Industrial Revolution in the UK

The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period
during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became
industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late
1700s, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic
machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories
and mass production. The iron and textile industries, along with the development of the
steam engine, played central roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved
systems of transportation, communication and banking. While industrialization brought
about an increased volume and variety of manufactured goods and an improved standard of
living for some, it also resulted in often grim employment and living conditions for the poor
and working classes.
Britain: Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution

Before the advent of the Industrial Revolution, most people resided in small, rural
communities where their daily existences revolved around farming. Life for the average
person was difficult, as incomes were meager, and malnourishment and disease were
common. People produced the bulk of their own food, clothing, furniture and tools. Most
manufacturing was done in homes or small, rural shops, using hand tools or simple
machines.

Did You Know?

The word "luddite" refers to a person who is opposed to technological change. The term is
derived from a group of early 19th century English workers who attacked factories and
destroyed machinery as a means of protest. They were supposedly led by a man named Ned
Ludd, though he may have been an apocryphal figure.

A number of factors contributed to Britain’s role as the birthplace of the Industrial

Revolution. For one, it had great deposits of coal and iron ore, which proved essential for
industrialization. Additionally, Britain was a politically stable society, as well as the world’s
leading colonial power, which meant its colonies could serve as a source for raw materials,
as well as a marketplace for manufactured goods.

As demand for British goods increased, merchants needed more cost-effective methods of
production, which led to the rise of mechanization and the factory system.

Innovation and Industrialization

The textile industry, in particular, was transformed by industrialization. Before

mechanization and factories, textiles were made mainly in people’s homes (giving rise to
the term cottage industry), with merchants often providing the raw materials and basic
equipment, and then picking up the finished product. Workers set their own schedules under
this system, which proved difficult for merchants to regulate and resulted in numerous
inefficiencies. In the 1700s, a series of innovations led to ever-increasing productivity, while
requiring less human energy. For example, around 1764, Englishman James Hargreaves
(1722-1778) invented the spinning jenny (“jenny” was an early abbreviation of the word
“engine”), a machine that enabled an individual to produce multiple spools of threads
simultaneously. By the time of Hargreaves’ death, there were over 20,000 spinning jennys
in use across Britain. The spinning jenny was improved upon by British inventor Samuel
Compton’s (1753-1827) spinning mule, as well as later machines. Another key innovation
in textiles, the power loom, which mechanized the process of weaving cloth, was developed
in the 1780s by English inventor Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823).

Developments in the iron industry also played a central role in the Industrial Revolution. In
the early 18th century, Englishman Abraham Darby (1678-1717) discovered a cheaper,
easier method to produce cast iron, using a coke-fueled (as opposed to charcoal-fired)
furnace. In the 1850s, British engineer Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) developed the first
inexpensive process for mass-producing steel. Both iron and steel became essential
materials, used to make everything from appliances, tools and machines, to ships, buildings
and infrastructure.

The steam engine was also integral to industrialization. In 1712, Englishman Thomas
Newcomen (1664-1729) developed the first practical steam engine (which was used
primarily to pump water out of mines). By the 1770s, Scottish inventor James Watt (1736-
1819) had improved on Newcomen’s work, and the steam engine went on to power
machinery, locomotives and ships during the Industrial Revolution.

Transportation and the Industrial Revolution

The transportation industry also underwent significant transformation during the Industrial
Revolution. Before the advent of the steam engine, raw materials and finished goods were
hauled and distributed via horse-drawn wagons, and by boats along canals and rivers. In the
early 1800s, American Robert Fulton (1765-1815) built the first commercially successful
steamboat, and by the mid-19th century, steamships were carrying freight across the
Atlantic. As steam-powered ships were making their debut, the steam locomotive was also
coming into use. In the early 1800s, British engineer Richard Trevithick (1771-1833)
constructed the first railway steam locomotive. In 1830, England’s Liverpool and
Manchester Railway became the first to offer regular, timetabled passenger services. By
1850, Britain had more than 6,000 miles of railroad track. Additionally, around 1820,
Scottish engineer John McAdam (1756-1836) developed a new process for road
construction. His technique, which became known as macadam, resulted in roads that were
smoother, more durable and less muddy.

