Twentieth-Century Britain: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Kenneth O. Morgan
Language: English
Pages: 142
ISBN: 019285397X
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The last century has been a tumultuous one for the culture and politics of Britain. Kenneth Morgan's Twentieth-Century Britain is a crisp analysis of the forces of consensus and conflict that have existed in Britain since the First World War. Using a wide variety of sources, including the records of political parties and recently released documents from Britain's Public Records Office, Kenneth Morgan covers the full scope of Britain's modern history while drawing thought-provoking comparisons with the post-war history of other nations. This penetrating analysis by a leading twentieth-century historian makes for fantastic reading for anyone interested in the development of modern Britain.
Aneurin Bevan: A Biography: Volume 1: 1897-1945
The Cut of His Coat: Men, Dress, and Consumer Culture in Britain, 1860-1914
Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 (The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume 1)
Expectancy in the older industrial regions of the north, Wales, and Scotland, than in the county towns and spas of the English south-east and the West Midlands. The social gulf grew ever entieth-Centur Tw wider in the twenties, made more severe still by the endless unemployment which afflicted older industries such as steel-making, shipbuilding, and coal-mining, all of them starved of capital investment. The decision to return to the gold standard at the pre-war parity in 1925 was one taken.
Britain alone. There was here an industrial structure unduly geared to a declining range of traditional industries: coal, steel, y Britain textiles, and shipbuilding. There was a history of low investment, overmanning, and inefficient work practices, intensified by a culture that for decades had elevated humane disciplines and gentlemanly virtues in place of business education or entrepreneurial skills. The entieth-Centur Tw entire industrial and manufacturing base contracted with extreme.
Radical right, Sir Oswald Mosley left first the Conservative, then the Labour Party, and tried to create a British variant of Fascism with an admixture of corporate planning and anti-Semitism. Meanwhile the veteran socialist writers, Shaw and H. G. Wells in their different ways promoted the cause of a planned, antiseptic, scientific utopia. But the most popular solutions were sought within the traditional mix of British politics. By August 1931 it was obvious that MacDonald’s Labour government.
One, even if dependent on American land and naval assistance. At last in June 1944, with the final invasion of France from the Normandy beach-heads by Allied forces under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Montgomery, the war again assumed a European aspect. British military tactics in this last phase have led to some controversy amongst military historians, especially the delays in pushing through northern France and the Low Countries. The airborne landing at Arnhem was a débâcle.
Friendship towards business, a tough stance on law and order, and the first charges for university tuition, all of these remarkable for a government of the centre left. On the other hand, family credits, enhanced provision for children and pensioners, and a minimum wage for workers indicated some redistribution and a genuinely progressive agenda. On Europe, the government seemed much more positive than its Tow predecessor. But Blair was no more inclined to join a single European ards th.