England in the 20th century

Changes in Empire and at Home

The popular, aged Victoria was succeeded by Edward VII, who reigned for nine years (1901-10). The jovial, popular, avuncular Prince of Wales had waited a long time to accede to the throne. Known as Edward the Peacemaker for his diplomacy in Europe, he used his knowledge of French, Spanish, Italian and German to good advantage. Matters seemed fine in the island kingdom of Britain, feeling secure as the head of the largest empire the world had ever known. Yet the image of splendid and carefree easy living portrayed by the King was in direct contrast to the growing forces of discontent and resentment felt by too many members of British society.

England in the Edwardian Age existed in a twilight zone; the balance of power in so many areas was shifting in a Europe in which the decisive factor was the rise of a united Germany, and in a world in which the United States would soon dominate. To prepare for the future, one politician, Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister 1902-5, saw that Britain needed to advance its educational system and to strengthen its defenses. His Education Bill of 1902 abolished the School Boards and placed primary, technical and secondary education under the control of local authorities. This helped to create an "education ladder" by which abler children were able to win scholarships to enter the secondary grammar schools (the mis-named Public Schools continued as private enclaves for the rich and very rich). The Civil Service was thus able to find itself enriched by a steady stream of educated, qualified young men (and later young women).

Balfour made effective the Committee of Imperial Defence to carry out the reforms made necessary after the humiliations of the Boer War. The Committee also improved Britain's naval defenses; and under John Fisher, the Admiralty began building the Dreadnought a new type of heavily-armed warship. To further meet the threat from the new German fleet, he also concentrated the Royal Navy in home waters instead of having it dispersed all over the world. Balfour, however, was completely unable to prevent the inevitable. Though many historians see the death of King Edward as marking the dividing line between the security and stability of the 19th century and the uncertainties of the twentieth, there had been ominous warnings before 1910.

In Wales, conditions in the tin plate industry had been severely depressed by the 1891 McKinley Tariff of the United States; the deplorable conditions endured by coal miners led to the creation of a new force in British politics: the trade union. There had been many earlier attempts to form unions, mostly unsuccessful because of determined resistance from the mine and factory owners. Workers had been fired for trying to form unions; their leaders were once denounced by the leading Welsh newspaper as "gin-swilling degenerates." In 1834, when Robert Owen had attempted to improve factory conditions and the lives of the workers through his Grand National Consolidated Trade Union, six English farm laborers were sentenced to deportation for secretly forming a branch of the GNCTU (they were the famous Tolpuddle Martyrs).

In Lancashire, in 1869, the formation of the Amalgamated Association of Miners led to fierce resistance from the coal owners and was forced to disband. A united front against the unionists was then forged by the formation of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association in which 85 companies owned over 200 mines. The workers persisted in their attempts to form unions, however, and in 1877 the Cambrian Miners Association began in the Rhondda Valley under the inspired leadership of William Abraham (Mabon). Abraham was elected Lib-Lab M.P. for Rhondda in 1885 and kept the peace between owners and miners for twenty years. (The Lib-Labs represented an informal agreement with local Liberal organizations to run a number of trade union candidates, rather than a party of organized labor.)

In 1888, a successful strike of girls in the sweated trade of match-box making occurred. One year later the Gas Workers Union secured a reduction from twelve to eight hours in their working day. A strike by London Dock workers the same year was equally successful. Their disciplined behavior won them widespread support When their demands were finally conceded, the Dockers Union gave considerable stimulus to recruiting for other trade unions, who were quick to see the strike as a means to solve their grievances.

The Fabian Movement began in 1884, its composition of middle-class intellectuals (including dramatist and critic George Bernard Shaw) giving it considerable weight as an instrument in bringing forth political and social reform. As a response to poor working conditions, the Independent Labour Party was formed in 1893. Six years later the Miner's Federation of Great Britain began at Newport, South Wales. The Federation argued for the creation of a Board of Arbitration to replace the infamous sliding scale and the restriction of the work day to eight hours (also that year the Women's Social and Political Union was formed by Emmeline Pankhurst with the goal of achieving voting rights for women. In 1918, women over thirty were granted the right to vote, following their efforts as factory workers taking the places of men called up for the military).

When judgement was given in favor of the owners and against the striking workers in the Taff Vale Railway Company dispute of 1900, the huge costs levied against the union practically ensured the creation of a new party in British politics. The unions saw clearly that they had to have legislation to guarantee their rights, and thus they needed representation in Parliament. The Labour Representative Committee answered their needs: in 1906, it became known as the Labour Party, but it took many years before it could muster enough strength to offer a worthy challenge to the Liberal and the Conservative Parties.

George V (1910-1936)

The new King, George was the second son of Edward VII and Queen Alexander, Prince Albert Victor had died in 1892. It was George who changed his family name from the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to that of the English Windsor. With his wife Mary, he did much to continue the popularity of the monarchy. They were helped enormously by the advent of the BBC in 1922 which probably did more to perpetuate the national sense of common identity than any other factor save war. In 1934, George began his broadcasts to Britain and the Empire. Radio, newspapers (and later television) all added to the mystique and prestige of the royal family when so much more was in a state of flux, and old traditions were being challenged everywhere.

The pre-War years saw major changes in England's domestic policies. The question of tariff reform divided the Conservatives. One group wished to use the tariff to protect British industries and boost inter-imperial trade and co-operation; the other, fearing the social and political consequences that higher food prices would bring as a result of the tariff, was in favor of Free Trade. A crisis occurred in 1906.

In that year, left-wing Liberal, Welshman David Lloyd George became Chancellor of the Exchequer and pushed through Parliament his "People's Budget" that proposed a tax on the rich to pay for reforms and the rebuilding of the Royal Navy. The rapid rise of such men as Lloyd George from humble origins to high positions in the government showed only too clearly the changing nature of political life in the country, a change that the House of Lords was slow to accept. The Upper House, packed with its hereditary peers, was particularly upset by what it considered the socialistic and confiscatory nature of the budget and rejected it.

Two general elections were held to resolve the deadlock. The Liberals were able to win a landslide victory and remained in power until the wartime coalition government was formed in 1915. In the interim, the Lords continued to reject the Budget, which finally passed in 1911 when the Commons approved the Parliament Bill to limit the delaying power of the House of Lords. From now on, the Lords could no longer reject bills outright and there was to be a general election every five years (instead of seven).

The year 1911 saw the greatest industrial unrest in Britain's history. Nationwide strikes of dock workers, railway men and miners brought the country to a standstill. The government was forced to respond. The National Insurance Act was passed to ensure that the worker, the employer and the government all contributed to a general fund to pay for free medical treatment, sick pay, disability and maternity benefits. It also introduced a measure of unemployment benefits, free meals for school children as well as periodic medical exams. Through the efforts of Winston Churchill there had been the setting up of Labour Exchanges where the unemployed worker could sign on for vacant jobs. Foundations were being laid for a veritable sea of change in the way the state was to assume responsibility for the welfare of its citizens.

Many reforms took place in a veritable flood of "socialist experiment." The introduction of a salary for M.P.'s allowed the entry of working class members to Parliament; the trade unions were freed from the liability for strike damage and allowed to use their funds in politics. Hours and conditions of labor were regulated, slum -clearances effected, eighty-three labor exchanges set up, and old-age pensions inaugurated as the first installment of social security. All this cost a great deal of money. it came from the pockets of the rich. They were further incensed by the Home Rule Bill of 1912.

Irish M.P.'s had helped the Liberals gain power; they wanted their reward in Home Rule. To the Conservatives, however, the idea of Britain splitting up (in the face of increasing German hostility) seemed ludicrous, to be avoided at all costs. They were aided by the Protestant forces of Ulster (most of Northern Ireland), equally alarmed at the prospect of being ruled from Dublin. A major civil war loomed in Ireland, and the British Army regulars made it clear in the so-called "mutiny" at the Curragh, that they would not fight against their brothers in Ulster. In 1914, the Home Rule Bill was finally pushed through, but the outbreak of the Great War pushed everything else aside; it was said that "the public had forgotten the Irish for the Belgians."

