August 4, 1914 is a significant date when Great Britain declared war on Germany. The reason for this was the assassination of the Austrian Archhero. During the July crisis, the German militarists wanted Serbia to be captured by Austria-Hungary. Imperial Germany had large weapons and wanted to defeat France and Russia. During the war with these countries, the German government was going to start a confrontation with England.
How the war started
In 1898-1901. On the eve of the First World War, England negotiated unification with Germany, but they were not successful. Much better things were moving with Japan. In 1902, the Anglo-Japanese alliance agreement was signed. British diplomacy fueled interest in the Russo-Japanese War, and during this period, England provided Japan with money and weapons.
The situation was heating up. German imperialism was preparing for a war for world redistribution and was considering the colonial possessions of England. Having a high-class army, Germany began to build a strong navy. The British imperialists considered Germany their main enemy.
England's actions
At that time, Great Britain during the First World War was engaged in the construction of the fleet more strenuously. Since 1905, a new type of armored sea monster "Dreadnought" has been adopted. During the war, 60% more large ships lined up in England than in Germany.
Already in the summer of 1914, England had a huge fleet. Price naval forces in 1912 was over 44 million sterling, which was much more than the expenditure in the 1890s.
The number of the standing army of England was about 170 thousand people. 250 thousand were in the irregular territorial army.
When Russia in 1911-1912 strengthened its military forces, in England the dates were set when the war would begin. British politicians believed that hostilities should be started in such a way as to blame Germany for everything. In their opinion, in the eyes of the public, England should look like a peaceful country.
British diplomats urged Germany that if there was a war, the English-speaking countries could remain neutral under certain conditions. In order to get as close as possible to its intentions, England in 1913 and early 1914 is trying to reconcile with Germany. During this period, agreements were made that the Portuguese and Belgian colonies could be separated, as well as the Baghdad railway and Mesopotamian oil. The last document was signed on June 15, 1914.
How was the war at sea
Germany and England could not accept such a state as the USA. Germany was indecisively engaged in submarine wars in 1914-1916, and this was due to the fact that she did not want to heat up the situation with America. But the relationship between England and America was not as sincere as everyone saw it. In 1916 the question was raised of whether to break off relations with England. This was the beginning of the naval program in September 1916.
Before the war, Germany managed to keep its imports at the level of 50% of the pre-war level. In 1916-1917 military operations at sea became more powerful. On May 31, 1916, a battle was fought between a large British fleet and a German one in the North Sea. The British turned out to be much stronger - they had 28 dreadnoughts against 16 German and 40 cruisers. A total of 145 British and 100 German warships took part. Both sides made many mistakes and the battle ended in a draw. Subsequently, England no longer began to withdraw a large fleet, although large German forces advanced several more times.
On January 31, 1917, Germany declared double hostilities. This also applied to the passenger ships of England and other countries, which were attacked by German submarines. From that moment on, the number of sunken ships began to increase. In total, their number in April was more than 1000. Food products and raw materials in England were decreasing in quantity and this could serve as its end. But still managed to find a way to deal with submarines - the escort system. In July 1917, naval losses were no longer so voluminous. Since the middle of 1917, the number of ships sunk was only 154.
England first World War- a period during which the standard of living of the population has significantly decreased. Despite the fact that the wages of the British became higher, the prices of products began to increase. At the beginning of 1915 food prices were 25% higher than in the summer of 1914, and at the end of 1916 they rose by 85-90%. At the same time, real purchasing power fell by 30-40%.
The economic part of England began to develop very narrowly. The number of lost working days amounted to more than two million. The workers asked for increased wages at military enterprises and, thanks to the solidarity of the miners, in 1915 the government began to control all the mines in the country.
In 1917 there were 730 strikes. Some of them were organized and distinguished by the class consciousness of the participants. The number of strikers and the number of lost working days was much greater than during all war periods. The shop stewards, who have moved to the committee, begin to manage the proletariat.
In 1918, after the German offensive, the Allies began to advance, approaching the Western Front. A big blow near Amiens was inflicted by the British army in August 1918, but attacks were already taking place along with British tanks and military infantry. In the Middle East, Turkey stopped participating in the war.
The Arab lands were in the power of the British authorities and settled in Constantinople. On November 11, Germany signed an armistice agreement and the First World War ended there.
