Few saw the threat of Hitler's rise to power in Germany. Germany was re-arming at a frightening rate, but Britain had neither the inclination nor the money to follow Hitler's increased spending on armaments.
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The issue of votes for women, re-surfaced after World War I ended. Women had played their part in the factories and the movement started by Mrs. Pankhurst (shown left with her daughter in prison clothes after her arrest in 1914) led to a limited voting franchise for women in 1918, and full equality with men in 1928 |
| The working class became unionised, and labour relations deteriorated. The culmination was the General Strike in May 1926, when some 2 million key workers went on strike over plans to reduce wages and lengthen working hours. The General Strike itself failed, but it did make trades unionists realise that they could not lead British workers into a class war, b8ut that the process of winning at the ballot box would give them real power to change the country | |
| In the 1930's Britain was focused on the continuing high
unemployment at home. Then there was the shock of the abdication of Edward
VIII who wished to marry an American divorcee in 1936.
Few saw the threat of Hitler's rise to power in Germany. Germany was re-arming at a frightening rate, but Britain had neither the inclination nor the money to follow Hitler's increased spending on armaments. |
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| Eventually Hitler's expansion went too far. The German invasion of Poland led Britain by treaty to declare war on Germany. In 1939 World War II started. | |
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