HIGHFIELD HISTORY HIGHFIELD HISTORY REVISION GUIDEREVISION GUIDE

OCR GCSEOCR GCSEMODERN WORLD HISTORYMODERN WORLD HISTORY

Paper 2Paper 2International Relations 1918-International Relations 1918-

19391939Russia 1905-1941Russia 1905-1941

0

HIGHFIELD HISTORY REVISION GUIDEContents

2 SUMMARYWhat to expect in the exam, structure of paper

3 HOW TO REVISETips and advice on the best methods

4 USEFUL WORDS AND PHRASES Advice on how to write good History answers

5 REVISION NOTESLiberal Reforms

11 PRACTICE QUESTIONSLiberal Reforms

15 REVISION NOTESWomen’s Suffrage

21 PRACTICE QUESTIONSWomen’s Suffrage

25 REVISION NOTESHome Front in First World War

30 PRACTICE QUESTIONSHome Front in First World War

1

SUMMARY

How was British Society changed, 1890-1918?

Although you have studied three topics only one will be in the exam. This will not be known to either you or your teacher until you’re in the exam room. It is therefore essential that you revise for all three. You must answer ALL of the questions. As this is a source paper you MUST include the sources in every answer but don’t forget you also MUST include your own knowledge and your opinions where necessary.

The first question is usually .

The second question

The third question

The fourth question

The fifth question

The final question always follows the same format where you will get a statement in the form of someone’s opinion – you always have to either agree or disagree with it. It is essential that you include all the sources. The best method to ensure you will succeed in this question is to use two highlighters to select information that either agrees with, or goes against the statement. Once you’ve highlighted these two colours you’ve made an essay plan, one colour in paragraph and the other colour in the next paragraph. All you need to do then is add your own knowledge to support this and put in a conclusion to say what you think. This is usually worth X marks.

2

TOPICS AND KEY QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 2:

The Liberal Reforms 1906-1914

Why did the Liberals introduce reform? What was the role of Booth and Rowntree in relation to that of the New Liberals and the Labour Party.

What were the Liberal Reforms? Who did they help and what did they do. What were the limitations of the Liberal Reforms? Even though they helped

peoples’ lives, who did they not help and what were their limitations.

The Women’s Suffrage Movement 1890-1918

The Home Front in the Great War 1914-1918

3

HOW TO REVISE

There are many methods to try and choose from when you revise for exams and tests. The key is to vary your methods of revision and use the ones that work for you best. This page gives you some suitable methods that can work. Try them out and keep using the ones which are best for you.

1. Old exam papers : The best method and a must for everyone. If you can succeed at the old papers you will be able to do the new ones. You can go into the exam confident that you know your stuff. For best use – time yourself under exam conditions. If you look at a question and you are completely stuck then you know what you need to go back and look at.

2. Read, cover, write: as it says. Re-read your notes, cover them over and try and write them out again but in a summed up and briefer version! Not the most fun.

3. Topic summaries: Take each topic of the course, highlight the key points/dates/facts on it in your book, then produce a summary card or sheet with only the key points on it. Make sure it is neat and understandable, because afterwards you can put your book aside and just use the summaries.

4. Mind Maps: Put the main sections of a topic in the centre of a large plain page and allow your mind to make links putting down brief phrases, words or pictures. If not much ends up on the paper you know what to re-study.

5. Verbal tests: Get your parents/friends to test you on your factual knowledge

6. Put up lists: of key events, words, people around your room at home e.g 10 facts per key person such as Hitler. The back of the toilet door is a good place to leave them!

7. Read someone else’s work: This is not cheating! Read someone else’s work who consistently does slightly better than you. Try and spot why.

8. Memorise mark schemes : Your teacher should be able to provide you with these or they might be available on the exam board’s website. Memorise what you have to do to reach the higher levels on any question, then practise doing this using old exam papers (see point no.1).

9. Cartoons/pictures: try and draw a cartoon strip of a major event you have studied or a cartoon that sums up an event or topic.

10. Revision games : make up and try out different games such as bingo or taboo. Really good for vocabulary memory.

DO NOT SIMPLY RE-READ YOUR EXERCISE BOOKS. IT DOES NOT ACTIVELY USE YOUR BRAIN AND IT IS BORING.

4

USEFUL WORDS AND PHRASES FOR WRITING GOOD HISTORY ANSWERS

Connecting words:

Should be used to allow your writing to flow – especially when you are going into a new paragraph. It bridges the gap for the reader so they know where you are going. Try and add some more to this list as the course goes on.

However

Although

Moreover

Significantly

Effectively

Furthermore

Perhaps

Yet

Nevertheless

Regardless

In summary

Therefore

In consequence

In conclusion

Thus

Historical phrases:

Good historians recognise that there are opposing views to their own. They know that the evidence can be interpreted differently. They are desperate to back up their own views with strong evidence but they are careful not to use language that is too definite. They often use phrases like the following:

The evidence suggests...