World War I (1914-1918)

By the turn of the century, it had become increasingly apparent to many, both in and out of government, that the possession of an Empire would not be enough to cure Britain's domestic problems. Gladstone, in particular, had the wisdom (and the courage) to admit that though the Empire was a duty and responsibility that could not be shrugged off, there could be little advantage, and possibly only future problems, in expanding it. For him, in contrast to the imperialist Disraeli, and later, the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, Britain's strength lay in its own people, in their own land. Foreign adventures could only waste the nation's resources, sorely needed to aid its own people. He had been proved right in the costly adventures in Afghanistan, the Sudan and South Africa. (As a sideline, the poor physical condition of the British soldiers in South Africa during the fight against the Boer farmers, led Baden-Powell, who had successfully defended Mafeking, to found the Boy Scout Movement in 1908.)

In the heady day of Empire, William Ewart Gladstone had believed in peace with justice. He respected the rights of small nations to seek their own forms of government; hence his support of Home Rule for Ireland. He died in 1898, four years after being defeated in Parliament. He had relentlessly condemned the Conservative government's overseas policies. Sadly, though he recognised what was going on in Ireland, he had failed to see that a genuine nationalist movement had surfaced in Egypt, where Britain was forced to stay, once involved, until the middle of the next century. He had noticed, however, that Germany's support of the Boer farmers, in the way of arms and guns, boded ill for future relations between the two countries. A new rivalry developed over their respective navies. More than one historian has pointed out that the German navy was floated on a tide of Anglophobia.

It was thus that Britain's foreign policy, during the first few years of the new century, changed drastically. Instead of the old cordiality towards Germany and fear of a combined France and Russia, she now became friendly towards France and Russia and hostile to Germany. An Anglo-French agreement in 1904, mainly over their respective interests in Egypt and Morocco, alarmed the Germans. The new Liberal government's Foreign Secretary, Lord Grey, had no intention of dissolving its association with France (and with Japan and Russia, who were at war with one another in 1905).

The question now arose of what would be Britain's response should Germany attack France over a dispute concerning Morocco. The answer can be found in the summer maneuvers of the English army that assumed Germany, not France, would be the enemy. Germany also felt humiliated by the Treaty of Algeciras that temporarily settled the Morocco question, and felt surrounded by hostile powers, a feeling that grew alarmingly after the 1906 Anglo-Russian Entente. Its reply was to build up its navy, including the Dreadnought, a threat to England's long-held supremacy at sea. World War I broke out in August 1914, when Germany declared war on Russia. Trouble in the Balkans precipitated the outbreak of hostilities, but they had been stewing for a long time.

Perhaps the War came about as the result of a breakdown in the European diplomatic system -- the bad judgment of a number of individual politicians. Perhaps it was inevitable -- the result of the profound economic changes that had been at work that had caused a "structural failure" of European society. In England, domestic problems, as much as the crisis in the Ottoman Empire, had dictated foreign policy decisions. In any case, Britain was not willing to see Germany defeat France again; nor did she want to lose her position as the world's leading power. The troubles began in Bosnia.

Austria seized Bosnia in 1908; Italy then took Tripoli, Cyrenaicia and some islands to show that Turkey could no longer defend what was left of her empire in Europe. Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany were all hungry for spoils in the area. When Greece allied with Serbia and Bulgaria (all satellites of Russia), to defeat the Turks, Austria became alarmed; her own empire contained many Slavic peoples. Germany, too, feared Russian expansion in the Balkans. A conference in London in 1913 failed to pacify the region, in which the late victorious Balkan states were now quarrelling among themselves. Serbia's successes further alarmed empire of Austria-Hungary.

With the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June, 1914, all hell broke loose. The military chiefs of many nations were all ready to go to war. Historians have succinctly pointed out that an inexorable military machine quickly overwhelmed the improvisations of diplomacy. With the Kaiser's support, Austria declared war on Serbia. Germany declared war on Russia and on France, creating a huge dilemma for Britain: should she give full military support to France and her allies or to stay out of Europe altogether in a policy of complete neutrality. The latter policy would have opened the door for Germany, however, and when that country violated the neutrality of Belgium in August, Britain went to war on the side of France. The decision to aid Belgium, one of small-statured Lloyd George's "little 5-foot-5 nations," marked the beginning of the end for his country's world dominance.

The length of the war, and its enormous toll on life and resources, was completely unpredicted. A German plan for a rapid victory in the West was thwarted by the combined French-British armies at the Marne. When the German offensive began down the North Sea coast of Belgium, the battles at Ypres managed to stem their advance, but at heavy cost. The years of trench warfare then began in a costly war of attrition with neither side gaining any real advantage.

At sea, the war produced one large-scale battle and a few smaller engagements. The action at Jutland, despite British losses, resulted in the German fleet heading for home, allowing the Royal Navy to continue to dominate the sea routes, to supply new fronts in the Eastern Mediterranean (with limited successes), and to impose an economic blockade upon Germany and her allies. In reply, the consequent German submarine campaign showed only too well the strengths of this new kind of weapon. The sinking of the Lusitania off Kinsale Head, Ireland in May 1915, however, had enormous consequences for the later stages of the war. In the meantime, in order to aid rapidly weakening Russia, the allies decided to strike at Turkey and the rear of Austria-Hungary by way of the Balkans.

Both Lloyd George and Winston Churchill argued for the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. The campaign was designed to attack weaker spots of the enemy's front by combining military and naval forces; to force Turkey to abandon her support of Germany, circumvent Bulgaria's entry into the war, and bring Greece into the side of the allies. In the campaign, failure to co-ordinate their activities, however, left great numbers of British, New Zealand and Australian troops stranded on the Gallipoli Peninsular unable to break through the Turkish defenses. All the objectives of the bold but totally mismanaged campaign were lost (much hostility resulted in the attitude of Australia and New Zealand that is still evident today in their progress towards republican status, despite lingering affection for the mother country). On the Western front, allied losses also caused great concern.

The German attack at Ypres, where gas was used for the first time, and the failure of the British counter-offensive, brought a government crisis in Britain. Lloyd George became minister of Munitions and Arthur Henderson, Secretary of the Labour Party was admitted to the Cabinet, a decision that clearly showed the growing importance of organized labour. A German offensive at Verdun then blunted the allied plans for a simultaneous attack; and the Battle of the Somme ended in disaster for the allies, who lost around 600,000 men in futile attacks against a firmly entrenched enemy. At the same time, the Russian state began to show signs of collapse.

In late December, 1916, Lloyd George took charge of a coalition ministry in which he showed the energy and capacity for getting things done in a time of great crisis. The conduct of the war, the losses incurred, and the difficulties in Ireland (where the brutal suppression of the Easter Rising almost certainly turned that nation against Britain when a more just solution may have kept the nation loyal to the Crown), needed drastic measures. Military deadlock, the successful U-boat offensive, as well as the onset of revolution in Russia, provided a new test of character of the British people.

The introduction of an organized convoy system put a huge dent in the success rate of the German submarines in sinking allied supply ships. British efforts were rewarded by the entry of the United States into the War in April, 1917. The great French offensive early 1917 failed hopelessly. It was followed by an equal failure of Haig's offensive in Flanders and the misery of the mud at Passchendaele Ridge. The Italians were then overwhelmed by the German-Austrian army at Caporetto before stabilizing their line with help from British and French troops. To make matter worse for the allies, the new Russian revolutionary government made peace with Germany, freeing nearly fifty German divisions for service on the Western front.

Things then began to change. German intrigue with Mexico (still simmering over the loss of much of its territory to its powerful northern neighbor) along with the unrestricted submarine warfare of 1917 brought the USA into the war. President Wilson's "Fourteen Points," set forth in an address to Congress, had a great impact on world opinion at the time when all belligerents except the US were exhausted by the war effort. In the spring of 1918, the Germans planned their great offensive to capture the Channel ports. In spite of early successes, however, attrition had taken its heavy toll. Aided by their new weapon the tank, British forces turned the tide at Amiens, a battle that German Commander Ludendorf decided was critical.

