Файл: Great Britain_0816044740.pdf

Suffragetes imprisoned for disturbances in Parliament (October).

Trade Disputes Act passes, reversing the Taff Vale decision (December).

1907

Imperial Conference in London (March). Anglo-Russian agreement on Asia; Russia joins

the entente (August).

Founding of the Territorial Army, one of Haldane’s army reforms (October).

1908

Campbell-Bannerman resigns, and Herbert Asquith becomes prime minister (April).

Old Age Pensions Act creates noncontributory pensions for those over 70 (July).

Large demonstrations for votes for women (June, October).

First airplane flight in Britain (October).

First woman elected mayor (Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, in Aldeburgh) (November).

1909

As naval arms race escalates, government proposes to build four more Dreadnoughts and another four if necessary (January).

The “People’s Budget” is introduced by David Lloyd George (April).

House of Lords rejects the budget (November), triggering a constitutional crisis and serious discussion of reform of the upper house (November).

In the Osborne judgment, the House of Lords upholds a court ruling that trade unions cannot use funds to support a political party, thus threatening the future of the Labour Party (November).

Labour Exchanges provide register of vacant jobs for unemployed workers.

1910

General election fought on the issue of the budget and the powers of the House of Lords. Liberals win a smaller majority, and they are dependent upon support from the Irish nationalists (January).

The budget is passed; a parliament bill is introduced to trim the powers of the Lords (April).

Edward VII dies; George V takes the throne (May).

A conference of conservatives and liberals is held to resolve the question of reform of the Lords, but it fails (June–November).

Herbert Asquith obtains a pledge from the king to create enough peers to pass the parliament bill. Another election is held, and the major parties end in a tie (December).

Hulton Colliery disaster; 350 miners are killed (December).

1911

Suffragette demonstration in London produces a column four miles long (June).

Parliament Act forbids House of Lords to vote on money bills, deprives Lords of veto power over legislation, and shortens the life of a Parliament from seven to five years (August).

MPs get salary of £400 per year.

Suffragette demonstration is broken up by police; marchers break windows and destroy other property (November).

National Insurance Act provides sickness and unemployment benefits for selected trades and lowest incomes (December).

1912

Miners strike for national minimum wage (February–April).

Suffragettes raid the House of Commons; 96 arrests (March).

Coal Mines Act establishes principle of minimum wage (March).

Third Irish Home Rule Bill introduced (April). Titanic hits iceberg and sinks; 1,500 lives lost

(April).

Dockers strike in London (May).

Ulster Covenant is signed by 200,000 enemies of Home Rule (September).

Anglo-French naval agreement shares Atlantic and Mediterranean naval defense responsibilities (September).

1913

The Ulster Volunteer Force, composed of units which had been forming since 1911, is organized to resist the imposition of Home Rule (January).

Home Rule bill rejected by the House of Lords (January, July).

Suffragette bomb destroys house being built for Lloyd George (February).

Emmeline Pankhurst receives three-year sentence for the Lloyd George bombing (April). She and other prisoners go on hunger strikes; police respond with force feeding.

Government introduces “Cat and Mouse Bill,” which permits temporary discharge (and rearrest) of persons weakened by hunger strikes (April).

First oil-powered battleship, the Queen Elizabeth, is launched (October).

1914

British army officers stationed in Ireland resign their commissions to avoid enforcing Home Rule (March).

Welsh Church Disestablishment bill passes (May). Home Rule bill passes the Commons (May), and the Lords propose an amendment to delay

implementation in Ulster (June).

Railway workers and miners join building workers in strike, bringing the total of striking workers to 2 million (June).

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, crown prince of Austria, is assassinated in Sarajevo (June).

Buckingham Palace Conference fails to find compromise on Home Rule, and the European crisis leads to delay in enforcing it (July).

Germany declares war on Russia (August 2); German troops invade Belgium, and Britain declares war on Germany (August 4); British Expeditionary Force lands in France (August 17).

British forces defeated in Battle of Mons (August 23).

British and French forces advance after Battle of the Marne (September 5–12). Trench warfare begins.