It appears that…

It seems likely that… The facts seem to show that…

Add some more of your own:

5

How was British Society changed, 1890-1918?

What were working and living conditions like for the poor in the 1890s?

Working Conditions

Most people at the beginning of the twentieth century worked in the ‘old industries’.

These were the industries that had developed during the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Steel-making and shipbuilding 1,570,000Transport 1,440,000Agriculture 1,400,000Textiles 1,350,000Building 1,220,000Clothing 1,210,000Mining 940,000

The Old industries had depended upon steam power and developed where there was coal and iron.

They were mostly in the North West, North East, South Wales and Scotland. They had been the basis of Britain's industrial success since the Industrial Revolution.

They were heavy, concentrated industries. They produced raw materials or very large products like ships.

In all of these industries Britain had been the leading country in the nineteenth century.

But by 1900 other countries were beginning to catch up.

During the First World War, when Britain was busy fighting, the USA and Japan both overtook Britain in some of these industries.

The most mechanised industry was textiles. In cotton and wool factories all production was carried out by machine.

Most workers in these industries were men. Only textiles and clothing employed large numbers of women.

Why did women found developing a career very difficult at the beginning of the twentieth century?

Women were often not as well educated as men. Before 1876 education had not been compulsory and it was not free until 1880. Some families educated their sons, but not their daughters.

6

At the beginning of the twentieth century only about one girl in fifty stayed at school after the age of ten.

Women were expected to get married and have children. Men were the head of the household and could tell women what to do.

Women’s pay was always less than a man’s, it was usually about two-thirds.

The law offered very little protection to women when they tried to get a job. There was nothing like ‘equal opportunities’.

Women did not have the vote and so could do little to change the situation.

The employment opportunities for women in the years to 1914

The largest employer of women was Domestic Service. About 2,300,000 people worked as domestic servants, including about 1,600,000 women.

Many girls went into domestic service when they left school at the age of twelve.

Women also worked in large numbers in the textile industries (cotton and wool) and in clothing.

Often the work in the clothing industry was carried out in small workshops which were in the house of the employer. These were part of the ‘Sweated Trades’.

These workers faced very bad conditions and very low pay. Women had no way of protesting as they usually worked in small groups and had no trade unions.

They often needed the money and had no alternative but to accept the conditions.

Women were also beginning to work in newer industries with inventions, such as telephone exchanges and using the typewriter.

Women worked in telephone exchanges connecting calls and in offices using typewriters. They were usually quicker than men and had smaller hands and fingers.

Domestic service

This employed one person in every eight in 1900.

It was also one of the few jobs that employed women in large numbers.

There were two types of domestic service. Some ‘lived in’ in houses of their employers, others ‘lived out’.

Domestic servants often worked in very bad conditions and it was almost impossible for them to do anything about them.

7

Servants who lived in had rooms in the attics of houses and worked very long hours as cleaners, cooks or chambermaids.

Their pay was often very low, sometimes only 5 or 10 pounds a year. They often only got one half day a week, or even a month, off.

Servants who lived out were usually married. They were better paid

Why did so many women work in Domestic Service?

The school leaving age was 12; many girls went straight into service. They were able to earn some money to help the family budget until they got married.

Because there were so many girls looking for work, pay was very low.

It was a job, which did not require a high level of education. Most of the work was manual.

Coalmining

Coalmining was a major employer at the beginning of the twentieth century.

In some parts of the country, such as South Wales, South Yorkshire and parts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, towns and villages depended entirely on coalmining.

Sons went down the pit with their fathers at the age of fourteen and worked all their lives underground.

Mining could be very dangerous. About 1,000 miners were killed every year. 20% of miners suffered some form of injury during their lives.

Many miners who did not suffer injury caught pneumoconiosis from inhaling coal dust. This gave them a terrible cough and their lungs filled up with coal dust.

Agriculture

British agriculture had suffered from increasing competition from the USA at the end of the nineteenth century.

Frozen meat had also begun to be imported from Australia and New Zealand

Many British farms were very small and the workers had very little machinery to use. A lot of work was still done by hand at harvest-time and haymaking.

Dockwork

Dockers were men who unloaded ships when they arrived in British ports.

Most of the work was done by hand. Dockers were expected to carry as many as 1,000 sacks off a ship in a day.

8

Dockwork was 'casual'; this meant that many dockers did not know if they would have a job from one day to the next.

Dockers were ‘taken on’ each morning by a foreman. Dockers sometimes had to bribe the foreman to persuade him to pick them every morning.

There were often fights between dockers as they tried to get work in the morning.

The Sweated Trades

In the sweated trades workers worked in tiny workshops, in dreadful conditions for very low pay.

Other workers worked at home and were paid piece rates. They made jewellery, painted toy soldiers or addressed envelopes.

Most of these workers were women. They needed to earn money, but had to look after their children.

There were laws to stop this happening, but they were very difficult to enforce. The worst conditions were in very small workshops, often in the house of the employer. It was almost impossible to check on every workshop.