Britain's seizure of Palestine from the Ottoman Turks (aided by the successes of the famed Lawrence of Arabia), was followed by the Balfour Declaration of November 11, 1917 that favored the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Further allied successes on the Eastern front, the defeat of the Bulgarians, the capitulation of Turkey, a victory by the Italians at Vitoria Veneto, a mutiny of the German fleet at Kieland a revolt by the German people against their military leaders, all convinced the German high command to enter into peace negotiations. The abdication of the Kaiser was followed by the imposition of severe armistice terms by the allies at Compiegne. They were accepted on November 11, 1918; what had been the costliest war in human history was over.

The cost to Britain was the loss of an entire generation, one whose contribution to national life was to be sadly missed during the political mismanagement of the postwar years. The blood baths of the Somme and Passchendaele could never be adequately described by the nation's poets and prose writers, most of whom had been conscripted into the army when the regulars, as a fighting force, had ceased to exist. So many of Britain's physical and intellectual best were killed off in the endless fighting to gain a few yards of muddy ground.

During the War, there was also unrest at home, particularly in the industrial belt of Scotland where Intense labor conflict gave the name "Red Clyde" to its shipbuilding region. A series of episodes took place there that have since assumed legendary proportions, almost on the scale of the Jacobite rebellion. The conflicts, pitting management's use of semi- or unskilled labor against the militant unions, produced such well-known activists as James Maxton, John Wheatley, John Maclean and Emmanual Shinwell. The troubles culminated in the George Square riot in Edinburgh of 1919 that practically ensured the Labour Party's national victory in the General Election of 1922. They have been regarded by many in the Labour Movement as forming part of the "glad, confident morning" of Scottish socialism.

As noted earlier, however, it was the Liberal Party under Lloyd George that was most effective in bringing needed changes to Britain. The introduction of salaries for M.P.'s in 1911l meant that the Labour Party could now field many candidates from the ranks of the trade unions. Scotsman Keir Hardie, the socialist ex-miner, had been elected to Parliament by the Merthyr constituency (South Wales) in 1891. In the hallowed halls of Westminster, he defiantly chose to wear his cloth deer-stalker hat (transmogrified by legend into a working man's cloth cap) in place of the usual top hat.

It wasn't only conditions in industry that were being transformed by the growth of Labour. There were also many changes taking place in British agriculture during the early years of the century. A rapid increase in population due to a declining death rate meant that farmers were unable to meet the increasing demand for butter, cheese, margarine and lard (used for cooking until the switch to vegetable oil right up until the 1960's), and a reliance grew upon Denmark for these products. English farmers turning to market gardening and fruit growing. Fuel shortages in 1916 motivated Parliament to pass a "summer time" act, advancing clocks one hour to make the most of available light. Farmers protested in vain.

To meet domestic demand, imports of US pork, Argentine beef and New Zealand lamb continued to rise, but a significant contribution to raising protein levels of urban English diets came with the introduction of the fish and chip shop. It utilized the product of fast, deep-sea trawlers that packed their catch in ice and rapidly shipped it to British markets. A new addition to the British diet was baked beans, first test marketed in Northern England by the American Heinz Company in 1905, but which became a staple of British diets beginning in 1928 when the first canning factory began at Harlesden, near London.

Between the Two World Wars

Following the Armistice of 1918, the first order of the day for the victorious allies (Britain, France, the USA, Italy, Japan and to a lesser extent Russia) was to hammer out the peace terms to be presented to the defeated powers (Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey and Hungary). At Versailles, Lloyd George represented Britain; pressing for severe penalties against the Germans, he came up against the idealism of US President Wilson, anxious to have his plans for a League of Nations implemented; and Clemenceau of France, who wished for even more severe recriminations against Germany.

The final treaty came in June, 1919. The reparations and "war-guilt" clauses were later seen by English economist John Maynard Keynes as a future cause of discontent; they later became an excuse for Herr Hitler to begin his efforts to countermand them. The US did not ratify the treaty, and the disunity that prevailed after its signing did not bode well for the future of Europe. In addition, the United States and Russia did not join the League of Nations that met for the first time in Geneva in November, 1920.

The matter of Ireland then became a serious source of hemorrhage to the confidence of a seemingly-united Great Britain. The war had presented the opportunity the Irish nationalists had been waiting for since the postponement of the Home Rule Act of 1914. When they seized their opportunity to attack British rule in Ireland, the execution of many of their leaders following the Easter Monday Rising in Dublin, made reconciliation between the two countries impossible.

The British government failed to separate its important Irish prisoners. An internment camp at Frongoch, in North Wales, later known as "Sinn Fein " University, brought together many who would later become key figures in the fight for independence, including Michael Collins (later to become Director of Intelligence as well as chief organizer) and Richard Mulcahy (later to become Chief of Staff). Prisoners were inspired by hearing the Welsh language all around the camp declare a republic in which Gaelic would be the national language. In 1918, following the General Election, the successful Sinn Feiners refused their seats at Westminster and formed the Dail Eireann that proclaimed the Irish Republic on January 21, 1919.

The war against British rule then began, lasting until December 1920 when atrocities and counter atrocities by both sides (not only those committed by the infamous "Black and Tans.") finally led to the Government of Ireland Act. The Act divided Ireland into Northern Ireland (containing the largest part of Ulster) and Southern Ireland, giving both parts Home Rule, but reserving taxation powers for the Westminster Parliament. It seemed that no one in Ireland was satisfied and guerrilla warfare intensified. The coalition government in London was finally convinced that a policy of reconciliation was needed and a truce in July, 1921 was followed by the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December.

Mainly through a threat of an all-out war, Lloyd George somehow managed to persuade the Irish delegation, led by Michael Collins, to accept the offer of Dominion status within the Commonwealth rather than hold out for an independent republic, and the Irish Free State came into being. A basic British condition was that the six counties of Northern Ireland, mainly Protestant (who equated Home Rule with Rome Rule) should not be coerced into a united Ireland, the other 32 counties, mainly Catholic.

Eamon De Valera (one of the participants in the Easter Rising, but who had escaped from Lincoln Gaol) objected to the oath of allegiance to the Crown and formed a new party, the Republican Party against the government of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. It began a bitter civil war in which Collins, leader of the Dail's military forces and a much revered Irish patriot lost his life leading the Free-State forces against the Republicans. The bloody civil war ended in April 1923 when De Valera, who had been elected President of the Irish Free State in 1919, ordered a cease fire. Eire was finally declared a republic in April 1948, with Northern Ireland remaining as part of the United Kingdom.

The Great Depression

In the meantime, there had been a major downturn in the British economy since the end of the World War. Government promises of a better society in which there would be a higher standard of living and security of employment had not been fulfilled. The productivity rate was falling rapidly behind that of other nations; there was simply too much reliance on the traditional industries of cotton, coal mining and shipbuilding, all of which were finding it difficult to compete in world markets and all of which were managed by those who could not adapt to more modern methods. Many countries which had been dependent upon British manufactured goods were now making their own. A great slump in which millions were unemployed was left to work itself out when planned government expenditure would have helped mobilize the unused resources of the economy.

The Liberal Party, which had done so much to alleviate conditions of poverty and had made so many significant strides in improving social conditions in general, began to lose its standing in the polls after 1922. The political program of the Labour Party advocated increased social security measures, including a national minimum wage, the nationalization of basic industries such as coal, railways and electricity; and the imposition of higher taxation to pay for social welfare and to reduce the burden of the National Debt. The "dole" (unemployment benefit) allowed workers to survive while unemployed (it was probably the reason why there was not greater social unrest or even revolution).

Labour had become the chief challenger to the Conservative Party, and formed its first government in 1924 under James Ramsey MacDonald. In October of that year, however, Britain once more turned to the Conservatives under Stanley Baldwin. As had Labour, however, it proved ineffective to handle the nation's industrial problems.

Further mass unemployment resulted when Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill returned Britain to the gold standard in 1925. The return was made at the old pre-war gold and dollar value of the pound. As a result, the pound was devalued; British goods (coal, steel, machinery, textiles, ships, cargo rates and other goods and services) became over-priced, and Britain's share of the world export market declined rapidly. The resulting unemployment and wage cuts caused serious repercussions in the industrial areas, where strikes became common. Iron, steel, coal, cotton and ship building suffered the most, the very industries that Britain's free trade economy relied upon to provide the bulk of the consumer and capital goods exported to provide for the large imports of food and raw materials. A general strike took place in 1926.