Communication and Banking in the Industrial Revolution

Communication became easier during the Industrial Revolution with such inventions as the
telegraph. In 1837, two Brits, William Cooke (1806-1879) and Charles Wheatstone (1802-
1875), patented the first commercial electrical telegraph. By 1840, railways were a Cooke-
Wheatstone system, and in 1866, a telegraph cable was successfully laid across the
Atlantic.The Industrial Revolution also saw the rise of banks and industrial financiers, as
well as a factory system dependent on owners and managers. A stock exchange was
established in London in the 1770s; the New York Stock Exchange was founded in the early
1790s. In 1776, Scottish social philosopher Adam Smith (1723-1790), who is regarded as
the founder of modern economics, published “The Wealth of Nations.” In it, Smith
promoted an economic system based on free enterprise, the private ownership of means of
production, and lack of government interference.

Quality of Life during Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution brought about a greater volume and variety of factory-produced
goods and raised the standard of living for many people, particularly for the middle and
upper classes. However, life for the poor and working classes continued to be filled with
challenges. Wages for those who labored in factories were low and working conditions
could be dangerous and monotonous. Unskilled workers had little job security and were
easily replaceable. Children were part of the labor force and often worked long hours and
were used for such highly hazardous tasks as cleaning the machinery. In the early 1860s, an
estimated one-fifth of the workers in Britain’s textile industry were younger than 15.
Industrialization also meant that some craftspeople were replaced by machines.
Additionally, urban, industrialized areas were unable to keep pace with the flow of arriving
workers from the countryside, resulting in inadequate, overcrowded housing and polluted,
unsanitary living conditions in which disease was rampant. Conditions for Britain’s
working-class began to gradually improve by the later part of the 19th century, as the
government instituted various labor reforms and workers gained the right to form trade
unions.

Industrialization Moves Beyond Britain

The British enacted legislation to prohibit the export of their technology and skilled
workers; however, they had little success in this regard. Industrialization spread from
Britain to other European countries, including Belgium, France and Germany, and to the
United States. By the mid-19th century, industrialization was well-established throughout
the western part of Europe and America’s northeastern region. By the early 20th century,
the U.S. had become the world’s leading industrial nation.
Tolpuddle Martyrs.

As the sun rose on 24th February 1834, Dorset farm labourer George Loveless set off to
work, saying goodbye to his wife Betsy and their three children. They were not to meet
alone again for three years, for as he left his cottage in the rural village of Tolpuddle, the 37-
year-old was served with a warrant for his arrest.
Loveless and five fellow workers – his brother James, James Hammett, James Brine,
Thomas Standfield and Thomas's son John – were charged with having taken an illegal oath.
But their real crime in the eyes of the establishment was to have formed a trade union to
protest about their meagre pay of six shillings a week – the equivalent of 30p in today's
money and the third wage cut in as many years.
With the bloody French Revolution and the wrecking of the Swing Rebellion fresh in the
minds of the British establishment, landowners were determined to stamp out any form of
organised protests. So when the local squire and landowner, James Frampton, caught wind
of a group of his workers forming a union, he sought to stamp it out.
Workers met either under the sycamore tree in the village or in the upper room of Thomas
Standfield's cottage. Members swore of an oath of secrecy – and it was this act that led to
the men's arrest and subsequent sentence of seven years' transportation.
In prison, George Loveless scribbled some words: “We raise the watchword, liberty. We
will, we will, we will be free!" This rallying call underlined the Martyrs’ determination and
has since served to inspire generations of people to fight against injustice and oppression.
Transportation to Australia was brutal. Few ever returned from such a sentence as the harsh
voyage and rigours of slavery took their toll.
After the sentence was pronounced, the working class rose up in support of the Martyrs. A
massive demonstration marched through London and an 800,000-strong petition was
delivered to Parliament protesting about their sentence.
After three years, during which the trade union movement sustained the Martyrs' families by
collecting voluntary donations, the government relented and the men returned home with
free pardons and as heroes.
The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the campaign that freed them inspires us to fight on.
The annual festival reflects the spirit of those prepared to stand up and be counted and for
those just learning about the history it is a joyful celebration of our solidarity.
Industrial Revolution in the US (1)

The Industrial Revolution took place over more than a century, as production of goods
moved from home businesses, where products were generally crafted by hand, to machine-
aided production in factories. This revolution, which involved major changes in
transportation, manufacturing, and communications, transformed the daily lives of
Americans as much as— and arguably more than—any single event in U.S. history.