The workers could not afford to complain or they would lose their jobs.

Shipbuilding

This was one of the most successful industries in Britain. One third of all of the world’s ships were built in Britain.

Skilled shipbuilders, such as rivetters, were among the highest paid workers in Britain.

Other industries, such as coal and iron and steel, depended on shipbuilding for many of their orders.

9

Living Conditions

Until the mid-nineteenth century, housing was generally very poor in the centres of cities.

From the late 1850s, proper drains began to be built and fresh water was supplied to most houses.

However, in some areas, such as the East End of London, most working people lived in rooms or parts of houses.

In the North of England, houses were often ‘back-to-back’ with no gardens.

In London, houses were built around courtyards with a water tap in the middle.

Some people were lucky enough to move into brand new flats in Peabody Buildings

These were built by an American George Peabody, who came to live in London and was shocked by the dreadful standard of housing for many people.

He set up a charity that built many blocks of flats in central and East London. Many of them are still standing today.

However, many families lived in one room in a tenement building.

In London, in 1902, only 3 out of 8 water companies filtered supplies before they were pumped into houses.

Average life expectancy was less than 50 for both men and women.

Poverty in the 1890s

At the end of the nineteenth century central government did not provide any help for poor and sick people in Britain.

There was only one major way that that help was provided, through the Poor Law.

Many people did not believe that it was the government’s responsibility. There was also a strong belief if somebody was poor it was their own fault.

People blamed poverty upon laziness, drunkenness or crime.

The worst effects of poverty were found in areas like the East End of London.

Many people assumed that poverty and ill health were linked to the area that people lived in.

10

The Poor Law/Workhouse system

The whole country had been divided into ‘Unions’ and each Union had built a workhouse.

If people were unable to support themselves, they could apply to be admitted to the workhouse, where they would be fed and housed.

In a Workhouse families were separated. There were rules to obey, such as: silence during meals, wearing workhouse clothes, no drinking or smoking, only seeing your family once a week.

It was intended to try to persuade people not to go into the workhouse.

By the late nineteenth century, workhouses were much better. Children were educated apprenticed to learn a trade.

Poor Law Hospitals offered free medical treatment.

From 1886 Poor Law authorities were allowed to provide work for the unemployed. From 1905 they could raise money for this purpose.

About 80% of paupers received outdoor relief. Only about 150,000 were in workhouses. By the end of the century married couples were not split up.

Paupers were properly clothed and fed, but workhouses were still very unpopular. However, they continued to operate until 1929.

How were social reformers reacting to the social problems of the 1890s?

Charles Booth

Charles Booth began a survey of life in the East End of London in 1886.

Over the next seventeen years he and his workers visited every house in every street and questioned the occupants.

They found out how many people lived there, what work they did and how much they earned.

His findings were published in ‘Life and Labour of the People in London’ in 1903.

He showed how many people lived in dreadful conditions, with families squashed into one room in damp tenement blocks.

11

Seebohm Rowntree

Seebohm Rowntree did almost exactly the same in York.

In 1901 he published Poverty: ‘A Study of Town Life’, which was based on interviews with every family in York.

Booth and Rowntree came to very similar conclusions.

Both found that about 30% of the population lived in poverty.

Both Booth and Rowntree worked out that a family of five, two adults and three children, would need about £1.08 each week.

Rowntree also worked out why each family did not earn enough to live on. The most common reason was low pay, which accounted for 52% of the families.

The other reasons were: unemployment, sickness, death of the main wage earner, large families and old age.

But despite the dramatic findings of Booth and Rowntree, the government did not act. It took something else to bring about changes.

Why did the Liberal governments introduce reforms to help the young, old and unemployed?

Reasons for the Liberal Reforms

The political background

The Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 had given the vote to many more people and almost all working men. By 1900, 7,000,000 men could vote.

Political parties now had to persuade voters to support them in general elections by publishing manifestos and making promises.

The Labour Party

In 1900 the Labour Representation Committee was founded. It became the Labour Party in 1906.

The LRC (Labour Party) wanted to improve conditions for working people.

The LRC offered to support the Liberals if they would introduce reforms.

In 1903 the Liberal Party and the LRC formed the MacDonald-Gladstone Pact. The two parties agreed not to fight against each other in the next general election.

12

The Liberal Party

David Lloyd George wanted to improve the lives of ordinary people.

He helped to develop the idea of ‘New Liberalism’, which was aimed at working people.

So when the Liberal Party won the general election in 1906, they decided to introduce some reforms to improve the health and the welfare of the British people.

Social and Economic change

Throughout the nineteenth century more and more reforms had been passed by governments. Government had taken responsibility for many areas of people’s lives and had protected them from harm.

Factory Reform had begun in the early part of the century. Public Health reform had begun in 1848. The first Education Act was passed in 1870.

In 1906 the Liberal took everything step further.