A huge drop in coal exports, the government's refusal to nationalize the coal industry and the setting of wages by the pit-owners triggered the unrest. In April of that year, the miners' leader, A.J. Cook coined the phrase "not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day." The mine owners refused to compromise. A showdown came about when the government indicated that it would not continue negotiations under the threat of a general strike. On May 4, 1926 the great strike went into effect, but lack of support for the unions, the use of volunteers to keep essential services going, the intransigence of the government, and the gradual wearing away of the resistance of the miners by the coal owners eventually ended the stoppage. But grievous harm had been done to the miners, who came out of the business with longer hours and less pay.

Under the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin, only a modest program of social reform took place, mainly to appease working class opinion. The Widows, Orphans and Old Age Health Contributory Pension schemes extended the Act of 1911 and insured over 20 million people. In 1928, the Equal Franchise Act gave the parliamentary vote to all women over twenty one. Under Health Minister Neville Chamberlain, the Local Government Act of 1929 reduced the number of local government authorities and extended the services they provided. There was still lacking a coherent policy to deal with the relief of unemployment. A Labour government, elected in 1929, came to power at the beginning of a world-wide depression triggered by the Wall Street Crash, but like the Conservative government before it, could do little to remedy the situation at home.

In the 1930's things improved a little under a national government comprised of members from all parties, led by Ramsey MacDonald. The abandonment of the gold standard and the decision to let the pound find its own value against the US dollar made British export prices more competitive in world markets. Agriculture was aided by the adoption of a protective tariff and import quotas in 1931. A building boom followed the increase in population that new health measures made possible. Old industries were replaced by newer ones such as automobiles, electrical manufactures, and chemicals. There were also changes made in the relationship of Britain to her colonies.

Since the Durham Report of 1839, the white-settled colonies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had been virtually independent of Britain. The Statute of Westminster, passed in November, 1931, removed much legal inferiority not addressed in 1839. The independence of the Dominions was now established. The Crown remained as a symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth. The Imperial Economic Conference met in Ottawa, Canada in July 1932 to hash out the problems of Dominion economic policies and to settle the matter of their exports to Britain.

At the conference, Britain agreed to abandon free trade, imposing a 10 percent tariff on most imported goods, but exempting Commonwealth nations. In turn, they were to provide markets for British exports, including textiles, steel, cars and telecommunications equipment (thereby discouraging innovation in many industries, which was to put Britain further behind other countries).

The colonies had come of age; the conference showed only too well that Britain was no longer a magnet for Commonwealth goods. In 1932, however, King George initiated the Christmas Day radio broadcasts that served to link the Commonwealth countries in a common bond with England. Their loyalty was to be proven in World War II during the reign of George VI. George had come to the throne in 1936 after the abdication of his older brother Edward VIII (tradition ensured that the Edward had to renounce the throne if he were to marry the American divorcee Mrs. Simpson).

In the late 1930's Britain's foreign policy stagnated; there were too many problems to worry about at home. While domestic policies still had to find a way out of the unemployment mess, it was vainly hoped that the League of Nations would keep the peace, and while the aggressive moves by Germany, Italy and Japan may not have been totally ignored in Westminster, their implications were not fully grasped. It seems incredible, in retrospect, how all the signs of a forthcoming major war were conveniently ignored.

In Germany, Hitler had become Chancellor in July 30, 1934 on a rising tide of nationalism and economic unrest. After he proclaimed the Third Reich in March, his regime was given dictatorial powers. Also in March, the Nazis opened their first concentration camp for Jews, gypsies and political prisoners. In August, Hitler became President of the Reich at the death of Hindenburg. He announced open conscription early in 1935, in defiance of the conditions laid down at Versailles. Unencumbered by obsolete equipment and even more obsolete thinking that hindered the British and the French, the German republic was able to rebuild her army and airforce from scratch. They were soon to be used in a bid to dominate Europe.

Italy had entered the scramble for Africa in 1881 by taking over Assab in northern Ethiopia. It then expanded its holdings in the East African highlands. In 1887 the Italian-Ethiopian War began. Three years later, Italy made Assab the basis of an Eritrean colony. By 1896, however, a series of defeats led to the Italians withdrawing from their protectorate. In 1906, a Tripartite Pact declared the independence of Ethiopia but divided the country into British, French, and Italian spheres of interest.

In Italy, in November 1922, general fears of communism led King Victor Emmanuel to summon Benito Mussolini to form a ministry in which he would be given dictatorial powers to restore order and bring about reforms. Earlier in the year, Mussolini had led his black-shirts Fascists into Rome. He secured his fascist Dictatorship the following year through political chicanery and began protesting the terms of Versailles in 1930.

When Italian and Ethiopian troops clashed on the frontier between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia in 1934, Mussolini had an excuse to invade Ethiopia. After his troops had occupied Addis Abbaba, he announced the annexation of Ethiopia and joined Eritrea and Italian Somaliland to create Italian East Africa. The League of Nations proved totally ineffective to prevent this seizure of the last bastion of native rule in Africa.

Lack of British resolve against the ambitions of Mussolini may have spurred Hitler to act. In March, 1936, at the height of the crisis in Ethiopia, he sent his armies into the Rhineland. France was afraid to react without British support. It proceeded to fortify its Maginot Line as Hitler began to fortify the Rhineland. The dictators of Germany and Italy then signed the pact known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. Both leaders then supported General Franco's fascists in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Britain and France stood back for fear of precipitating a general European war; in their efforts to appease, they protested but did nothing except to embolden Hitler even further. His troops marched into Austria in March, 1938.

Hitler's next move was first to surround Bohemia and then to demand modifications to the Czech frontier, including the Sudetenland (with a large German population). Fearing a catastrophic war, and with the vivid memory of the carnage of World War I in mind, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain then agreed, along with the French Premier, to hand over the Sudetenland to Germany. He thought he had bought "peace with honor." Hitler then showed his true intention by seizing the rest of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlains finally saw what Germany intended, to dominate Europe, and his extension of a guarantee to Poland practically ensured war.

World War II

In the late 1930's Britain's foreign policy stagnated; there were too many problems to worry about at home. While domestic policies still had to find a way out of the unemployment mess, it was vainly hoped that the League of Nations would keep the peace. While the aggressive moves by Germany, Italy and Japan may not have been totally ignored in Westminster; their implications were not fully grasped. It seems incredible, in retrospect, how all the signs of a forthcoming major war were conveniently ignored.

In Germany, Hitler had become Chancellor on July 30, 1934, on a rising tide of nationalism and economic unrest. After he proclaimed the Third Reich in March, his regime was given dictatorial powers. Also in March, the Nazis opened their first concentration camp for Jews, gypsies and political prisoners. In August, Hitler became President of the Reich at the death of Hindenburg. He announced open conscription early in 1935, in defiance of the conditions laid down at Versailles. Unencumbered by obsolete equipment and even more obsolete thinking that hindered the British and the French, the German republic was able to rebuild her army and airforce from scratch. They were to be used soon in a bid to dominate Europe.

Italy had entered the scramble for Africa in 1881 by taking over Assab in northern Ethiopia. It then expanded its holdings in the East African highlands. In 1887 the Italian-Ethiopian War began. Three years later, Italy made Assab the basis of an Eritrean colony. By 1896, however, a series of defeats led to the Italians withdrawing from their protectorate. In 1906, a Tripartite Pact declared the independence of Ethiopia but divided the country into British, French and Italian spheres of interest.

In Italy, in November 1922, general fears of the spread of Communism led King Victor Emmanuel to summon Benito Mussolini to form a ministry in which he would be given dictatorial powers to restore order and bring about reforms. Earlier in the year, Mussolini had led his black-shirt Fascists into Rome. He secured his fascist dictatorship the following year through political chicanery and began protesting the terms of Versailles in 1930.

When Italian and Ethiopian troops clashed on the frontier between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia in 1934, Mussolini had an excuse to invade Ethiopia. After his troops had occupied Addis Abbaba, he announced the annexation of Ethiopia and joined Eritrea and Italian Somaliland to create Italian East Africa. The League of Nations proved totally ineffective to prevent this seizure of the last bastion of native rule in Africa.

