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2. Britain in World War I

y 1914 the balance of forces in Europe had developed into an extremely dangerous situation. Britain was even drawn into partnership with France, its historical rival and enemy. A dreadful chain of events in the summer of 1914 led to the beginning of the First World War which started with the murder of the Austrian Archduke in Sarajevo. Britain hoped that it would not be dragged into the military conflict, but the leading politicians realized that only a miracle could prevent the country from being dragged into the war. But no miracle occurred.

In August 1914 Germany’s attack on France took the German army through Belgium. But by the treaty of 1838, Britain was supposed to guarantee Belgium’s neutrality, so Britain had to declare war on Germany. There was another reason for Britain to get involved in the war. She was afraid that Germany’s ambitions, just like Napoleon’s a century earlier, would completely change the map of Europe. And as a result of the war, the map of Europe was really changed, but in a way different to anybody’s expectations.

Apart from the Crimean war, it was Britain’s first European war in fifty years. It turned into four years of bitter fighting. Fortunately, no military actions occurred on the British Isles. Britain fought overseas – on the Continent and in the Middle East. It was during that war that Britain produced the first tank – Mark I. It was a monstrous machine which scared the enemy with its mere exterior. The tanks could crawl at a speed of 5 kilometres an hour, which was more than enough to scare the enemy.

It is clear that the war at sea was much more important for Britain than the war on land, because defeat at sea would have inevitably resulted in British surrender. From 1915 German submarines started to sink merchant ships bringing supplies to Britain. They managed to sink 40 per cent of Britain’s merchant fleet and at one point brought Britain to within six weeks of starvation.

The feeling of hatred to Germany and Germans in Britain was so strong that when Germany offered to make peace at the end of 1916, neither Britain nor France welcomed the idea. In 1917 the attacks of German submarines on neutral shipping drew America into the war against Germany. The arrival of American troops in France and Italy ended Germany’s hopes and it surrendered in November 1918.

Britain’s losses in the war were fifty times more than in the twenty-year war against Napoleon: 750,000 died and 2,000,000 were seriously wounded.

Public opinion demanded no mercy for Germany. Hence, when France and Britain met to discuss peace at Versailles in 1919, Germany was not even invited to the conference. The prominent British economist of the time, John Keynes, argued that it was foolish and short-sighted to punish Germany as Europe’s economic and political recovery was impossible without Germany. But his advice was neglected. Later on, Germany took revenge in the economic and political sphere in the 1930s when it started preparations for the next world war.

3. Social issues in the 1920s

In 1918 Parliament voted for universal suffrage for men. The struggle of women for equal rights, which had begun at the end of the 19^th century gained new force as British women were determined to win voting rights. In fact, it was recognized that in Britain women were treated worse than anywhere else in Europe. A man treated his wife and daughters as if they were his property. Wife beating was one of the social problems. And although suffragettes had been demanding equal rights since 1897, the violent and sometimes vulgar methods they used caused a feeling of hostility. The war of 1914 changed everything. Britain would have been unable to continue the war without the women who took men’s places in the factories and mines, who nursed them in hospitals. By 1918 29 per cent of the total workforce in Britain was female. But it was not until 1928 that British women got voting rights.

The liberation of women also took other forms – they started to wear lighter clothes, shorter hair and skirts, began to smoke and drink openly and began to wear cosmetics. Married women wanted smaller families. Divorce became easier. From 1910 to 1939 the number of divorces increased ten times over. Social issues could not fail to be expressed in literature.