ENGLISH HISTORY ENGLISH HISTORY BY A. J. P. TAYLOR, F.B.A. l'ELLOW OP MACDALEN COLL.EGE OXPORD OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS Oxford Unwersity Press, Amen House, Lond1m E.C.4 OLAICOW Nl!W YORK TORONTO MUllOURJ'.'1t WU.LrNOT'ON BO~AY CAI.COTTA MADRAS KARACHI . l-AHORI! l>ACOA CAP& TOW:S IALISBURY NAJ:ROBI JllAl)AN KUALA LUMPUR ROSO KOSO © Oxford University Press rg65 PRINTED IN GREAT BRlTAt!'I CONTENTS LIST OF GRAPHS :xx LIST OF MAPS xx I. THE GREAT WAR: OLD STYLE, i914-15 The impact of war I Declaration of war 2 Emergency measures 3 The B.E.F. in France 6 Battle of Mons 9 The Mame JO Fall of Antwerp J I First battle of Ypres 12 War at sea 13 Political situation 15 Home Rule Act 16 Public opinion 17 Voluntary recruitment 20 Shortage of shells 22 Origins of the Dardanelles campaign 23 Northcliffe 27 Lloyd George and the unions 28 Making of the first Coalition 30 NOTE A. The battle of the Marne 32 II. THE PRESSURES OF WAR, 1915-16 Lloyd George and munitions 34 Liquor control 37 Women' in industry 38 Industrial unrest 39 McKenna's finance 40 War Loan 41 War Debts 42 The U -Boats 43 Afr Raids 44 Suvla Bay 45 Kitchener in the Near East 46 Robertson becomes C.I.G.S. 47 The end at Gallipoli 48 The side shows 49 War Aims 51 Conscription 53 Conscientious objectors 54 Compulsory military service 55 x CONTENTS The Easter rebellion Failure of scheme for Home Rule Death of Kitchener The Somme Jutland The demand for controls Lloyd George and Law against Asquith Fall of Asquith Lloyd George prime minister NoTF. A. The partition of Turkey in Asia NoTE B. The proposed Irish settlement, 1916 III. A NATION AT WAR, 1916-18 Lloyd George in power 73 The War Cabinet 75 New Ministries 77 War Aims 79 Nivellc's Offensive Bo Imperial War Cabinet 82 The Irish Convention 83 Convoys 84 Passchendaele 86 Cambrai 88 The Leeds Convention 89 Remalcing of the Labour party go Franchise reform 93 Talk of a compromise peace 94 Rationing 95 Creation of the R.A.F. 96 Problem of manpower 97 Conflict with Robertson 98 Ludcndorff's offensive 100 Zeebrugge 103 The Black Book 103 Conscription in Ireland 104 The Maurice debate 105 Crewe House 106 Allied offensive 108 The Fourteen Points IIO The Armistice 111 Non A. The Political levy I 14 Non B. Peace negotiations in r9r7 115 Non C. The RepresenUdinn of the People Act (1918) l 15 Non D. L/,oyd ~ge's War Aims 116 NoTB E. The accusations made by General Maurice 117 Non F. The Fourteen Points n8 CONTENTS xi IV. POSTWAR, 1918-22 War casualties 120 War diseases 121 Economic lo3Ses 122 War Debts 123 National Debt 124 General election 125 The new parliament 128 Changes in government 129 Peacemaking 132 Rhineland and Danzig 134 R eparations 135 Criticisms of the peace ~36 Intervention in Russia 137 Demobilization 138 The Sankey commission 140 Rail strike 141 The Daily Herald 142 Threat of general strike 143 End of the boom 144 Black Friday 146 Housing q.7 Unemployment insurance 148 The Dominions 150 Washington naval treaty 151 Troubles in India 152 The 'Troubles' in Ireland 153 The Black and Tans 155 Government of Ireland Act 156 The Irish negotiations 157 The Irish settlement 159 NOTE A. Fiume 161 NOTE B. The Irish Boundary 162 V. NORMAL TIMES: 1922 Lasting effects of the war 163 Population statistics 164 Contraception 165 Position of women 166 Town and country 167 Decline of religion 168 Class divisions 170 Dress 1 73 The active people 174 Social change 176 The new literature 177 xii CONTENTS The cinema i 80 Old industries and new J81 The Geddes Axe I 83 Economies in education 184 University Grants Committee i86 Death of Northcliffe 187 Genoa conference 189 Chanak crisis 190 FaJl of Lloyd George 192 NOTE A. The sale of The Times 193 VI. THREE-PARTY POLITICS, 1922-5 Law's government 195 Law and the cabinet 197 General election ( 1922) 1 97 The Labour party transformed 198 MacDonaJd as Labour leader !?Or Lausanne conference 202 American debt settlement 203 BaJdwin becomes prime minister 204 Chamberlain's Housing act 206 Baldwin espouses Protection 207 General election ( 1923) 208 First Labour government 209 Wheatley's Housing act 210 Trevelyan and education 2lr Economic problems 212 MacDonald and foreign policy 214 Reparations 215 The Protocol !l 16 Treaty with Soviet Russia 2 17 The Campbell case 218 The Zinov.iev letter 219 General election ( 1924) 220 Baldwin again prime minister 221 Treaty of I.ocarno 221 Return to gold 222 NoTE A. The appointment of Baldwin as prime miflisler NOTE B. The Campbell case Non C. The Zinoui.tv letter VII. THE YEARS OF GOLD, 1925-9 Defence The ten years' rule The chiefs of staff's committee The navy CONTENTS xiii The R.A.F. 231 The army 231 Broadcasting 232 The B.B.C. 233 Its effect on newspapers 234 Its effect on political speeches 235 Agreement on welfare 236 Continued unemployment 238 Conflict in the coal industry 239 Red Friday 241 Preparations for a general