Lack of British resolve against the ambitions of Mussolini may have spurred Hitler to act. In March 1936, at the height of the crisis in Ethiopia, he sent his armies into the Rhineland. France was afraid to react without British support. It proceeded to fortify its Maginot Line as Hitler began to fortify the Rhineland. The dictators of Germany and Italy then signed the pact known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. Both leaders then supported General Franco's fascists in the Spanish Civil War (1936- 39). Britain and France stood back for fear of precipitating a general European war; in their efforts to appease, they protested but did nothing except to embolden Hitler even further. His troops marched into Austria in March 1938. There was no resistance.

Hitler's next move was to surround Bohemia and then demand modifications to the Czech frontier, including the Sudetenland (with a large German population). Fearing a catastrophic war, and with the vivid memory of the carnage of World War I in mind, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain agreed, along with the French Premier, to hand over the Sudetenland to Germany. He thought he had bought "peace with honor." Hitler then showed his true intention by seizing the rest of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain finally saw what Germany intended to dominate Europe, and his extension of a guarantee to Poland, a country which geography he was incapable of aiding, practically ensured war.

In Britain, though there were two million unemployed, but things were generally looking prosperous following the slump of the Great Depression. Nevertheless, it was a totally unprepared Britain that declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939; two days after Hitler's armies had invaded Poland. Conscription was ordered for all men 20 years and older. Somewhat better prepared France followed Britain by declaring war on Germany.

German armies swept through Poland in 18 days. The allies turned to Russia for support, but Stalin had ideas of his own, coming to a marriage of convenience with Hitler in which Poland became a pawn in the hands of both. Stalin also took advantage of the situation to attack Finland.

Britain then prepared for total war. Cities were blacked out, rationing was imposed and rigidly enforced; children from the larger cities were moved into the countryside, clouds of barrage balloons filled the English skies, housewives turned in their pots and pans for scrap, iron fences, railing and gateposts disappeared into blast furnaces, gas masks were issued to every single person, including babies; total blackout was imposed and rigorously enforced by air Ðraid wardens. While the country waited to see if the French could successfully resist the Nazi armies, British beaches were mined, protected by barbed wire; tank traps and other obstacles to invading forces appeared everywhere; air raid shelters were dug in back gardens and London subway stations prepared for their influx of nightly sleepers.

Trapped behind their so-called "impenetrable" Maginot Line, the French could not hold back the German tide, and the new weapon of war, the Blitzkrieg, swept all through it. Hitler's legions first occupied Denmark and then brushed aside a Franco-British force sent to help Norway.

Beginning their march to the Channel in the Ardennes, after they had easily bypassed the Maginot Line, German forces took only five days to take Holland. They then raced forward at lightning speed to capture Paris. In one of the most successful campaigns in the history of war, German forces soon controlled France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway and Romania, leaving Britain alone in the West to face the Nazi hordes.

In May 1940, after a disastrous British attempt to force the Germans out of Narvik, Norway, a humiliated Chamberlain (who had earlier crowed that "Herr Hitler had missed the boat") resigned in favor of Winston Churchill. The 65-year-old veteran of many a political campaign was to prove a remarkable leader. The country quickly rallied behind him to expend its "blood, toil, tears and sweat" to eventually emerge victorious in what was to become a long, bloody war that, if it did not involve nearly every country on earth, certainly affected them.

British industry mobilized every person not on military service into production. Even the old and retired were called on to play their part as plane spotters, air-raid wardens and night watchmen. But single women played a major role. They had to report immediately to work in war industries or to work on the nation's farms in the so-called Women's Land Army. Women also entered the armed services by the thousands, to work as radar operators, mechanics, truck drivers and pilots in non-combat roles, even the retired.

After the complete collapse of France in June 1940, when it signed an armistice, Mussolini entered the war on the side of Germany, believing that Britain was doomed and that he could pick up rich spoils in Africa. When France fell, the British army was forced to evacuate the continent at Dunkirk, but somehow halting a German division at Arras, managed to save most of its cadre to train millions of new soldiers it needed to defend its Empire. One of the strangest fleets in history had rescued the bulk of the British Expeditionary Force from the burning beaches of Dunkirk. In the meantime, Soviet troops entered the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to incorporate them into the USSR.

New Prime Minister Winston Churchill informed the British people that the Battle for France was over: the Battle for Britain was about to begin. He stressed that Hitler would have to break Britain in order to win the war, and that no nation would be safe from sinking into the resulting darkness, not even the United States.

When France formed a "Vichy" government under Marshal Petain, the Royal Navy destroyed the French fleet anchored at Oran in North Africa. In the Atlantic, German U-boats were destroying thousands upon thousands of tons of allied shipping, but Britain precariously held out (those of us who were living in Britain at the time realize just how near to collapse we were). All Britain could do was to hang on, to fight on until the situation might eventually change. Hitler expected Britain to come to terms, but Churchill's defiant riposte was that he wasn't on speaking terms with Adolph Hitler.

Realizing that she would not come to terms, Hitler then planned an invasion of England, but first he would have to destroy the Royal Air Force. The task seemed easy enough; he had a decided advantage in the number of planes and in trained pilots. From airfields in conquered France, the English coast was only a few minutes away. At a time when the war at sea was rapidly turning in Germany's favor, the Battle of Britain began with an attack of German bombers on England, July 10, 1940 and artillery began shelling the English coast. The final assault was planned for August 13th. Hitler planned to have 125,000 men ashore by the end of the second day. Plans were meticulously drawn up for the government of a conquered Britain.

There was great fear throughout Britain during that late summer. In many villages, church bells rang in the mistaken belief that the invasion had begun. There wasn't much to stop the invader. Though 1,500,000 men in Britain had joined the Home Guard, they had only 70,000 rifles; the regular army had left most of its hardware behind in the evacuation from France. All that stood between the German armies and the planned invasion of Britain was the Fighter Command of the Royal Air Force.

During the early air war, the German Air Force conducted over 1500 missions a day over England, concentrating mainly on airfields and radar installations. Hitler's second-in-command Herman Goering miscalculated the resilience of the Royal Air Force. When British planes bombed Berlin to retaliate for bombs dropped on London (the German pilots had lost their way and missed their intended targets), Hitler determined to teach the British people, those "night gangsters, " a lesson. Insisting on a thousand-fold revenge, he ordered the Luftwaffe to destroy London. It was a grave error.

The British Air Force did not rise to the bait to defend London; they conserved what was left of their strength. More important, their airfields (and pilots) were given a much-needed respite to rebuild. Skilled use of a secret new weapon, Radar, then gave them a decided advantage over incoming German airplanes.

Though almost exhausted and down to its last few pilots, the RAF fought on in what was becoming a war of attrition in the air. Eventually, the heavy losses sustained by the Luftwaffe put an end to any real chances of German forces crossing the Channel. On September 17, following decisive losses, Hitler postponed the invasion of Britain. Instead of keeping up the pressure, the frustrated German dictator decided to ignore Goering's pleas for just a few more days to destroy Britain's air forces and turned eastward, to attack Russia.

In June 1941 when the German armed divisions poured into the east, Britain breathed a huge sigh of relief. Hitler's hatred of Communism blinded him to the risks involved; it was a colossal mistake. His involvement in the Balkans, where he feared a British attack against his flank from Greece, had delayed his assault on Russia. The oncoming winter would prove to be a deciding factor in the holocaust that ensued.

In September 1940, following a total blockade of the British Isles ordered by Hitler, U-boats sank 160,000 tons of British shipping. (In a time of great food shortages, even the Royal Family was issued ration books). These were called "the happy times" for German U-boat crews, idolized by adoring crowds as they set out into the Atlantic to wreak havoc on merchant ships bringing supplies from America. The British people, huddled in their air-raid shelters awaited the worst. Their defiance of the might of the German air force, their courage in carrying on "business as usual" and their slogan "London can Take it"" (relayed to the United States by radio commentators such as Edward R. Murrow) had a profound effect upon American opinion, especially upon the President.