Important personalities

The most important people in the Liberal Party were:

Herbert Asquith, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1905 to 1908 and Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916;

David Lloyd George, who became Chancellor in 1908 and introduced the People’s Budget of 1909.

Winston Churchill, who was President of the Board of Trade.

The Boer War

In 1899 Britain went to war with the Boers, the Dutch settlers in South Africa.

Altogether about 450,000 men were recruited.

For the first time, however, volunteers had to take a medical and many failed. Overall, about 37% of volunteers were rejected.

But in some inner city areas of Britain, the figure was as high as 90%.

13

How did the British government react?

The Government became worried that there would not be enough men fit enough to fight in a war in the future.

In fact the figures were so bad that they were kept secret until after the war had ended in 1902.

After the Boer War a committee was set up to investigate the problem and it received some alarming reports.

The school leaving age had just been raised to twelve and teachers wrote in to their pupils were too tired to work and were unable to stay awake in class.

This concern for the health of the people of Britain became known as ‘National Efficiency’. The people of other nations, like Germany, seemed to be far more healthy

In 1905, a Royal Commission was set up to investigate the Poor Law, but when it reported in 1909 there was no agreement on what should be done.

Germany

In Germany the situation was quite different. The Germans had a form of welfare system, in which workers received unemployment benefits, medical treatment and old age pensions.

It meant that Germans were fitter than many British people.

How effective were the Liberal Reforms?

School children

In 1906 local authorities were allowed to offer free school meals to very poor children so that they received at least one decent meal a day.

Not all local authorities decided to do this and only about 100,000 children benefited.

The meals helped to prevent diseases like rickets, which were caused by malnutrition.

In 1907 the government began school medical inspections and dental checks.

14

These were intended to try to prevent children catching infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB), which was a major killer at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Children who lived in poor inner city areas could be up to 10 cm shorter than children in other areas.

15

The Children and Young Persons’ Act (Children’s Charter) 1908

This set up juvenile courts and juvenile prisons called ‘Borstals’.

Children were also banned from buying tobacco, fireworks and alcohol.

The hours of work of children were limited

Parents became legally responsible for the upbringing and welfare of their children by.

Young offenders were sent to Juvenile Courts and then to Borstals

Old Age Pensions 1908

Pensions were paid for the first time at the age of 70 in 1909. These pensions were non-contributory. A single person received 25 pence a week and a married couple received 37 ½ pence.

Altogether, there were about 1,250,000 people of seventy or over, which was more than had been expected.

Pensions were only available for old people with an income of less than £26 a year, or £39 for a married couple.

Old people no longer had to go to the workhouse and did not have to rely on their children for charity.

Trade Boards 1909 and 1913

These tried to help the low-paid. The worst conditions were in the ‘sweated trades’.

The Trade Boards Act set minimum wage levels for jobs where the workers could do little to help themselves. A second act was passed in 1913 to extend protection.

Trade Boards were made up of representatives of employers, workers and outsiders.

Labour Exchanges 1910

These were an idea of William Beveridge. Many workers had casual work and were frequently laid off.

Until 1910, the only way that a worker could find out where there were jobs was by walking from factory to factory.

16

In 1910, the Liberals set up a network if more than 400 Labour Exchanges (Job centres). These advertised jobs in one place.

The National Insurance Act 1911

The Act covered about 14,000,000 workers in industries such as building, shipbuilding and engineering, who earned less than £160 a year.

The worker bought a stamp costing 4d (about one and a half pence). His employer added a further 3d and the government contributed 2d.

In return, when the worker was away from work because he was sick he received 10 shillings (50p) a week for twenty-six weeks in any year and also got free medical treatment. This was provided by doctors who agreed to be ‘on the panel’.

Workers also received disablement payments, and maternity benefits.

The second part of the National Insurance Act came into force in 1912.

This extended insurance to 2,500,000 workers in seasonal employment.

The worker, the government and the employer all paid two and a half pence.

The worker could receive unemployment benefit of 7 shillings (35p) a week for fifteen weeks in any year.

School Clinics

In 1912, the Liberals set up children’s clinics. If the School Medical Service said that children should go and see a doctor, parents could take them to the clinics free of charge.

How successful were the Liberal Reforms?

For the first time the government accepted responsibility for the well-being of some of the people of Britain.

Old Age Pensions were only paid at the age of 70, when average life expectancy was about 47.

Only the lowest paid workers were covered by National Insurance, and it only included men.

The medical treatment offered by the Act did not include dentists and opticians and only covered the worker, NOT his family.

17

Hospital treatment was only provided for TB, the most dangerous disease at the time.

The Poor Law and the workhouses were not abolished. When benefits ended after 26 weeks or 15 weeks, the worker had to go to the workhouse.

But the Liberal reforms were a start.

The Liberals had never intended to take over complete responsibility for the welfare of the British people.

They had wanted to provide some sort of a safety net to prevent people falling into absolute poverty.

What were the arguments for and against women’s suffrage?

