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Y112: Britain 1900–1951

Economic issues 1918–1939: impact of the Great Depression and recovery

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 1

Overview

Recall questions on the impact of the Great Depression, unemployment in the interwar period, causes, extent, regional patterns, the economic policies of the National Government, success and limitations, social policies of the National Government, the recovery, causes, extent, regional variations.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

How did the Great Depression affect Britain?

Evaluation

How did cheap money contribute to recovery?

Numbers

How complete was the recovery by 1939?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did the Great Depression affect Britain?

    Model answer

    World trade collapsed and British exports roughly halved in value between 1929 and 1932, the staple industries lost their remaining markets, and registered unemployment climbed to about three million, close to a quarter of insured workers, in the winter of 1932 to 1933.

  2. 2

    Describe the regional pattern of interwar unemployment.

    Model answer

    It was concentrated where the staples had been: Jarrow had some seven in ten of its workers unemployed after the shipyard closed, and towns in south Wales, west Cumberland, Clydeside and Lancashire had rates of a third or more, while the Midlands and the south-east often stayed below one in ten.

  3. 3

    What were the causes of interwar unemployment?

    Model answer

    Chiefly structural — the permanent loss of export markets in the old industries — reinforced by the overvalued pound before 1931, the world depression after 1929, and new machinery that reduced the labour each ton or bale required.

  4. 4

    How did cheap money contribute to recovery?

    Model answer

    After leaving gold the Bank Rate was cut to two per cent and the War Loan was converted to a lower rate, so mortgages became cheap; private builders put up well over a million and a half houses in the 1930s, and the building boom pulled bricks, timber, furniture and fittings with it.

  5. 5

    Which new industries grew in the 1930s?

    Model answer

    Motor vehicles at Coventry, Oxford and Dagenham, electrical goods and appliances, chemicals and artificial fibres, aircraft and processed foods — industries drawn to the Midlands and the south by electric power, consumer markets and road transport rather than to the coalfields.

  6. 6

    Why did those in work become better off during the Depression?

    Model answer

    Import prices, especially of food, fell faster than wages, so the real income of an employed family rose, creating demand for new houses, cars, radios and cinema tickets even while millions were idle.

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