In opposition to many in America who still thought that Britain's total defeat was only a mater of time, and a very short time at that, President Roosevelt came to the aid of the beleaguered island nation. He ordered his fleet to sink German submarines on sight. To meet the U-boat challenge, the US then provided Britain with Lend-Lease supplies in addition to handing over to the Royal Navy 50 much-needed destroyers. In November, British ships destroyed the Italian fleet at Taranto, putting it, like most of the French fleet before it, out of action for the rest of the war. Mussolini's grand boast of dominating what he called "mare nostrum" was defeated. The Royal Navy managed to keep control of the Mediterranean throughout the war.

In September, Japan had concluded a pact with the Axis powers in order to fulfil her designs on the Pacific, ranging from Hong Kong to Australia. On December 7, 1941 she seized her opportunity to attack. On the "day of infamy" so strongly proclaimed by Roosevelt, the Imperial Air force crippled the US Navy at Pearl Harbor. On December 11, Germany declared war on the US. Japanese forces then captured the British possessions of Malaya, Burma, Hong Kong and Singapore, the great symbol of the British Empire. They then advanced practically unopposed to the borders of India in the West and Australia in the South.

The Turn of the Tide

It seemed that the Japanese were unstoppable, but as had the Germans, they over-reached themselves. A string of successes was halted in May 1942 when they sustained heavy losses in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Germany too, suffered its first defeat when Hitler underestimated the strategic importance of Egypt. There, the British Eighth Army (the "Desert Rats") under Montgomery destroyed a German fighting machine of 250,000 men at the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. After being blocked by the winter snows and the fierce resistance of the Russians, in February 1943, a huge German army surrendered at Stalingrad.

Later in the year, Allied forces recaptured Sicily to invade Southern Italy, and all through the year, Russian troops continued to inflict heavy casualties on the Germans, who lost over 2,000 tanks and 1,392 airplanes at the decisive Battle of Kursk. The tide of war had turned irrevocably on the side of the allies. It was still heavy going in Italy, but bit by bit allied armies advanced up the peninsular, despite determined German resistance, recapturing Rome to bring Italy out of the war. The whole country had been taken by the spring of 1945. It was now time for the allies to invade fortress Europe.

On the sixth of June 1944, "D-Day" the invasion of the Continent by allied forces in Operation Overlord marked the beginning of the end of the war in the West. Years of meticulous planning and careful preparation paid off and hundreds of thousands of allied soldiers were landed within a few days with their equipment. Deceptive messages had led the Germans to concentrate their forces around the port of Calais. An expected German counterattack at the landing beaches did not come.

Some failures in the re-conquest of western Europe inevitably ensued, notably the efforts of Montgomery to end an early stalemate in Normandy by the airborne attempt to capture bridges over the Rhine, but steady progress brought British, Canadian, French and American forces into Germany. A failure of allied intelligence to spot 24 Nazi divisions gave the enemy temporary success in the Ardennes, at the Battle of the Bulge, but it was beaten back with heavy German losses. Hitler's exhausted forces in the west were finally brushed aside.

Back home, Londoners were once again forced into their underground shelters as V-1 rockets began to fall upon the city with terrifying effects. By September 1944, Germany still had enough resources to produce a thousand V-2 rockets a month, most of which were directed toward London. Only defeat of Germany would end the threat. In March 1945, the allies crossed the Rhine. In the east, a new Russian offensive began with 3,000,000 men polishing off one German division after another on an inexorable march to Berlin. In April, east met west as allied forces met with the Russians at the Elbe. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered.

The fall of Saipan in July had the same effect in the East. The War in Europe came to an end on May 8. The news eclipsed the news from Burma, where British forces under William Slim had stopped the Japanese efforts to invade India through Assam. By May 6, 1945, Burma had been retaken. The re-conquest was the most successful of all the campaigns British forces had undertaken during the whole war. It was the climax of a most difficult but brilliantly executed campaign.

The War in the Pacific came to an end on August 14, 1945. Japan surrendered only after the American Airforce dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Post-War Years

The great social-leveling influence of the War meant that Britains were anxious for change. Countless thousands of returning soldiers and sailors wanted a turn-around in the status quo. Members of British armed forces were considerably better educated than they had been in World War I. The soldier returning from the war was no longer in awe of his leaders; he had mixed loyalties. He was resentful of unemployment, wishing for a greater share in the nation's post-war restructuring, and he did not trust a Conservative government to tackle the enormous social economic and political problems, that they had done very little to solve between the wars. He wished for a change.

As a consequence, Winston Churchill, who led Britain to victory during the war, found himself as a member of the opposition when the election of 1945 returned the Labour Party to power with a huge majority. Under the Parliament of Clement Attlee, the new government began some of the greatest changes in Britain's long history---nothing less than a reconstruction of the nation.

The Labour Government struggled heroically to deal with the problems: to improve standards of living, move to a "mixed economy." close the trade gap, maintain its armed forces in sufficient strength to meet a new threat from Communist Russia, and to keep of its overseas bases. It succeeded in these aims remarkably well. During the dark early days of the War, economist William Beveridge had put forward proposals for postwar "cradle-to-grave" social security. The Government had taken on an emergency welfare responsibility; it provided milk for babies; orange juice and cod-liver oil for children.

It was now time for Labour to put the Beverage Plan into full operation. Family allowances had already been introduced before the War's end. A National School Lunch Act was passed in June, 1946. In 1948, the government introduced the National Health Service to proved free medical treatment for all, from the spectacles and false teeth, to maternity and child welfare services. Nationalization of the hospitals made nationwide care available for the injured and seriously ill. The "Welfare State" had begun.

The second major change brought about by the Labour Government, under Attlee, was to take control of industry and public utilities, and a two-year period beginning in 1946, saw the nationalization of the Bank of England; the coal industry; electricity and gas; air transport, along with road, rail and waterways. A total of 20 percent of all British industry had been taken into public ownership by 1950. (In August, 1947, the government operated its first atomic pile, at Harwell). Central control of the economy, which had proved so successful in wartime, was now a major undertaking in peacetime. It was achieved under terribly adverse economic conditions. Another crisis occurred in 1947.

Stringent financial measures, imposed to meet the enormous war debt, caused undue hardship that was only made worse by one of the worst winters on record, monstrous gales and floods wiped out farms and destroyed agricultural products. A fuel shortage severely curtailed exports, food was still severely rationed, and in 1948 even bread and potatoes were rationed (both had been exempt during the War). The author remembers well the little ditty "It had to B.U." that parodied a popular song of the time by referring to the Bread Unit.

In 1947, relief appeared in the form of the Marshall Plan, introduced by the US to help the European Economy recover. Along with the devaluation of the pound and an expansion of world markets, there was a revival of the spirit that had united the country during the War. The introduction of the Land-Rover to world markets in 1948 was a godsend for British exports. Britain was even able to join with the US in ferrying supplies to Berlin in the famous "Airlift" that began in July of that year. By 1950, rationing began to be phased out, though not until 1954 was meat rationing abolished.

Though the Labour Government did very little to develop the private sector, it can take credit for the building of giant hydro-electric schemes in the later 1940's, especially in the undeveloped areas of Scotland and Wales. In 1951, the Conservatives resumed control of the government. Under its slogan "You've Never Had It So Good," led by the aging Winston Churchill, economic prospects seemed to be on the upturn. In less than one year, the balance of payments deficit had become a surplus.

Compared to those of the developing nations of Southeast Asia and the rebuilt economies of Japan and Germany, however, Britain's pre-war industrial strength was severely weakened. The much-heralded Festival of Britain, held in London in 1951 has been seen by many in retrospect, not as a demonstration of the nation's strength, but as a product of British postwar weakness and a signal pointing to further decline. A fashionable joke at the time was that, like the Festival's Skylon, the country had no visible means of support. The Nation and the Commonwealth mourned the death of King George VI, who along with his queen Elizabeth, had done much to bring back dignity and honor to the monarchy. Yet there was a mood of optimism that received an another upturn with the coronation of the young queen Elizabeth, the first such ceremony to be televised.

Something of a miracle occurred just when the world's oil producing nations doubled the cost of their product: Britain herself became a major oil producer. Since 1962, she had been conducting seismic prospecting for oil and natural gas in the North Sea, and full-scale activities had begun in 1964, the first oil find came five years later. Great expansion of the oil fields then took place in the 1970's so that in 1979, the country's oil production exceeded its imports for the first time. Britain's ports also adapted to the new container vessels, spelling the end for such great traditional ports as Liverpool, Glasgow and East London.