Great Britain during the period between the world wars suffered various changes in the economic, political and industrial sphere. The war had both positive and negative effects on the country.
The consequences of the First World War for England. The First World War had severe consequences for the British economy. Despite the fact that she was among the victorious countries and one of her main competitors, Kaiser's Germany, was defeated, England emerged from the war very weakened.
The war put a lot of stress on the economy. Never before has the country produced so many weapons for such a huge army and navy. If in 1914 military spending accounted for 19% of the national income, then in 1916 it was 56.3%. While the industries that worked directly for the war were intensively developing, the rest were in decline: in general, industrial production decreased by 20%. Hundreds of thousands of able-bodied people were mobilized into the army, industry experienced a shortage of labor. During the war years, foreign trade turnover more than halved, exports suffered especially, the exchange of banknotes for gold ceased, the pound sterling depreciated, and taxes increased almost sevenfold. The British government was forced to sell foreign securities in the amount of 800 million pounds. Art., which, along with internal and external loans, served as a source of financing military spending.
During the war, the tendency to rally English entrepreneurs in the face of objective difficulties intensified noticeably. In 1916, the Federation of British Industry was created, which brought together thousands of firms and hundreds of associations and had the goal of confronting foreign competitors in the struggle for sources of raw materials and markets. Later, already in the post-war years, the British Bankers Association (1920) arose.
During the war years, the British government tried to protect domestic industry, so import duties were set on a number of goods in the amount of 33% of their value. In particular, these duties greatly helped the young British car industry in its fight against American competitors.
In the same period, England faced a rather acute food problem, since military operations prevented the import of food, and there was simply not enough money to buy it. This forced the government to take a series of measures aimed at
support for the agricultural sector of the country. In 1917, state purchases of agricultural products from farmers at favorable prices were introduced, and a guaranteed minimum wage was established for employees working on farms. Land formerly occupied by pastures was re-ploughed, increasing the area under grain crops by 3.75 million acres. This made it possible to raise the grain harvest by a third, but the food problem was never solved. England was still forced to buy from abroad a large number of food.
At the end of the war, the British government managed to carry out a number of measures to maintain the living standards of workers employed in the branches of the military-industrial complex, as well as soldiers demobilized from the front. So, from November 1917, 200 thousand workers began to receive increased (by 12.5%) wages, and demobilized soldiers were guaranteed benefits up to their employment. Of course, not all 4 million demobilized military personnel were able to find work. Most of them, in the conditions of post-war stagnation, remained outside the scope of production activities. Unemployment benefits were also paid to workers employed in military production if their enterprises ceased to operate.
As a result of the war, England lost 743 thousand people killed, 1.5 million were injured, the country lost almost a third of its national wealth. significant portion navy was destroyed during the fighting, in addition, up to 70% of the English merchant fleet was sunk.
And although under the Treaty of Versailles, England accounted for a significant part of the reparations from Germany, the British financial system was in deep crisis. Since the total cost of the war exceeded 11 billion pounds. Art., domestic public debt increased by more than 12 times compared with the pre-war level (from 0.6 billion pounds. St. in 1914 to 7.8 billion in 1918). External debt by the end of the war amounted to 1.15 billion pounds. st., of which 850 million (or $4 billion) is debt to the United States. Payments on this debt dragged on for many years, they annually accounted for up to 40% of all expenditures of the state budget of the country. London gradually lost its role as a global financial center. In this capacity, New York and Amsterdam became more and more famous, and England turned from a world creditor into a debtor (primarily the United States).
The fact that after the revolution in October 1917, Russia, which had previously acted as its traditional partner, dropped out of the sphere of investment of British capital had a great influence on the economic situation in England. England lost huge incomes from the mining, oil, coal mining and gold mining industries. The traditional Russian market for the sale of industrial goods was also lost. This forced the British government to take an active part in the military intervention of the Entente countries against Russia, but this action did not bring success to England.
Under the Versailles Peace Treaty, almost all German and Turkish colonies in the Middle East, Africa and Oceania passed to England. Southwest Africa, most of Tanganyika, a third of Togo, parts of Cameroon and New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Mesopotamia, Transjordan, Palestine and others fell under British control. The British colonial empire increased to 35 million square meters. km, and its population was now 450 million people. Half of Africa's population lived in the British colonies.
