Realism

Answer 12

-Predicts total real life, without any romanticism or idealism.

Question 13

Themes of literature

Answer 13

-First World War, and trauma in general.
-Role of women, particularly with regards to status and role, and radical movements such as the suffragists and suffragettes.
-Psychology, and the way language shapes meaning.