In the second half of the nineteenth century women gained more rights.

The Married Women’s Property Acts gave them control of their property after they were married.

Girls had to go to school. Women were admitted to universities.

Women gained the vote in local government elections.

New employment opportunities opened up after the inventions of the telephone and the typewriter and the opening of department stores.

But there were many opponents of votes for women.

Voting in 1900 was according to the household franchise. As only men were regarded as the head of a family, women were not allowed to vote.

Women were believed to be too weak to take part in politics.

They would be easily confused and would be unable to make up their minds, or would vote for the best looking candidate.

Men argued that the sexes were different and had different roles in society. Women’s role was to look after children and the home; men’s was to take decisions.

Queen Victoria was completely against votes for women.

Women did not fight in the armed forces.

Political parties were worried that giving women the vote would help their opponents

18

How did women reply?

Women had to pay taxes just like men, but had no say in how the taxes were spent.

Many women were also highly educated, but were denied the vote, while the most uneducated man could vote.

Men were quite prepared to trust a woman doctor with their lives, but would not trust them to vote.

In 1904 women in Australia were allowed to vote.

How effective were the activities of the suffragists and the suffragettes

The Suffragists

Millicent Garrett Fawcett formed the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies in 1897. This brought together 500 local organisations with more than 50,000 members, many of them men.

Millicent Fawcett became the President of the NUWSS. The NUWSS used peaceful and constitutional methods to try to win the vote for women.

Why was the WSPU set up?

Emmeline Pankhurst decided in 1903 to form an organisation for women within the Labour Party.

The Women’s Social and Political Union was founded at a meeting on 10 October 1903 in Emmeline Pankhurst’s house.

From 1903 to 1905 the members of the WSPU spoke at many Labour Party meetings in Lancashire.

The main speakers were Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia,

After a meeting in Oldham, Annie Kenney a factory worker, came forward and joined the Union. She became one of the few working class members of the WSPU.

Why did the WSPU begin a campaign of disruption in 1905?

The most important reason was the failure to make any progress using peaceful and legal methods.

19

From 1905 to 1908 the Suffragettes disrupted meetings, distributed leaflets, chained themselves to railings, shouted slogans at Westminster and picketed the houses of leading politicians.

From 1908 protests became more violent. Suffragettes began to throw stones at windows and cars. Some windows in Downing Street were broken.

Cabinet ministers, including the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith were attacked.

Suffragettes were arrested and put in prison. They began to go on hunger strike and were force-fed.

Why did the suffragettes suspend action in 1910?

In 1910, the Liberals introduced a Conciliation Bill which would have given the vote to some women.

Emmeline Pankhurst supported the Bill and called off all activities.

The Bill and a second Conciliation Bill both failed because the Liberals were afraid that votes for women would benefit the Toties.

In 1912 Suffragette tactics became even more violent and many moderates left the WSPU.

The greens on golf courses were attacked with acid and many had the slogan ‘Votes for Women’ burnt into them.

The orchid house and tea-rooms at Kew Gardens were wrecked.

Two railway stations, Saunderton and Croxley Green were burned down.

Suffragettes managed to plant two bombs in a house belonging to Lloyd George and destroyed part of it.

The increased violence also brought to an end any co-operation between the WSPU and the NUWSS.

The WSPU became completely isolated and its members followed the instructions of the Pankhursts without question.

The reactions of the authorities

The government decided on the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge) Bill.

This allowed the Home Secretary to release Suffragettes who went on hunger strike if their health suffered.

They had to agree to certain conditions and could be re-arrested if they did not.

20

At first, the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ appeared to solve the problem.

But Suffragettes soon began to pretend to be ill to get themselves released.

Once out of prison they began to campaign again. Emmeline Pankhurst was released and re-arrested six times in 1913.

21

The 1913 Derby

Emily Wilding Davison ran onto the Derby course at Tattenham Corner and stood in front of the King’s horse Anmer.

She was seriously injured and an emergency operation on her had failed to save her life.

Davison’s actions had not been approved by the WSPU, but she was turned into a martyr and given a heroine’s funeral.

One theory at the time was that she was attempting to commit suicide for personal reasons and not for the Suffragette cause.

It is also possible that she was not trying to commit suicide as she bought a return ticket.

Davison was a leading Suffragette, however, and was well known to the Pankhursts.

During 1913 and 1914 many houses were destroyed, Oxted Railway Station, Cambridge University Football Pavilion, Yarmouth Pier, Bath Hotel in Felixstowe and several churches.

A painting in the National Gallery was slashed in June 1913 and two paintings were attacked at Burlington House.

The Rokeby Venus was slashed by Mary Richardson in the National Gallery on 10 March 1914.

Did the Suffragettes help the women’s cause?

The WSPU was a small, exclusive and secret organisation. It had about 4,000 members who were organised into cells. Most members were educated middle class or even upper class women.

