Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980

What Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980 covers

Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980 is examined in Unit 1, the period study — one of eight options, of which a student takes one. It covers the Liberal welfare reforms 1906-1914, economic problems and responses in the 1920s and 1930s, the Labour governments of 1945-1951, the changing fortunes of the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party and coalition government, the growth of the Labour Party, the impact of the Boer War and the First World War, the social and economic impact of the Second World War, the changing economy, work and employment 1918-1980, the Welsh language, culture and demands for political change, social, religious and cultural change 1918-1980, the campaign for women's suffrage before 1918 and women, the franchise and changing status 1918-1980.

The 13 subtopics

Each one has its own page. WJEC AS History students sit this topic in the first year.

• The Liberal welfare reforms 1906-1914Recall questions on meals and medical inspection for schoolchildren, the first pensions and who qualified, labour exchanges, and the contributory scheme of 1911.Open →
• Economic problems and responses in the 1920s and 1930sRecall questions on the collapse of the export trades, the return to gold and what it cost, the stoppage of 1926, the means test, and what government did and did not do for the depressed regions.Open →
• The Labour governments of 1945-1951Recall questions on the industries taken into public ownership, the insurance and assistance settlement, the founding of the health service and the opposition it overcame, and austerity at home.Open →
• The changing fortunes of the Liberal PartyCymru Fydd, how the First World War damaged Liberal principles and trevor Wilson's explanation for the Liberal collapse.Open →
• The Conservative Party and coalition governmentRecall questions on the party's periods in office and out, its role in wartime coalitions, its leaders and their differences, and how it recovered after heavy defeat.Open →
• The growth of the Labour PartyRecall questions on its origins in the unions and the socialist societies, the understanding of 1903, its first minority governments, the split of 1931 and its return to majority power.Open →
• The impact of the Boer War and the First World WarLloyd George's stance on the Boer War and financial cost of the First World War to Britain.Open →
• The social and economic impact of the Second World WarAnother Welsh city heavily bombed during the war, points system used alongside rationing and effect of the war on unemployment in Wales.Open →
• The changing economy, work and employment 1918-1980Welsh Development Agency and winter of Discontent.Open →
• The Welsh language, culture and demands for political changeRecall questions on the decline in speakers across the century, the campaigns that answered it, the flooding of a Merionethshire valley, statutory recognition, broadcasting and the referendum of 1979.Open →
• Social, religious and cultural change 1918-1980Recall questions on the fall in chapel membership, the spread of the cinema and then television, changing leisure and holidays, and the arrival of a consumer society.Open →
• The campaign for women's suffrage before 1918WSPU's motto, suffragists and suffragettes and black Friday.Open →
• Women, the franchise and changing status 1918-1980Recall questions on the two stages by which women got the vote, wartime employment and what followed it, the legislation of the 1970s, and how far domestic life changed with it.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980 further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Beveridge Report vs National Insurance Act 1946

  Beveridge Report: the wartime plan of 1942 which named Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness as the giants to be defeated, and made a comprehensive welfare state a mainstream expectation. National Insurance Act 1946: the post-war statute establishing a single contributory scheme covering sickness, unemployment, maternity, widowhood, retirement and death for the whole working population.

• Lloyd George's coalition vs The National Government

  Lloyd George's coalition: the ministry from 1916, headed by a Liberal but dominated numerically by Conservatives and run through a small War Cabinet, which fell at the Carlton Club meeting in 1922. The National Government: the cross-party ministry formed in the financial crisis of 1931 under a Labour leader whose own party expelled him, and controlled thereafter by the Conservatives who supplied most of its MPs.

• Cymru Fydd vs Plaid Cymru

  Cymru Fydd: the movement of the late 1880s and 1890s for Welsh self-government within Liberalism, which collapsed in 1896 when the anglicised Liberals of the south-east refused to join. Plaid Cymru: the separate nationalist party founded at Pwllheli in 1925, which sought self-government and the survival of the language.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Which general election brought the Liberals to power with a landslide majority?

   Model answer

   The general election of 1906, which gave the Liberals around 400 seats and reduced the Conservatives to about 157.

2. 2

   Name the two social investigators whose poverty surveys influenced Liberal thinking.

   Model answer

   Charles Booth, who surveyed London, and Seebohm Rowntree, whose study of York appeared in 1901.

3. 3

   What did Rowntree mean by primary poverty?

   Model answer

   An income too small to buy the minimum food, fuel, shelter and clothing needed for physical efficiency, however carefully it was spent.

4. 4

   What is meant by New Liberalism?

   Model answer

   The belief that real freedom required the state to remove poverty, sickness and unemployment, rather than leaving individuals to self-help.

5. 5

   How did the Boer War strengthen the case for social reform?

   Model answer

   The poor physical condition of working-class volunteers alarmed the government, and a committee on physical deterioration reported in 1904 recommending school meals and medical inspection.

6. 6

   What did the Education (Provision of Meals) Act of 1906 allow?

   Model answer

   It allowed local education authorities to provide free school meals for needy children, funded from the rates, though it did not compel them to.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980 revision questions

Is Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980 examined at AS in WJEC History?

Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.

What does Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980 cover in WJEC AS-Level History?

13 subtopics: the liberal welfare reforms 1906-1914, economic problems and responses in the 1920s and 1930s, the labour governments of 1945-1951, the changing fortunes of the liberal party, the conservative party and coalition government, the growth of the labour party, the impact of the boer war and the first world war, the social and economic impact of the second world war, the changing economy, work and employment 1918-1980, the welsh language, culture and demands for political change, social, religious and cultural change 1918-1980, the campaign for women's suffrage before 1918 and women, the franchise and changing status 1918-1980. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980 organised?

By the WJEC 601-5817-7 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.