The expansion of the colonies made it possible to improve the supply of raw materials and food to the metropolis. Nevertheless, the reduction of international economic ties and the weakening of the world positions of England had a negative impact on its relations with countries that are in the sphere of British interests. The presence of American and Japanese goods and capital was increasingly felt in the markets of colonial and dependent countries.
For more than two centuries, England dominated the oceans. It has always been believed that the power of its fleet should be at least no less than that of the fleets of any two countries in the world combined. But at a conference in Washington (1922), England had to agree to bring its fleet to the level of the American one. This decision had a significant impact on the international prestige of Great Britain and hurt the pride of British politicians.
Immediately after the First World War, the British economy experienced a short-term recovery, which was associated with the export of equipment to Europe to restore the destroyed economy, as well as with the partial satisfaction of the population’s demand for consumer goods that had been postponed during the war. But by the end of 1920 this revival of the economy began to wane.
In 1919-1928, the British economy experienced a period of prolonged chronic depression, resulting in a decline in economic activity. England was one of the few industrialized countries that never managed to reach the pre-war level by the mid-1920s: the total industrial output in 1924 was only 91% of the same figure in 1913. And it was only in 1929 that industrial production reached its pre-war levels with difficulty.
The inevitable process of post-war conversion was associated with a reduction in the role of the state in the economy. The implementation of this task was entrusted to the government of David Lloyd George (one of the leaders of the Liberal Party), which already in 1919 abolished almost all the control bodies created during the war. But despite the fact that the government organized the sale of a significant number of military factories, four times more enterprises remained in the hands of the state than before the war. This indicated that the government had no intention of abandoning state regulation of the economy.
So, in 1921, control over the railways was partially restored, for which the railway companies were combined into four regional groups. The state began to play a significant role in social sphere, it carried out programs for housing construction and assistance to the unemployed, developed a system of public education. Since 1918, the country introduced universal primary education for children under 14 years of age free of charge. The Labor government led by James Macdonald, which won the 1924 elections, carried out the same social programs. In the same years, indirect taxes (excise taxes on tea, sugar and other products) were partially reduced.
After the Russian-“Japanese” war of 1904-1905, which was also organized by the masters of England and the United States, with the aim of playing off the Russians and the Japanese, knocking the Russian Empire off the shores of the Pacific Ocean and forcing it to concentrate on European affairs (where the Balkan “gunpowder” was already being prepared cellar" and pit the Russians against the Germans and Austrians), hold a rehearsal of the world war and the revolution in Russia, focused on pitting the Russians against the Germans and Austrians. Now the main "ram" aimed at crushing the Russians and the Russian Empire was to be the German Empire in alliance with the Habsburg Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
It is clear that the masters of England and the United States needed to destroy all attempts by St. Petersburg and Berlin to get closer. This problem was successfully solved. All the rather timid attempts of Nicholas II to get closer to the German Kaiser were sunk (including the Björk Treaty of 1905), all friendly signs of attention from Germany were ignored in St. Petersburg. A major role in this was played by the Russian Foreign Ministry and the agent of influence of the West - S. Witte. The most prominent opponents of the fight against Germany were able to neutralize. In particular, P. A. Stolypin was killed, and in 1914, when it came to war, G. Rasputin was assassinated (he was seriously wounded). In 1916, when Rasputin spoke decisively in favor of Russia withdrawing from the war and concluding a separate peace with Germany, which could save the monarchy and the Romanov dynasty, British intelligence, through the hands of the degenerated Russian aristocracy, organized the murder of the old man.
At the same time, a big war in Europe was being prepared in the external arena, the prerequisites for a clash between Russians and Germans and Austrians. First, in the 1890s, a Russo-French alliance was created against Germany. France was then the main rival of Germany in Western Europe. Russia did not have to support the French to the detriment of its national interests. The British then prepared the groundwork for an Anglo-French alliance. Paris, which also feared the growing power of Germany and longed for revenge for the war of 1870, forgot about colonial disputes and traditional enmity towards England. In 1904, the signing of the Anglo-French agreement (fr. Entente cordiale - lit. "cordial agreement") took place.