Instructions were sent out from the centre. From 1912 it was run dictatorially by Emmeline Pankhurst. She ordered the extreme violence of the years 1913 and 1914.

The Suffragettes certainly attracted public attention. At first many men supported the Suffragettes, but opinion turned against them from 1908 and there were anti-Suffragette rallies. Suffragettes were sometimes attacked by crowds.

However, there were several attempts to pass laws giving women the vote from 1910 to 1912. The Suffragettes suspended their actions an a number of occasions during these years.

22

After 1912, the government was reluctant to give into demands for votes for women because it would appear that they were giving in to terrorism.

At the outbreak of war the Suffragettes suspended all actions. Emmeline Pankhurst urged her members to support the war effort.

The government ordered the release of all prisoners. There were more than 1,000.

But Christabel Pankhurst continued to publish ‘The Suffragette’ throughout the war and this may have been a reason for women gaining the vote in 1918. The government wanted to avoid the Suffragettes restarting their campaign.

How did women contribute to the war effort?

Before the First World War many women worked. The most common job was Domestic Service.

About 2,000,000 women worked as Domestic Servants. Many women also worked in Textiles and in the Sweated Trades.

Women were normally paid two-thirds of a man’s wage and hardly ever got the chance of promotion.

During the First World War (1914 to 1918), 10,000,000 British people joined the armed forces. This left many jobs to be done at home. Because of this about 2,000,000 women began to work for the first time.

Many women had always worked, but for the first time many middle class women took jobs. But this did not happen immediately

The outbreak of war

At first women were not really affected by the war. In 1914 they were asked to knit socks and scarves for the soldiers and not much else.

The Suffragettes stopped all their action when war broke out, but nothing happened. Emmeline Pankhurst urged her followers to support the war in any way they could.

A group of women led by Elsie Inglis, who volunteered to go to France and work as nurses, was turned down by the army.

In July 1915 the Suffragettes, led by Christabel Pankhurst organised a Right to Work March in London.

By the end of the year, the situation was very different, as more and more men joined the Army and more and more munitions were needed, more and more women were needed to take their places.

23

Munitions

By the end of 1915 2,500,000 men had volunteered for the army.

New factories opened to produce planes, weapons and ammunition.

Munitions work could be very dangerous and very unpleasant. But many women gave up their jobs as domestic servants for the wages in munitions factories.

New factories opened to produce planes, weapons and ammunition, many women began to work in these.

In 1916 Conscription was introduced. This meant that even more women were needed. For the first time women began to be recruited into the armed services.

Women in the armed forces

The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) was used as nurses, by 1918 there were about 45,000, and the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) were used as drivers and secretaries.

In January 1917 the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps was set up, followed by the Women’s Royal Naval Service and the Women’s Royal Air Force.

Did women gain equality with men during the war?

Women were paid less than men, and men complained about the use of women workers.

In 1915 there were strikes against the use of women workers. Some men complained of 'dilution', unskilled women taking over the jobs of skilled men.

When the war ended most women were sacked and their jobs were given to men. There was a big campaign to persuade women to give up their jobs and go back to being housewives.

BUT there were some changes

Women had more freedom after the war. Clothing became much simpler. Trousers became acceptable for the first time

Women got the vote at 30 in 1918, but only if they were householders or married to a householder. In 1928 they got the vote at 21. The first woman MP was elected in 1919.

24

How were civilians affected by the war

Recruitment

The British army in August 1914 was a regular professional army. By European standards it was tiny, about 350,000 men, which led to the Kaiser describing it as a ‘contemptible little army.

In 1914 men rushed to volunteer for the army. It was believed that volunteers would fight more effectively than conscripts.

On 6 August Parliament agreed to increase the army to 500,000. The famous Kitchener poster appeared on 7 August. Recruiting offices were besieged.

By the end of August 300,000 men had volunteered. Recruiting was most successful, however, in areas of high unemployment.

In September another 600,000 men were called for and 450,000 more had volunteered by the end of the month.

Many men volunteered out of a sense of honour and often these were the most highly educated. These were to be the ‘lost generation’, as they became called after the war.

By December 1914, an army of 4,000,000 was planned.

Why did recruitment become more difficult in 1915?

By December 1914 the number of volunteers had fallen to 117,000 and by February 1915 to 88,000.

The war was obviously not going to be over by Christmas and news of the conditions at the front and of the casualties was reaching Britain.

At first newspapers printed lists of killed and wounded, but as numbers grew the government banned all such lists. Newspapers reacted by leaving blank spaces where the lists would have been.

As the war became more and more serious, unemployment fell and wages rose, volunteering had less and less attraction.

How did methods of recruitment change in 1915?

Posters became more strident and pointed, with slogans such as ‘What did you do in the Great War Daddy?’ Women were urged to put pressure on their husbands, brothers and sweethearts.

25

The Suffragettes launched the White Feather Campaign, even spitting in the faces of men in civilian clothes on buses.

National Registration of all single men was introduced in August 1915, so that they could be called upon if necessary.