Continuing violence between Catholics, committed to union with Eire and Protestants, committed to retaining their British identity, led to the Government imposing direct rule over Northern Ireland, but hopes for peace were shattered on "Bloody Sunday" when British troops opened fire on protesters at Londonderry (January 30, 1972). The IRA brought their violence to Britain, killing a leading Conservative M.P. in March. In Ireland, violence continued and Lord Mountbatten was killed by an IRA bomb in August.

In 1974, the whole of Britain felt itself under siege from a vicious bombing campaign. Violence continued almost unabated. In 1985 the Anglo-Irish Agreement was an attempt to end it, with both Britain and the Irish Republic agreeing to confer over the problems and to work together against terrorism. It took the outrage of the Inniskillen bombing in 1998, however, to shock both sides into realizing that governments could do little; peace had to come from the initiatives of the people themselves.

Along with most of the industrialized nations of the world, Britain entered a period of depression in the 1970's. A tremendous blow to British pride came in February, 1971 when Rolls-Royce declared bankruptcy, forcing the government to bail out the company to avoid job losses and to restore national prestige. Britain's post-war lead in the production of motor-cycles had long been surrendered to the Japanese. In 1974, the great strike by the country's coal miners (over the government's "freeze" on wages) caused the Conservatives to lose the general election but under Labour, inflation spiraled and economic decline continued despite the social contract between the government and the trade unions.

Bitter confrontation between unions and government continued to escalate. A strike by London dock workers idled hundreds of ships and prevented goods from being exported. In March, 1979 Prime Minister Callaghan lost a vote of confidence by one vote in the House of Commons and Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher became the nation's first woman Prime Minister in May. Her promises to cut income taxes, scale down social services and reduce the role of the state in daily life had wide appeal and gave her a large majority. Many in Britain also wished to curb the power of the unions, which they believed had grown into a monster, almost out of control.

Margaret Thatcher

Though married to a millionaire, Margaret Thatcher was perceived as a grocer's daughter, hard-working and thrifty, a complete no-nonsense person. She was the first female Prime Minister in the nation's history and gained her reputation as "the iron lady" for her tight control of Britain's monetary policy. Her emphasis on "self-help" encouraged private enterprise, but her cutting back of expenditures on health, social services and education made her extremely unpopular with the masses. Then, in 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, claiming sovereignty over the small group of islands they called the Islas Maldivas in the South Atlantic that was home to a few thousand British settlers.

Prime Minister Thatcher sent a task force to recapture the islands; and after two months, the better-trained and disciplined British infantry, aided by its highly maneuverable airplanes (launched from carriers), won the day. The nation was jubilant, and Mrs. Thatcher was regarded as something of a national hero. The problems resulting from the country fast-becoming multi-national, with whole areas of the larger cities occupied by those whose religion, dress, food and social mores were considered "anti-British" were swept aside in a euphoria of jingoism.

Mrs. Thatcher's government was also helped by the splitting off of some Labour members to the Social Democratic Party, who later joined with the Liberals in "the Alliance." Then, in Mrs. Thatcher's second government, begun on such an optimistic note, the miners went on strike to protest the closing of many pits deemed unprofitable. Under their dynamic and outspoken leader Arthur Scargill, the miners also protested against overtime work. The bitterness caused by the strikes and the insensitivity of the government to their demands deeply divided the whole of British society. The Conservatives, once again helped by a split in opposition ranks, retained their control of the government. Its legislation, the closing of so many pits, and the switch to oil, had defeated the unions.

Mrs. Thatcher continued her policies of tight economic control, the privatization of industry and "dismantling" (when possible) of the Welfare State. Privatization of British Gas, British Telecom, the Water Authorities, British Airways and the electricity industry (termed by Macmillan as 'the family silver") proved a godsend to government revenues and also created a new class of British shareholders. The 1980's indeed, despite riots in the deprived areas of some of England's biggest cities, and continued IRA terrorist attacks, were a decade of prosperity (many immigrants, at the bottom of the social scale, especially those from the West Indies and some African states would disagree).

The number of videos acquired by British families was far greater than those in the US or Europe. The British were, on the whole, better fed, better housed, better clothed, cleaner and warmer than at any time in their history. No wonder the Labour opposition was in complete disarray. Spirits were also warmed in July, 1981 when Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer (and another kind of spirit benefited from the "real-ale" campaign that protested against the mass production of pasteurized beer).

In addition, many promising development in science occurred. In 1974, mainly with income derived from the sale of Beatles records, the computed axial tomography scanner was developed in England, revolutionizing diagnostic medicine in immunology, (essential for organ transplants). In July, 1978, British doctors at London's Oldham Hospital created the world's first "test tube baby" Louis Brown. British scientists retained their lead. The 1990's saw the birth of the famous sheep Dolly (the first mammal produced from a donor cell taken from an adult rather than from an embryo), and then Polly, a transgenic animal produced through cloning.

Britain was also busy creating its own "silicon valleys" adapting the new micro-chip technology to replace traditional industries. In 1981, the Humber Bridge was completed; at 4,626 feet the world's longest Suspension Bridge. The world's longest high-speed optical fiber link connected Birmingham with London. British television projected an image of quality throughout the world. In addition, one of Britain's oldest shoe companies, now named Reebok, made impressive gains in the world market in competition with Nike.

General optimism, however, was tempered with distrust of one who was acquiring almost dictatorial powers, and in 1990, the Iron Lady's imposition of the "Poll Tax" caused unrest and street demonstrations. (The tax was an attempt to reform local government and finance by replacing household rates, which made each voter bear a full share of the costs incurred by prodigal spending). Inflation and interest rates also remained alarmingly high. Mrs. Thatcher's decision to send British land and sea forces into the Gulf to participate in the United Nations multi-national task force raged against the government of Iraq divided the country, especially when it was learned that English casualties came mostly from "friendly" (i.e. US) fire.

The government was mainly split by the question of integration into Europe, with some prominent members disagreeing with the purchase of the Westland Helicopter by Americans rather then Europeans. Other such issues, heightened by what Sir Geoffrey Howe (deputy leader of her own party) called her anti-European paranoia, brought a challenge to Thatcher's leadership, and in November, 1990, the Thatcher Era came to an end. The longest ministry of the century, it had glorified the Victorian values of self-help and nationalism.

For many, the main achievement of the Iron lady was to free her country from the iron grip of the trade unions. For others, it was the restoration of British pride in the victory in the Falklands. For most, it was apparent that Britain was beginning to come to terms with the loss of much of its heavy industry and the increasing reliance on finance, communications, oil, insurance, tourism, accounting and other service industries.

John Major & Tony Blair

John Major then took over the reigns of the Conservative Party as Prime Minister. He was committed to keeping "Thatcherism" alive. The unions were not going to regain their former powers, despite public sentiment in favor of the miners and as debatable as the benefits of privatization had proved, there was no going back to the old days of nationalized industries (and council houses, which had been offered for sale to private owners).

What must not be overlooked in the polices of "Thatcherism" was the influence upon intellectuals and government policymakers alike of "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A. Hayek (first published in 1944). On Hayek's 90th birthday, Mrs. Thatcher wrote that none of what her government had achieved would have been possible without the values and beliefs "that set us on the right road and provide the right sense of direction." As a result of reading the book, Anthony Fisher founded the Institute of Economic Affairs in London which was to be the most important source of free-market ideas in Britain. By the mid-90's, there was very little to divide the Labour and Conservative parties on the central principles of economic management.

When Major was first elected, Britain was still saying "No" to socialism. By the general election of 1992, leading magazines (particularly in the US) wrote of the death of the Labour Party eventhough it had abandoned its policy of nuclear disarmament, forgotten that it had preached in favor of public ownership of the means of production and exchange, embraced the European community and purged from within the unrepresentative labor bosses. Its motto "It's Time for a Change" seemed to appeal to most Britons; not a single poll showed the Conservatives winning. But once again, the desire for continuity overrode the desire for change, John Major was returned to power.