AGerman U-boat sinks three British cruisers (September 22).

Battle of Ypres (October–November). Britain declares war on Turkey (November).

Lloyd George warns of the need to double income tax due to cost of the war.

German ships shell Scarborough and Whitby (December).

1915

German blockade of Britain (February). British blockade German ports (March).

Attempt to force the Dardanelles by a naval force fails (March).

Second Battle of Ypres (April–May).

Landing of British, Australian, and New Zealand troops on Gallipoli Peninsula meets heavy Turkish resistance (April).

Germans sink the liner Lusitania, killing 1,198 (May 7).

Rumors that troops are running out of shells causes an uproar; the government is forced to form a coalition with Conservatives (May 26).

Munitions Act places arms production under a Ministry of Munitions, headed by David Lloyd George. Strikes are banned, and tight regulations made (May).

U.S. protests lead to restricted submarine warfare by Germany (September).

Execution of nurse Edith Cavell (October 12). Sir John French turns over his command to

General Douglas Haig (December 15). Troops withdraw from Gallipoli after losing

20,000 lives (December 20).

1916

Conscription is introduced (January).

Battle of Verdun begins; Germans launch heavy offensive, and fighting lasts from February to December with extremely heavy losses on both sides.

Easter Rebellion in Ireland: Irish nationalists seize several buildings in Dublin; expected German arms are intercepted, and the rebels are beaten in five days. Their swift executions arouse public sympathy (April).

The Battle of Jutland marks the sole occasion when the two high-seas fleets engage. British losses are somewhat heavier, but German ships return to port and do not venture out in force for the rest of the war (May–June).

Battle of the Somme sees Britain’s heaviest losses of the war: 420,000 British lives lost in order to move the front line 10 miles (July– November).

Sir Roger Casement is hanged in London, a leader of the Easter Rebellion and the rebels’ agent in Germany (August).

Asquith resigns, and Lloyd George becomes prime minister at the head of a coalition. He forms a War Cabinet with Andrew Bonar Law, Alfred Milner, George Curzon, and Arthur Henderson, the latter representing the Labour Party (December 7).

1917

Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare (February 1).

Revolution in Russia (February). Offensive in Flanders (June).

Royal family drops its German titles (June), takes the name of Windsor.

Third Battle of Ypres (July).

Passchendaele captured by the British (November). Balfour Declaration supports Jewish homeland

in Palestine (November).

Bolshevik revolution in Russia (November). Lord Allenby enters Jerusalem (December).

1918

Lloyd George makes statement of war aims (January).

Representation of the People Act gives vote to all adult males and to females over 30 (February).

Tetanus vaccine used widely on the battlefield. Global influenza epidemic kills millions; at peak it kills 3,000 per week in London alone. Formation of the Royal Air Force from the Royal

Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service (April).

Conscription extended to Ireland (April). New German offensive on the Somme (April).

Allied counterattack (August).

German retreat (September) is followed by armistice (November).

German fleet interned at Scapa Flow (December). General election: Lloyd George runs as the head of the coalition, wins 478 seats. Women vote for the first time for members of parliament

(December).

1919

Peace Conference convenes in Paris (January). Irish MPs remain in Dublin and declare themselves the Dáil Éireann, or Irish Parliament, and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) is formed under Michael Collins. Sporadic fighting be-

tween the republicans and British forces. Eamon de Valera elected president (April). Germany accepts terms of the Treaty of Versailles

under protest (June).

German fleet is scuttled in Scapa Flow (June). Government commission recommends national-

izing the coal industry.

Railway strike (September–October).

Nancy, Lady Astor, elected MP for Portsmouth, becomes first woman to sit in the House of Commons (December).

Sex Disqualification Removal Act allows women to enter the professions (December).

1920

League of Nations established in Geneva (January).

Conscription abolished (April).

Strikes and hunger strikes against British treatment of Sinn Féin prisoners in Ireland.

British volunteers (“Black and Tans”) recruited to fight in Ireland (June).

Miners’ strike (October–November).

British forces burn the city of Cork (December). Government of Ireland Act divides the country into Ulster (six northern counties) and the south; both are provided with separate insti-

tutions.