The next stage was the establishment of Russian-English relations, complicated by contradictions in Persia-Iran, in Central Asia and on Far East. The Russian Foreign Ministry, fearing a confrontation with England, gladly fell into this trap. In August 1907, an Anglo-Russian agreement was signed. Russia recognized the British protectorate over Afghanistan; both sides recognized China's sovereignty over Tibet and renounced attempts to establish control over it. Persia was divided into three spheres of influence: Russian in the north, British in the south and neutral in the center of the country. The Entente was fully formed.
Thus, Britain created an anti-German alliance in Europe, received "cannon fodder" - Russians and French. At the same time, London managed to mislead Berlin, where, until the very beginning of the world war, they believed that England would remain neutral. If Germany knew that England would definitely take the side of France, there might not have been a war at all. Thus, the masters of Britain carried out a brilliant operation that created profitable scenarios for decades to come, aimed at playing off the main competitors of the Anglo-Saxons - Russians and Germans. Russia and Germany were skillfully led, doomed to death. Russia and Germany destroyed each other, and London and Washington received all the benefits. Also, the war was organized on the territory of the Old World, that is, continental Europe became a battlefield, and after the war needed material, financial and economic assistance from England and the United States.
At the same time, Russians and Austrians were actively pitted against each other. For this they used the Balkan problem. New Balkan states were permeated with the Masonic network, Masons, hiding behind nationalist slogans, actively pushed the Balkans to a big war. The great powers were drawn into the war - Turkey, Austria-Hungary (Germany was behind it) and Russia. Masons, with the help of Slavic nationalists, organized the assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand. The Austrian archduke was opposed to the war in the Balkans, which led to an inevitable clash with Russia, and wanted to reform the Habsburg empire - both the Habsburgs and the Slavic peoples benefited from the transformation of the dualistic empire into a "trialistic" one. As a result, the Balkan "powder magazine" exploded and provoked a pan-European fight.
Destroy, dismember and subdue the Russian Empire - the Russian civilization, which was the only one on the planet that retained independence from the West, an autocratic form of government and had the potential to create an alternative, just world order and society. Capture the richest resources of Russia, necessary to consolidate the "new world order" - a slave-owning, infernal civilization;
To destroy a possible union of Germany and Russia, Germans and Russians - the great Aryan (Indo-European) peoples, who have a great culture and preserve the ideals of chivalry. The union of Germany and Russia (with the involvement of Japan in the East, in the future - China and India) could create an alternative world order that preserves peace and prosperity in Eurasia;
Played against Germany and France, all major fighting were to be fought on the continent. As a result of the war, it led to a serious destruction of the economy, infrastructure of France, Germany, part of Italy, Austria-Hungary and the Balkans. England and the United States basically fought in Europe with proxy, and as a result of the war, they bent the Old World for themselves. The Anglo-Saxon Protestant and Jewish elites sought complete dominance over the old Romano-Germanic elite. It was a hidden confrontation within the westernmost project. World War bled Germany, Austria-Hungary and France. The masters of England and the United States completely subjugated the European "houses".
Thus, the First World War became the war of the West against Russia and the war of England and the USA against Old Europe and Russia for absolute power on the planet.
At the same time, a cunning combination was played, in which Russia allegedly became an "ally and partner" of England and France (and then the United States). Although the main task of the Entente was the destruction of the gullible Russian "ally". England and France during the campaigns of 1914-1916. "fought to the last Russian soldier", exhausting the strength of their gullible "ally". The British and French themselves waged a positional war, and they demanded decisive action from the Russians, large-scale offensive operations. Russia was losing gold, giving it to its "allies" for the supply of military materials and ammunition. The gullible tsarist government even sent an expeditionary force to France to support the "allies". The economy of the country was in disarray, the people, bled white and destitute during the war, were imbued with rebellious moods. "Allies" in the Entente prepared the ground for a revolutionary explosion inside Russian Empire. Detachments of professional revolutionaries were trained from various socialists, nationalists and separatists, many of whom lived abroad and were supported from various funds and banks.
It is worth noting that at the beginning of the war, the masters of the West relied on the military defeat of Russia. The Russian empire was to fall from the burden of war. Or weaken so much that, at the end of the war, prevent it from sharing the booty and start an already open war and occupation of Russia. It is clear that France and England were not going to give Tsargrad-Constantinople, the straits and Galicia to St. Petersburg. After the division of the “skins” of the German bear, the division of a weakened and bled Russia should have followed. However, even with such “allies”, the mediocrity of the Russian high command and the collapse of the rear, Russia remained a powerful power. Since 1916, the growth of the military industry began, the Russian army during the Brusilov breakthrough showed high combat effectiveness. And the armies of France and England were also exhausted by the war. New big american army was unfired, with low combat capability. England and the United States, as island powers, were incapable of waging direct, traditional land wars. They were good at pirating at sea, crushing weak peoples and tribes, and organizing punitive operations. England, the USA and France were not ready to fight even with the weakened Russian Empire.