Yet as early as 1993, the winds of change were blowing strong. Many Conservative M.P.'s were in open rebellion over Europe. They were told to support Major's European policy or bring down the government. The warm afterglow of the Gulf War had dissipated rapidly and continuing economic problems and uncertain leadership ate away Major's popularity.

Leading Tories wanted to scuttle any deals Britain had made at Maastricht; they feared that British industry would be subject to European regulations in working conditions and labor relations. Hundreds of Tory candidates were in open rebellion over Major's fence straddling on Europe; the Euro-skeptics determined to sabotage their leader. Why should they force Britain to enter a stagnant Europe? In addition, continuing revelations in the daily newspapers about scandals involving leading Tories doomed Mr. Major.

Despite the fact that the economy was recovering and inflation was at a 30-year low, the sale of tens of thousands of public housing (at bargain prices), perhaps the greatest gift of wealth to the working class in British history, putting the country far ahead of the US and Europe in the percentage of housing units owner-occupied, and despite the highest growth rate and the lowest unemployment in Europe, Labour won a landslide victory in 1997. Tony Blair was thus able to inherit an economy free from the dreaded "British disease" (militant trade unions, over-regulation, vacillating government policies and a foolish disdain toward enterpreneurship).

The election took place only two years after Labour had rid itself of the clause in its constitution that called for the "common ownership of production, distribution and exchange." It was particularly anxious to keep the billions of dollars that had been invested annually in the UK by the US, Japan, Korea and others during the 16 years of Conservative rule. The new brand of socialism was hardly distinguishable from that of Mrs. Thatcher but the move of Labour to the center was expedited by the popularity of its leaders.

The question of just how much should Britain integrate itself into Europe remained a thorny issue with the new government. It was now joined by a much more ancient problem: that of devolution with the British Isles, with powerful voices being raised in Scotland and Wales for more self-government, and the seemingly insoluble problem of Northern Ireland casting a deep shadow over the entire so-called United Kingdom.

On March 1, 1979 (St. David's Day) the people of Wales voted overwhelmingly against devolution. The reasons were many (they are discussed in full in my "Brief History of Wales" and "The Referendum of 1979." Too many feared changes in the statues quo; the work of the anti-devolutionists, led by such influential Welsh M.P.'s as Neil Kinnock (with his eyes on the Prime Minister's job) was done only too well. But in 1997 a new referendum was held in which, by a small majority, the people of Wales chose an Assembly of their own, despite heavily financed campaigns against it. This time, they had been supported by the Labour Party, led by Tony Blair.

Scotland, meanwhile, voted overwhelmingly in favor of its own Assembly. The reasons are given at length in my "Brief History of Scotland," but are also summarized below:

Though very much a minority party, and still suffering from the stigma attached to the very idea of nationalism during war years, (the Scottish National Party) SNP had begun to build its organizational skills and work on political strategy; its share of the vote steadily grew. This was also a period of intense activity in Wales by members of Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales, and by the fervent and some say overzealous and destructive activities of the Welsh Language Society Cymdeithas yr Iaith Cymraeg. In any case, discontent in both areas of Britain led to a feverish proliferation of committees soon at work in Westminster looking at further measures of devolution for Scotland and Wales.

The government published its proposals for a devolved Scottish assembly in November 1975. It would have no revenue raising powers and sovereignty would be retained in Westminster. Though prospects for passage looked good, the wide range of competing priorities for government attention took away the time needed for the Callaghan government to devote to the issue. Labour, fearing loss of support in Scotland to the SNP, was also still deeply divided on the question and the extent of devolution. The government's program was bound to fail: the Bill was headed for defeat.

Eighteen years later, the results were reversed. On September 11, 1997, four days after the trauma of Lady Diana's funeral, the referendum resulted in the decision to give back a Parliament to Scotland by a 3-1 margin. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose Labour Party had actively campaigned for passage of the devolution bill, called the results a step in the process of "modernizing Britain." Hollywood movie star, Scotsman Sean Connery (who did not appear in "Braveheart") campaigned hard and contributed a great deal of cash to the campaign, invoking the 1370 Declaration of Arbroath, "It is not for glory, riches or honours we fight, but only for liberty, which no good man loses but with his life."

The decision gives Scotland an Assembly with tax-levying powers, unlike the much weaker "talking-shop" that the Welsh are going to be saddled with as the result of their own (barely) successful referendum. The Scots will be given the broad authority to legislate in a host of sectors, but Westminster has the right to "reserve" or "withhold" many powers (constitutional matters, foreign policy, defense, and national security, border controls, monetary and fiscal matters, common markets for goods and services, employment law, and social security).

For the people of Wales and Scotland (and no less, the people of England), the decision to approve the Labour Government's plans for separate assemblies, may prove to be one of the most important ones in their long histories. In the councils of Europe, three voices will be heard instead of one: three equal voices, sharing a unique British heritage, but each proud of its own distinctiveness as cultural and political units. Westminster must have breathed a sigh of relief that the problems of devolution for Wales and Scotland were settled so amicably. Would the Irish question follow the same road? The problem of Europe remained for Tony Blair; in addition, there was the age-old question of what to do about the House of Lords.

In many ways, the Upper Chamber had become an anachronism. The very idea of non-elected, hereditary legislators seemed ridiculous in a country that prided itself on its democratic institutions. The old arguments about the need for a second chamber to act as a brake on any impetuousness showed by the government of the day had long since disappeared. Time and time again the Lords had obstructed legislation that would have surely benefited the nation. Their defense of ancient privilege had often blinded them to the realities of British political life since the time of Oliver Cromwell. Their record on Ireland was appalling, with their obstruction of Home Rule Bills, but it could be matched by many other areas in which they had excelled in their obstinacy.

Leaving aside century after century of attacks on the privileges (and power) enjoyed by the Lords, it was the budget of Lloyd George in 1909 that really stirred up the pot. The landed aristocracy saw his attempts to tax the rich as the beginning of the end of all rights of property. When the Lords rejected his bill, Lloyd George threatened to swamp them with five hundred new peers. Yet all attempts at reform eventually died down lacking a concerted opinion as to what kind of second chamber the country should support. The Parliament Bill of 1911 was thus a weak compromise: all the hereditary peers and bishops would stay in the House, but their powers of delay would be reduced to two years: it continued to remain a powerful revising chamber.

The advent of the First World War postponed the move to exclude hereditary peers from the Upper House. A conference held in 1917, however, faced the old difficulty of "the paralysing perplexity of so many alternatives." The Commons also feared that an elected upper chamber would offer a serious challenge to its own powers. In 1922, Lloyd George became notorious for selling lordships to the highest bidder; and the old aristocracy found itself rapidly outnumbered by the new captains of industry and leading financiers on the benches of the chamber. The newcomers proved just as anxious to preserve their newly-gained privileges as their hereditary colleagues.

Another crisis occurred in 1960 when Antony Edgwood Benn, a promising and ambitious Labour M.P. was duly elevated to the peerage upon the death of his father (who had been appointed as a Labour peer only twenty years before). As a peer, the younger Benn was refused admission to the Hose of Commons when he came to take his usual seat. A private bill, to allow him to resign his peerage, was defeated. It took four years of contentious debate to settle the matter, but it was evident that the House of Lords needed some drastic changes. The days of complacency were over.

In 1967, the Labour Party announced its plans to reduce the powers of the Lords and to eliminate its hereditary basis. Once again, however, it was willing to compromise in the uncertainly of what was to replace the second chamber. Many Labour M.P.'s wished to abolish the Upper House altogether, but a compromise was reached: only minor changes were effected. In the late 1990's, the government of Tony Blair and is centrist Labour Party, is still grappling with the problem of the Lords, a problem that perhaps exemplifies the struggle of Britain to adjust itself to the modern world.

There is nothing in the nation's proud past that would prevent a satisfactory solution to the problem of the privileges enjoyed by the House of Lords. While England my no longer Rule the waves, it is perfectly capable of putting its own house in order, as Wales and Scotland have shown. The past two thousand years have shown a resilient people, proud and independent; a people who will continue to give so much to the world, in art, literature, politics, science and technology, exploration, social welfare and sport; but above all, in the difficult art of compromise.