Unemployment Insurance Act provides 15 weeks of assistance to those who contribute to the scheme.

1921

Coal Mines Act returns mines to their owners, ending government control (March).

Railways Act amalgamates over 100 railways into four regional companies.

Miners’ strike (April–June) brings declaration of a state of emergency (April).

Truce called on the fighting in Ireland (July). Conference on the status of Ireland (October)

between high-level delegations; an AngloIrish Treaty is drafted, recognizing an Irish Free State as a dominion within the British Empire and giving separate status to Northern Ireland (December).

1922

Postwar slump; unemployment rises.

British protectorate over Egypt ends (February). Washington Naval Conference agrees on 10-year holiday on ship construction and ratio of bat-

tleships between major fleets (February). Michael Collins is assassinated by republican ex-

tremists (August).

Socialists and workers in Glasgow organize a hunger march on London (October).

Conservatives withdraw support from David Lloyd George and he resigns; Andrew Bonar Law becomes prime minister (October).

British Broadcasting Company organized (October).

General election gives Conservatives a majority of 73 seats (November).

1923

Bonar Law resigns because of ill health; Stanley Baldwin becomes prime minister (May).

Matrimonial Causes Act allows women to divorce adulterous husbands (July).

Housing Act gives subsidies for home building (July).

Southern Rhodesia gains autonomy (October). General election is inconclusive: Conservatives 258, Labour 191, Liberals 159 (December).

1924

Conservative government loses a vote in the House and resigns. The first Labour govern-

ment is formed, with Ramsay MacDonald as prime minister (January).

Diplomatic recognition is given to the Soviet Union (February).

Conference on Reparations convenes (July) and adopts Dawes Plan to moderate the settlement (August).

Agricultural Wages Act allows county boards to set wages.

Labour government loses a vote of censure; MacDonald resigns. Conservatives win large majority in the general election (October).

Stanley Baldwin becomes prime minister again (November).

1925

Britain rejects the Geneva Protocol, which is meant to strengthen the League’s ability to moderate international disputes (March).

Britain returns to the gold standard (April). “Red Friday” threat of strike by miners, railway-

men, and transport workers. Government sets up Samuel Commission to study the disposition of the coal mines (July).

Summer Time is made a permanent system (August).

Widows, Orphans and Old Age Pensions Act sets up contributory scheme for pensions from age 65 (December).

Treaty of Locarno (December).

Irish Boundary Agreement (December).

1926

British troops withdraw from the Rhineland (January).

Samuel Commission reports on ending subsidy to coal mines (March).

Miners refuse cut in wages, go on strike; they are supported by the Trade Union Congress, and the General Strike lasts for nine days (May 3–12). The government organizes emergency transport and other services, and the strike fails. Miners remain out until November, when they return to work at lower pay.

Imperial Conference in London agrees to a statement that dominions are of equal political

status, and the name “British Commonwealth” is adopted (October–November).

1927

British Broadcasting Corporation reorganized (January).

Trade Disputes Act outlaws general strikes and forbids levy on unions for political purposes (May).

Naval disarmament conference (Britain, United States, Japan) fails (August).

1928

Voting age for women reduced to 21; universal suffrage arrives (April).

Revised Prayer Book is rejected by Parliament (May).

1929

Local Government Act takes farms and their buildings off the poor-rate system. Guardians of the poor are abolished, and functions transferred to local councils (March).

General election gives the victory to Labour but without a majority: Labour 288, Conservatives 260, Liberals 59. Ramsay MacDonald becomes prime minister (June). Margaret Bondfield, minister of labor, is first female cabinet member.

Wall Street crash is felt on London exchange, shares fall sharply (October).

Diplomatic relations resumed with the Soviet Union (October).

Viceroy of India makes a public promise of dominion status (October).

1930

Naval Disarmament Conference in London (April).

Britain recognizes the independent state of Iraq (June).

Roundtable Conference on the government of India convenes in London (November).

Depression worsens as unemployment reaches 2.5 million (December).

1931

Oswald Mosley forms the New Party (February).