Leaving behind illusions about the military defeat of Russia and its collapse, the masters of the West realized that Russia can only be taken from within. Therefore, the main efforts were directed to the formation of the "fifth column". The main role was played by the Februaryists-Westerners - the bourgeois-pro-Western part of the social elite of Russia, the degenerate aristocracy, part of the generals, political and social forces that opposed the autocracy. Masonic structures acted as an organizational, binding force. In the press, mainly controlled by Masonic, liberal-bourgeois circles, hysterical, slanderous propaganda began against the imperial family, Rasputin, against all those statesmen who still held back the processes of disintegration.
The royal power in these conditions was weak. She was unable to identify the goals of the "fifth column", its connections in the West and destroy the subversive, revolutionary forces. At the same time, it is worth remembering that everything should not be blamed on the Bolsheviks. At that time they were an extremely small, marginal party, they were practically on the sidelines of the political life of the Russian Empire, since they acted from defeatist positions at the beginning of the war. The Russian Empire, the autocracy and the Romanov dynasty were toppled by the Februaryists-Westerners- members of the ruling dynasty itself, representatives of the degenerate aristocracy, senior officials, generals, liberal bourgeois circles, bankers and industrialists. The organizing force was the Masonic lodges, which were controlled by the masters of the West. Diplomats and intelligence agencies of the “allied” Western powers also took an active part.
Britain in World War I is the participation of the British Empire in one of the largest conflicts in the history of mankind.
Remark 1
World War I (July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918) is one of the largest conflicts in the history of our world. It was the result of a redistribution of spheres of influence and sales markets of two opposing military-political blocs - the Entente and Triple union.
Entente (from French " cordial consent) - Initially, the union of the British Empire, the Russian Empire and the French Republic, formed in 1904-1907. Japan, Italy and Romania also joined the Entente. And in 1917, the United States entered the war on the side of the Entente.
Triple Alliance Union of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. A secret treaty between them was concluded in 1882. But in 1915 Italy took the side of the Entente. But instead of Italy, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria began to fight on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Thus, the Triple Alliance became Quadruple.
Britain's goal in World War I was the elimination of their main enemy in Europe - German Empire, participation in the redistribution of its overseas colonies, as well as participation in the division of the Ottoman Empire.
The reason for the war was the assassination in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, by the Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip.
Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914 after Germany demanded free passage from Belgium for its troops. In accordance with the agreements with Belgium and France, England opposed Germany.
Britain on the Western Front
British units, including those from the colonies, in particular from India, were sent to Western Front to help the Belgian and French units fighting there.
The German offensive against Paris and the English Channel ports at the end of 1914 was halted in northwestern France. A positional war began when both sides dug in and a large number of artillery and machine guns were accumulated on a relatively small section of the front.
Attacks by British troops in 1915 with the aim of diverting German troops from Eastern Front, where the Germans developed a successful offensive, did not bring the expected success.
Example 1
An example here is the battle of Neuve Chapelle, when from March 7 to 13 British Belgian troops tried to break through the German front, but in the end lost about 13 thousand people killed and wounded. Failed to complete the task.
One of the most important and largest battles of the First World War was the Battle of the Somme. The battle took place from July 1 to November 18, 1916. During it, more than 1 million people were killed and wounded, which makes the battle one of the bloodiest and most merciless in the history of mankind.
An important outcome of the Battle of the Somme was the final transfer of the initiative to the countries of the Entente.
One of the reasons for the heavy losses and unsuccessful offensives of the British army, the English historian Jeremy Black, considers the straightforward stereotyped thinking of British generals. Thus, Douglas Haig, commander of the British Army in France since December 1915, on the one hand rightly believed that the war against Germany would be won with the help of decisive command and offensive operations, but such operations were too expensive for both sides. Haig also attached great importance to the capabilities of the cavalry in the current trench warfare and considered the British to be the chosen nation.