The Derby Scheme

Lord Derby organised a massive recruitment campaign in late 1915.

He asked men to promise to volunteer if they were called. But anyone with a good reason would not be asked to fight.

No married men would be taken until all unmarried men were in the army.

Its most famous feature was a competition to find a new recruiting song. The winner was ‘Pack up your troubles in your old kitbag’.

But the campaign was a failure. By then 2,500,000 men had volunteered. The Derby Scheme proved to the government that conscription was essential.

Conscription

Conscription is compulsory military service and it was introduced in Britain for the first time by the Military Service Act of January 1916.

Why was conscription introduced?

The failure of the Derby Scheme convinced that the government that relying on volunteers would not work.

Haig, who became commander-in-chief in December 1915 believed in the ‘big push’ and demanded more men so that he could make a break through on the Western Front.

From 1916 to 1918 3,500,000 men were conscripted into the armed forces. There is no evidence that conscripts were any less brave than volunteers.

26

The Military Service Acts

This made all unmarried men between the ages of eighteen and forty-one liable for service in the armed forces. In May 1916 the Act was extended to include married men.

Conscripts could claim exemption on any one of four grounds.

Ill health

Reserved occupation, this meant that they were employed in an industry of national importance.

Family responsibility, this meant that they had dependants who would suffer if they were conscripted.

Conscientious objection

Anyone who claimed exemption had to go before a Military Tribunal and prove that they deserved to be exempt from service. The Tribunals could reach any one of four decisions.

Absolute exemption, this meant that the individual was declared to unconditionally exempt from service.

Conditional exemption, this meant that the individual was exempted providing that he undertook work of national importance.

Exemption from combatant duties, this meant that the individual had to join the armed forces but would not be required to be part of a fighting unit. This usually entailed joining something like an ambulance unit.

Rejection, this meant that the individual had to join the army and as subject to normal military discipline.

Conscientious Objectors

The Military Service Act produced two groups of Conscientious Objectors.

Non-combatants, who were prepared to join the army and performed duties such as medical orderlies and drivers, and

Absolutists, who refused to accept any form of military discipline and would not join the army.

The numbers of Absolutists was very small, probably less than 16,000, but they proved a very difficult problem for the government, especially as the army was determined to increase its reserve of manpower at all costs.

27

What happened to Absolutists?

They could be ordered to join the army, where they were subject to military discipline. If they refused to obey orders they could be court-martialled and even shot.

They could be sent to prison, where they would be sentenced to hard labour. Ten conscientious prisoners died in prison and another twenty died soon after release as a result of the conditions they were forced to endure.

From June 1916 conscientious objectors were sent to Home Office Work Centres.

At Dyce near Aberdeen, conditions were so cold and harsh (tents were the only accommodation throughout the year) that pneumonia broke out and several men died.

At Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, the usual job was handling the rotting corpses of animals.

At Princeton on Dartmoor, COs (as they became called) broke rocks or stitched mailbags like convicted criminals.

Conditions in the Home Office Work Centres improved after 1916, but they were not closed until April 1919, six months after the war ended.

By that time 73 Conscientious Objectors had died and another thirty-one had been driven insane by their treatment.

New government powers and their impact on civilian life

The Defence of the Realm Act was passed in August 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War.

It gave the government extensive powers, many of which were never used, for example, the following all became illegal; writing letters in code, using a camera without a permit, lighting bonfires, ringing church bells, buying binoculars, feeding bread to dogs and horses.

More serious were restrictions on hoarding food and profiteering and the fact that suspected spies could be held without trial.

Trade Union rights were limited and the government took the power to control rents and prices and seize land and horses.

In 1916 British Summer Time was introduced for the first time and the opening hours of public houses were limited.

28

Alcoholic drinks were watered down and buying rounds of drinks was banned. Convictions for drunkenness fell from 3388 in 1914 to 449 in 1918.

Rationing

Percentages of food imported in 1913

Sugar 100 Butter 65Cheese 80 Bacon 65Wheat 80 Fruit 40

The Defence of the Realm Act gave the government the power to start rationing food, but this had little effect until 1917, when German U-boats began to sink British ships in the Atlantic.

The government tried to set up voluntary schemes, but they did not work and some shopkeepers and local councils began to run their own schemes.

Food production was taken over and rationing was introduced in January 1918. This was more because of hoarding by than because stocks of food were low.

At first it only applied to meat, but in July 1918 sugar, butter, margarine and cooking fat were added.

Food sold in restaurants was also controlled.

Rationing had the effect of increasing food consumption, because most people bought their full rations, even if they did not actually need them or want them.

The government then introduced further restrictions.

Restaurant meals were controlled and there were food queues in March 1918, but rationing was never serious.

Rations per person per week in ounces in 1918

Meat 16 Butter and fats 4 Sugar 8

No other foods were rationed.

War Socialism

Rationing was introduced after David Lloyd Georg became prime minister in 1916. He ended the policies of Herbert Asquith and set out to win the War at all costs.

