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Y112: Britain 1900–1951

Economic issues 1918–1939: Post-war economic conditions and problems of the mining industry

  • 1 thing to know
  • Unit group 1

Overview

Recall questions on post-war economic conditions, the problems of the staple industries, economic unrest, the problems of the mining industry, the causes and failure of the General Strike.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Who and when

What did the Samuel Commission recommend in 1926?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What happened to the economy in the two years after the war?

    Model answer

    A short restocking boom in 1919 and 1920, with heavy speculation in coal mines and ships, gave way to a violent slump in 1921 when world demand fell away, and unemployment reached two million.

  2. 2

    Which were Britain's staple industries, and why did over-dependence on them matter?

    Model answer

    Coal, cotton, shipbuilding, iron and steel and woollens, concentrated in the north, Scotland and south Wales, employed a quarter of the workforce and dominated exports, so their decline devastated whole regions rather than scattered firms.

  3. 3

    Give three reasons for the decline of the staple industries.

    Model answer

    Wartime customers such as India and Japan had built their own mills and yards, foreign competitors used newer plant while British firms remained small and fragmented, and world demand shifted as oil replaced coal and shipping capacity exceeded need.

  4. 4

    Explain how the 1925 return to gold hurt the export industries.

    Model answer

    Fixing the pound at its pre-war value made British goods roughly a tenth dearer to foreign buyers overnight, so orders were lost, and the only quick way for employers to restore competitiveness was to cut wages or lengthen hours.

  5. 5

    What did the Sankey Commission recommend in 1919, and what was done?

    Model answer

    Its chairman and half its members favoured nationalising the coal industry, but the government rejected that and returned the mines to their owners in 1921, who immediately imposed wage cuts and district agreements.

  6. 6

    What was Black Friday?

    Model answer

    On 15 April 1921 the railwaymen and transport workers withdrew from a promised sympathetic strike, leaving the locked-out miners to fight and lose alone, and destroying confidence in the Triple Alliance.

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