The Battle of the Marne and the Battle of Verdun also became major and significant battles on the Western Front, where both sides suffered significant losses and could not finally break each other's resistance.
The allies on the Western Front, together with the United States that entered the war in 1917, managed to wear down the enemy and go on the offensive in 1917-1918.
As a result, the German troops were forced to withdraw, and due to the hopeless situation of the German Empire, on November 4, 1918, Germany's capitulation was signed. Thus ended the First World War.
The Western Front accounts for the largest number of British casualties, amounting to approximately 750 thousand people.
War at sea
The First World War became a confrontation between the two most powerful fleets - British and German. And the largest clash at sea was the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
Battle of Jutland
The largest clash at sea was the Battle of Jutland, which took place on May 31 and June 1, 1916. This battle was the largest conflict at sea during the First World War, between the British and German fleets. The British fleet suffered heavy losses, but the German one was unable to break through the British blockade. In this connection, both sides declared their victory.
The plans of the British side after the battle remained the same, the British fleet was still the dominant force on the high seas. Germany, on the other hand, was forced to switch again from February 1, 1917 to unlimited submarine warfare. Which, on the one hand, cost Great Britain a great effort of its own forces, and, on the other hand, became the reason for the US to enter the war, and the victory of the Allies over Germany.
War in the East
Dardanelles operation
The Dardanelles operation or the Battle of Gallipoli (February 19, 1915 - January 9, 1916) was a major military operation of the British and French command, carried out at the initiative of Winston Churchill, who at that time held the highest post in the Admiralty.
The purpose of the operation was to capture Constantinople and withdraw Turkey from the war. But neither the shelling of positions by the allied fleet nor the landing led to the desired results. The operation with big ones for the Entente allies was stopped.
The Turks fought initially successful battles in Iraq against the British troops, but in March 1917 the British managed to capture Baghdad.
In addition, thanks to the activities of the English intelligence officer and archaeologist Thomas Lawrence, it was possible to raise an uprising of Arab tribes against the Ottoman Empire. And by the end of 1917, British troops managed to take Jaffa, Jerusalem and Jericho. And as a result of the intervention against Soviet Russia, British troops appeared in the Transcaucasus, Central Asia, in the north of the country in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, together with the allies.
Results of the First World War for Great Britain
The First World War led to the introduction of military conscription in 1916, state regulation of the economy, and an increase in the role of the state and the state apparatus. The lower strata of the pre-war working class were able to raise their standard of living through food distribution.
In agriculture, fixed wages and rent controls were introduced in 1917.
The colonies of Germany were divided among the victors. Great Britain received a League of Nations mandate to govern Tanganyika, part of Togo and both Cameroons, as well as the island of Nauru in pacific ocean. Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq were also under British control.
The attack of the bourgeoisie on the working class
From the spring of 1919 to the summer of 1920, the British economy experienced a commercial and industrial boom. It was caused by an increased demand for consumer goods, the output of which was sharply reduced during the war years. However, the purchasing power of the workers was limited. The standard of living of the masses was undermined by inflation. Prices for basic necessities rose rapidly. The capacity of foreign markets was also small. In the middle of 1920 England entered a period of economic crisis.
Coal mining, iron and steel smelting, shipbuilding, and textile production have all declined. The volume of foreign trade has significantly decreased. The number of bankruptcies has increased. In the summer of 1921, a fifth of the members of the trade unions were unemployed. Lloyd George's government cut social spending and raised taxes. In October 1920 Parliament passed a reactionary Emergency Powers Act, which gave the government broad powers to crack down on the labor movement.
After this, the bourgeoisie went over to a broad offensive against the working class. In 1921, entrepreneurs reduced the wages of 6 million workers. But the workers continued to resist. Communists took an active part in the leadership of this movement. They called on the workers to stop the offensive of the bourgeoisie, to overcome the isolation of the trade unions and create a single leading center. In 1921 the General Council of the Congress of Trade Unions was formed. The leadership of this body was in the hands of right-wing trade union leaders. The leaders of the Labor Party and the trade unions, by their conciliatory policy, disarmed and divided the working class. The organization of the labor movement weakened. The ranks of the trade unions decreased in 1921-1923. for 3 million people.