29

In 1917, Lloyd George introduced the convoy system to try to ensure that essential supplies reached Britain from the USA and Canada.

He took over five industries and ran then in the interests of the war economy; this became known as ‘war socialism’.

The industries were transport, ship-building, food production, labour and mining,

Labour became ‘directed’; this meant that the government could order people to work in key industries

Lloyd George's actions marked a complete change in government policy.

This was the first time that the British government had assumed such responsibility for the people of Britain and for its economy.

How effective was government propaganda during the war?

At first the main method of propaganda was posters, which publicised so-called German atrocities.

Some, like the shelling of Scarborough and Hartlepool, the sinking of the Lusitania and the execution of Nurse Edith Cavell were true.

There were also completely false stories about the ‘Belgian Priests’ and the ‘Babies on Bayonets’ story. Most people seemed to have believed them.

The stories were intended to make British people hate Germans and volunteer to fight.

The Great Body Scandal was a story published in 1917 that stated that the Germans collected the dead bodies of British Soldiers and turned them into fat.

In fact the Germans only collected the dead bodies of horses.

This story was not officially denied until 1925.

The Lusitania

The Lusitania was a liner, which was sunk on 8 May 1915 by a German submarine.

The sinking led to furious protests by the US government as 128 passengers were US citizens.

The Lusitania was sunk because it was carrying contraband (goods for the war).

30

It had 4,927 boxes of cartridges, 1,248 cases of shrapnel and 3,863 boxes of cheese and 696 tubs of butter mysteriously addressed to the Naval experimental Establishment.

31

The use of film

From 1915 films were made to encourage support for the war effort, and in 1916 the ‘Battle of the Somme’ film was shown in cinemas all over Britain.

It was watched by more than 20,000,000 people, still a record for any film in Britain. There were no scenes of fighting and no dead bodies.

But it produced anti-war feelings because of the trench conditions that it revealed.

From 1917 the Department of Information produced films and the National War Aims Committee published leaflets and held rallies. In 1918 the Ministry of Information was set up under Lord Beaverbrook.

Propaganda played an important part in persuading the people of the USA to support the war.

Why were some women given the vote in 1918?

Loss of the household suffrage

In 1916 a new register of voters was compiled. The government realised that many men who had served in the war were no longer able to vote.

All of the volunteers and conscripts had lost their property qualification, as they had not been resident in the country.

Men got the vote because they had been conscripted during the war and forced to fight and die for their country.

It would have looked very unfair if men who had fought for their country had lost the right to vote.

Votes for women

In 1918 all men got the vote at 21 and women got the vote at 30. But women had to be householders or married to a householder.

This was a good opportunity for the government to give the vote to women as well. Herbert Asquith, who had been against votes for women before 1914, spoke in favour in 1916.

Women also got the vote because of all the work that they had done during the war. They had proved that they were responsible.

It also did not appear as if the government was giving in to the threats of the Suffragettes.

32

The government may also have been concerned at the possibility of a revival of the Suffragettes. activity had been suspended in 1914, but Christabel Pankhurst had kept the Suffragette movement going during the war.

At the last minute the government realised that although women had been given the vote, they had not been given the right to stand to be MPs.

The Eligibility of Women Act was passed, which allowed women to stand for Parliament.

Despite the changes, women were only given the vote under the old household franchise. Some people regarded this as an experiment.

What was the attitude of the British people at the end of the war towards Germany and the Paris Peace Conference?

In November 1918 there was little sympathy for Germany or the German people in Britain. Headlines like ‘Hang the Kaiser’ and ‘Make Germany Pay’ were common.

Great Britain had not suffered anything like the same amount of damage as France.

There had been no fighting in Britain, but some coastal towns had been shelled by German warships and the big cities had been bombed by Zeppelins and 'Gotha' bombers. The British people wanted revenge.

The cost of victory had been enormous. £850,000,000 had been borrowed from US banks and this would have to be paid back.

£1,750,000,000 had been lent to Russia and this was never paid back, because the Bolshevik government refused to repay the debts of the Tsar. Great Britain was heavily in debt.

The Great War cost £5,700,000 a day, and income tax had been raised from 6p to 30p.

But the government had also had to borrow heavily and now there were debts which had to be repaid.

Britain had lost 704,000 men killed during the war. Whole villages and parts of towns had lost almost all there young men, and many others were crippled and injured, not surprisingly there was little sympathy for the Germans.

At the general election in December 1918, the Prime Minister David Lloyd George promised to 'Make Germany Pay'.

He demanded that Germany should be 'Squeezed until the Pips Squeaked'.

33

The British people expected that Germany would be made to pay for the effects of the war.

But when Lloyd George got to Versailles he adopted a different approach. He was concerned that if Germany was punished too hard, then there would be trouble in the future.

Lloyd George wanted Germany to be allowed to recover. However, he could not say things like that in public as the British people would not have agreed.

34