Government appoints Committee on National Expenditure under George May (February).

The May Committee recommends severe economies in social services, including unemployment benefits (July).

Labour government resigns in dispute over financial economies; MacDonald forms a national coalition with the Conservatives (August).

Britain goes off the gold standard (September). Second India Conference in London (Sep-

tember).

General election gives a large majority to the National Government (Conservatives 473, National Labour 13, National Liberals 35; Liberals 33, and Labour 52). MacDonald continues as prime minister (October).

1932

World Disarmament Conference convenes in Geneva (February).

Import Duties Act creates a general tariff of 10 percent, with some concessions for imperial trade (February).

Duties on manufactured goods raised to 20–33 percent (April).

Imperial Economic Conference convenes in Ottawa (July–August).

Oswald Mosley forms the British Union of Fascists (October).

Third India Conference in London (November).

1933

The Oxford Union resolves “That this house would in no circumstances fight for king and country.” This marks the extent of pacifism and internationalism in some quarters (February).

World Monetary Conference in London fails to resolve problems; Britain continues to pursue nationalist economic policy (July).

1934

Unemployment Assistance Board established; benefit is distributed after means test.

British Union of Fascists rallies in Birmingham (January). A rally later in London brings clashes (September).

Anglo-Russian trade agreement (April).

Naval Disarmament Conference in London fails (October).

1935

Stresa Conference (Britain, France, and Italy) (April).

MacDonald resigns for health reasons (June); he is replaced by Stanley Baldwin.

The “Peace Ballot”—an unscientific poll conducted by the League of Nations Union— shows a large majority of the British public in favor of negotiated settlement of disputes (June).

Anglo-German Naval Agreement sets Germany’s fleet at less than 35 percent of that of Britain (June).

Government of India Act lays down a program leading to independence (August).

Italy invades Abyssinia (October).

General election gives majority to the National Government (432 seats) over Labour (154) and Liberals (21).

Hoare-Laval Pact proposes to give Abyssinia to Mussolini; Samuel Hoare is forced to resign as foreign minister (December).

1936

George V dies; Edward VIII becomes king (January).

Germany reoccupies the Rhineland (July). Civil war begins in Spain (July).

British military occupation of Egypt ends (August).

Jarrow Hunger March (October).

Public Order Act bars wearing of uniforms, grants powers to control public demonstrations by fascists and others (November).

Edward VIII abdicates in order to marry Wallis Simpson. His brother takes the throne as George VI (December).

1937

Anglo-Italian Agreement on Mediterranean interests (January).

Stanley Baldwin resigns; he is replaced as prime minister by Neville Chamberlain (May).

Imperial conference in London (June).

Lord Halifax meets with Adolf Hitler (November). Irish Free State adopts new republican constitu-

tion as “Eire.” (December).

1938

Opening of British base at Singapore (February). Anthony Eden resigns as foreign secretary, is re-

placed by Lord Halifax (February).

German troops enter Austria and the “Anschluss,” or annexation, to Germany is proclaimed (March).

Treaty with Italy recognizes authority over Abyssinia (April).

Nazi demands over the Czech “Sudetenland” raise fear of annexation (May).

Lord Runciman leads a mission to mediate the Sudeten crisis (July).

Chamberlain visits Hitler at Berchtesgaden and Godesburg (September 15 and 27), and finally at Munich the British and French endorse the cession of border lands to Germany (September 29). Hitler promises that he has no further territorial ambitions.

1939

Britain recognizes Franco’s government in Spain (February).

Irish Republican Army begins bombing campaign in Britain.

British guarantee protection to Poland (March). German troops invade Czechoslovakia (March). Russia offers to make a treaty with Britain and

France (April).

Britain extends guarantees to Greece and Romania (April).

Compulsory military service set up (June). Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact signed (August). Germany invades Poland (September 1); Britain

and France declare war on Germany (September 3); war measures implemented, including conscription, air raid precautions, government controls, and emergency powers.

Both sides exchange air raids. The first British ship (HMS Courageous) is sunk in the Atlantic, and British troops embark for France. While bombs fall in the Shetlands, a naval engage-