The struggle of British imperialism against the national liberation movement
In an effort to weaken the national liberation movement in the colonies and to strengthen their national liberation positions there, the British ruling circles undertook a number of political maneuvers. In order to prevent the growth of the revolutionary struggle in India, the British government worked out in 1919 a project to reform the administration of this colony. The anti-imperialist struggle in India reached its peak in 1921. At the head of the popular movement was the Indian National Congress, the party of the patriotic national bourgeoisie, led by Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi. In the midst of the struggle, the Congress, fearful of the masses getting out of its control, called on the people to stop the campaign of civil disobedience against the British administration. The anti-imperialist movement in India began to wane.
In the post-war years, the struggle of the Egyptian people also unfolded, which came out for complete liberation from the rule of the British, who had imposed a protectorate regime on the country. Britain's rejection of Egypt's lawful demands provoked an armed uprising there in the spring of 1919. Fearing the victory of the people, the national bourgeoisie entered into an agreement with the British authorities. The uprising of the masses was suppressed, but the struggle continued. In December 1921, Egypt was again engulfed in revolt. The British government had to make a partial concession. It formally proclaimed Egypt an independent kingdom, but retained its troops on its territory and exercised economic and political control over the country.
With particular tenacity, the Irish people sought freedom and independence. The national liberation war of the Irish people against British imperialism lasted from 1919 to 1921. However, the Irish proletariat was not yet strong enough. But the Sinn Fein party was active. In January 1919, after winning the elections to the British Parliament, the Sinn Feiners convened the first Irish Parliament in Dublin, which proclaimed the independence of Ireland. I. De Valera became president. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched active hostilities against the British troops and police. Against the backdrop of other events, England found itself in unpleasant circumstances. So in December 1921, a peace treaty was signed between Great Britain and Ireland. Ireland (with the exception of the six most industrialized counties of the North East, which remained part of the United Kingdom) received the status of a dominion (the so-called Irish Free State). However, Great Britain retained military bases in Ireland. However, the majority did not like such a soft treaty towards the British, and a split occurred in the party of shinfeiners. As a result, in Ireland itself began Civil War(192223). With the help of partial concessions, the British imperialists succeeded in splitting the ranks of the national liberation movement in the colonies and dependent countries. Thus, the crisis of the British Empire was alleviated.
Conservatives in power
The government of Lloyd George faced serious difficulties both domestically and internationally. The government of Lloyd George, taking into account the mood in business circles, was forced to enter into negotiations with the Soviet government, which ended with the signing of the Anglo-Soviet trade agreement on March 16, 1921. England recognized de facto the Soviet government. After this, the contradictions in the British leadership on the question of relations with Soviet Russia became even more aggravated. War Secretary Churchill, Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon and others demanded the continuation of the interventionist policy. Lloyd George, on the contrary, believed that the restoration of capitalism in Russia could be achieved through financial pressure, trade and the penetration of foreign capital into the Russian economy.
In the current situation, the continued existence of the coalition of liberals and conservatives was in jeopardy. Some of the leaders of the conservative party (Austin Chamberlain, Balfour) spoke out in favor of maintaining the coalition. Another part of the Conservatives (Baldwin, Bonar Law) believed that the Liberals had fulfilled their mission and, in the conditions of the decline of the revolutionary movement, England could have a one-party government. Influential bourgeois circles expressed dissatisfaction with Lloyd George's concessions on domestic and colonial issues, considering them excessive. On the eve of the 1922 elections, the Conservatives withdrew their support for the coalition. On October 19, 1922, Lloyd George's government resigned.
The new all-Conservative cabinet was led by Andrew Bonar Law. The government dissolved Parliament and called elections, in which the Conservatives won. Great success was achieved by the Laborites, who took the place of the Shor Party in Parliament. The Liberal Party has lost its former role.
The conservatives tried again to resort to an interventionist policy towards the Soviet state. On May 8, 1923, Lord Curzon sent a note to the Soviet government containing a number of false accusations and ultimatum demands. There was a threat of breaking the trade agreement. The Soviet government rejected Curzon's ultimatum, but made some concessions of a private nature in order to peacefully resolve the conflict. The attacks on the USSR aroused indignation among the British workers, who demanded the recognition of the Soviet Union.