strike 242 The Samuel report 2 43 The general strike 244 End of the strike 247 Industrial conciliation ·248 The Trades Disputes Act (1927) 250 The Daily Herald 251 Lloyd George becomes Liberal leader 252 Dominion status defined 253 The League of Nations 255 R eform of local government 256 Der a ting 257 The Savidge case 258 The revised Prayer Book 259 A Golden Age 260 NoTE A. The constitutional coriflict iii Ca·1ada NOTE B. The Savidge case VIII. UNEXPECTED CRISIS, 1929-3 r Democracy achieved 262 The Conservatives 263 Labour 264 The Liberals 266 Lloyd George's new programme 267 General election (1929) 270 Second Labour government 271 Henderson and the League 272 London naval treaty 273 Relations with Soviet Russia 274 India and the Simon commission 275 Abortive treaty with Egypt 276 The White Paper on Palestine 276 Regulated capitalism 278 The Liberals in confusion 281 Baldwin and Empire Free Trade 282 The great Depression 284 Mosley's proposals 285 xiv CONTENTS Snowden's budgets 286 The Macmillan report 287 The May report 288 The run on the pound 289 Demand for economies 290 End of the Labour government 291 Formation of the National government 292 Labour resistance 294 The emergency budget 295 Going off gold 297 Non A. Fall of the Labour government 297 IX. HALF TIME 1931 the watershed 298 Cleavage of outlooks 299 The new England 301 The motor car 302 New industries 3°4 Holidays 305 The new house 306 The wireless set 307 Education 308 The newspaper war 309 Weekly journals 310 Best sellers 31 I Thrillers 312 Sport 313 Triumph of the cinema 3 14 The Talkies 315 Sunday cinemas 316 Appearance and reality 317 X. THE NATION SAVED: ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, 1931 - 3 The National government prolonged 321 The parties and Protection 322 The general election (1931) 324 The National government reshaped 326 Labour in the new parliament 327 Inquiry into Protection 328 Protection carried 330 Chamberlain's first budget (1932) 331 Conversion of War Loan 332 The Ottawa conference 333 The World economic conference 335 The American debt 335 The government's economic policy 336 CONTENTS xv Devaluation 337 Cheap money 338 Tariffs 339 Rationalization 340 Agriculture 341 Recovery 342 The Housing boom 344 Class war revived 346 Left-wing intellectuals 347 The Socialist League 348 The hunger marchers 349 XI. THE NATION NOT SAVED: FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 1931-6 Waiting for natural recovery 351 The Special Areas 352 Unemployment Assistance BoarJ 353 Government of India Act 356 Dispute with Irish Free State 357 Conflicts over foreign policy 359 Anti-war feeling 361 The Disarmament conference 364 East Fulham by-election 367 The League of Nations 368 The Manchurian affair 370 The problem of Germany . 373 White Paper on Defence 376 George V's Jubilee 377 Baldwin becomes prime minister 378 The Peace Ballot 379 The Abyssinian crisis 380 Dissension in the Labour party 381 The general election ( 1935) 383 The Hoare-Laval plan 384 German reoccupation of the Rhineland 386 NoTE A. Baldwin and rearmament 387 NOTE B. France and the reoccupation of the Rhineland 387 XII. APPEASEMENT, 1936-9 Baldwin eclipsed 389 Development of radar 390 The Spanish civil war 393 Non-intervention 394 Stir of British feeling 395 The Popular Front 397 Death of George V 398 xvi CONTENTS Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson 399 Edward VIII's abdication 402 Neville Chamberlain becomes prime minister 404 His government 405 Settlement with Ireland 406 Palestine 407 Preoccupation with foreign affairs 408 Rearmament 409 Estimates of German strength 410 Stages in rearmament 412 Labour's attitude ~ 413 Chamberlain and Germany 415 Chamberlain and Soviet Russia 416 German grievances 417 Hostility to Hitler 418 German persecution of the Jews 4 19 The Dominions favour appeasement 420 Eden's reluctance 421 Eden resigns 423 Chamberlain and Czechoslovakia 424 Chamberlain visits Hitler 426 Preparations for war 427 The Munich conference 428 After Munich 430 More armaments 432 32-division army 433 Evacuation 434 Renewed Popular Front 435 Hoare announces coming Golden Age 437 NoTE A. The effects of bombing 437 XIII. RELUCTANTLY TO WAR, 1939- 40 The end of Czecho-Slovakia 439 Chamberlain's reaction 440 Guarantee to Poland 442 Ministry of supply set up 444 Conscription 445 Demand for Soviet alliance· 445 Negotiations with Soviet Russia 446 Renewed appeasement 448 The Nazi- Soviet pact 449 Alliance with Poland 450 Last hesitations 451 Declaration of war on Germany 452 The 'phoney' war 454 Evacuation 455 Economic controls 456 CONTENTS xvii Unenterprising conduct of the war 458 Reliance on blockade 461 Shipping difficulties 462 Rationing 464 Food subsidies 465 Churchill in chains 466 Aid for Finland 468 The Norwegian campaign 470 Chamberlain challenged 472 Attempts to avoid Churchill 473 Churchill becomes prime minister 474 ,_.