In order to ensure the recovery of the economy of England, which was experiencing stagnation, the Conservatives intended to raise duties on imported goods and, with the help of protectionism, improve the economic situation of the country. Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister, hoped that new elections under the slogan of protectionist tariffs would unite the party and eliminate the divisions at the top that had arisen when discussing the issue of a coalition with the Liberals. Indeed, the differences in the leadership of the party were weakened, but in the elections of December 6, 1923, the conservatives were defeated.
General strike
British General Strike (May 1926), largest social conflict in the history of England in the 20th century. After the Baldwin government set the pound sterling high and returned to the gold standard, English coal rose in price on the world market and its exports began to fall. The coal industry has entered a period of crisis. The owners of the mines said that the exit from it is a simultaneous reduction in production and wages. The miners called on the General Council of the British Trade Unions to support them and began to prepare for a strike. Baldwin, in an attempt to prevent conflict, gave subsidies to the coal industry. At the same time, a Royal Commission was formed to study the true state of affairs in the industry. She recommended the rationalization of the industry, the closure of obviously unprofitable mines and agreed with the need for some reduction in wages. The miners' union rejected these proposals. Then the government stopped paying subsidies to the industry, and the mine owners announced a massive layoff of lockout miners. The General Council of Trade Unions called for a general strike. It began on May 4, 1926. More than 2.5 million people took part in the strike, including a million laid-off miners, but it never became truly general. The most active participants in the strike were workers in transport, the printing industry, and the steel industry. B.C. the leader of the Labor Party MacDonald and many leaders of branch trade unions did not openly support it. Under these conditions, the General Council hastened to agree to minor amendments to the commission's report. When the miners' union rejected this concession, the General Council unexpectedly announced the end of the general strike from May 12th. It was a real surrender. The miners held out until November, but were forced to retreat. Taking advantage of the defeat of the trade unions, Parliament passed laws prohibiting solidarity strikes, civil servants were forbidden to join trade unions that are members of the British Congress of Trade Unions.
Defeat of the Conservatives
During 1924-1929 the conservative government of S. Baldwin could not bring the British economy out of the crisis and solve the problem of unemployment, the society needed changes. In 1928, an electoral reform was carried out that equalized the rights of men and women, which increased the number of voters from 21.75 to 28.85 million (British, 1994, p. 240). Gradually, confidence in Labor was restored, which affected the results of the 1929 parliamentary elections. Labor won 288 seats, while the Conservatives received 260 seats (Cook, 2001, p. 98). However, having regained power, the Laborites faced a growing global economic crisis, the problem of unemployment, and were even forced to curtail social programs, which greatly outraged the workers, ordinary members of the party. Evidence of the deep crisis of the Labor Party was the expulsion of James Ramsay MacDonald and his followers from its ranks. The exiles formed the National Labor Party, which in 1931 entered into a coalition with the Conservatives and Liberals to form the National Government. in the parliamentary elections of 1931. total losses Labor made up over 200 seats.
Results of the First World War for England
The First World War and the victory of the revolution had a great influence on the further development of England and the entire British Empire. England was one of the victorious powers, but its financial and economic positions were seriously weakened as a result of the war. There was an acute shortage of raw materials and wear and tear of outdated equipment.
During the war years, agricultural production increased. 3.75 million acres of grazing land have been plowed up and planted with grain crops. However, food was in short supply. England was still dependent on food imports.
The export of British goods during the war was almost halved. At the same time, imports almost doubled, for which loans abroad were required. The public debt of Great Britain increased by more than 12 times during the war years. Foreign investments decreased by 25%.
The military losses of England amounted to 743 thousand killed and 1693 thousand wounded. The burden of war lay its weight on the shoulders of the people. The position of the working class worsened. Work in military factories required a lot of effort, but wages were low. The rising cost of living and poor living conditions further exacerbated material difficulties. The aggravation of class contradictions led to the rise of the labor movement.
After the US and Japan, England benefited the most from the war. Her main rival - Germany - was temporarily disabled. At the expense of German possessions in Africa and territories taken from Turkey, the British colonial empire expanded. The total size of territorial increments amounted to 2.6 million square meters. km, and the population of the new colonies is over 9 million people. England accounted for a significant part of the reparations that Germany undertook to pay under the Treaty of Versailles.
The English bourgeoisie greeted the birth of the Land of Soviets with undisguised hatred. England was one of the main organizers and participants in the military intervention in Soviet Russia.