Historical Background
An early landmark moment in the Industrial Revolution came near the end of the eighteenth
century, when Samuel Slater brought new manufacturing technologies from Britain to the
United States and founded the first U.S. cotton mill in Beverly, Massachusetts. Slater’s mill,
like many of the mills and factories that sprang up in the next few decades, was powered by
water, which confined industrial development to the northeast at first. The concentration of
industry in the Northeast also facilitated the development of transportation systems such as
railroads and canals, which encouraged commerce and trade.
The technological innovation that would come to mark the United States in the nineteenth
century began to show itself with Robert Fulton’s establishment of steamboat service on the
Hudson River, Samuel F. B. Morse’s invention of the telegraph, and Elias Howe’s invention
of the sewing machine, all before the Civil War. Following the Civil War, industrialization
in the United States increased at a breakneck pace. This period, encompassing most of the
second half of the nineteenth century, has been called the Second Industrial Revolution or
the American Industrial Revolution. Over the first half of the century, the country expanded
greatly, and the new territory was rich in natural resources. Completing the first
transcontinental railroad in 1869 was a major milestone, making it easier to transport
people, raw materials, and products. The United States also had vast human resources:
between 1860 and 1900, fourteen million immigrants came to the country, providing
workers for an array of industries.
The American industrialists overseeing this expansion were ready to take risks to make their
businesses successful. Andrew Carnegie established the first steel mills in the U.S. to use
the British “Bessemer process” for mass producing steel, becoming a titan of the steel
industry in the process. He acquired business interests in the mines Breaker boys,
Woodward Coal Mines
that produced the raw material for steel, the mills and ovens that created the final product
and the railroads and shipping lines that transported the goods, thus controlling every aspect
of the steel-making process.
Other industrialists, including John D. Rockefeller, merged the operations of many large
companies to form a trust. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust came to monopolize 90% of the
industry, severely limiting competition. These monopolies were often accused of
intimidating smaller businesses and competitors in order to maintain high prices and profits.
Economic influence gave these industrial magnates significant political clout as well. The
U.S. government adopted policies that supported industrial development such as providing
land for the construction of railroads and maintaining high tariffs to protect American
industry from foreign competition.
American inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison created a long
list of new technologies that improved communication, transportation, and industrial
production. Edison made improvements to existing technologies, including the telegraph
while also creating revolutionary new technologies such as the light bulb, the phonograph,
the kinetograph, and the electric dynamo. Bell, meanwhile, explored new speaking and
hearing technologies, and became known as the inventor of the telephone.
For millions of working Americans, the industrial revolution changed the very nature of
their daily work. Previously, they might have worked for themselves at home, in a small
shop, or outdoors, crafting raw materials into products, or growing a crop from seed to table.
When they took factory jobs, they were working for a large company. The repetitive work
often involved only one small step in the manufacturing process, so the worker did not see
or appreciate what was being made; the work was often dangerous and performed in
unsanitary conditions. Some women entered the work force, as did many children. Child
labor became a major issue. John D. Rockefeller, full-length portrait, walking on street with
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/ resource/cph.3a48646/
Dangerous working conditions, long hours, and concern over wages and child labor
contributed to the growth of labor unions. In the decades after the Civil War, workers
organized strikes and work stoppages that helped to publicize their problems. One especially
significant labor upheaval was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Wage cuts in the railroad
industry led to the strike, which began in West Virginia and spread to three additional states
over a period of 45 days before being violently ended by a combination of vigilantes,
National Guardsmen, and federal troops. Similar episodes occurred more frequently in the
following decades as workers organized and asserted themselves against perceived
injustices.
The new jobs for the working class were in the cities. Thus, the Industrial Revolution began
the transition of the United States from a rural to an urban society. Young people raised on
farms saw greater opportunities in the cities and moved there, as did millions of immigrants
from Europe. Providing housing for all the new residents of cities was a problem, and many
workers found themselves living in urban slums; open sewers ran alongside the streets, and
the water supply was often tainted, causing disease. These deplorable urban conditions gave
rise to the Progressive Movement in the early twentieth century; the result would be many
new laws to protect and support people, eventually changing the relationship between
government and the people.
Industrial Revolution in the US (2)

19TH CENTURY, 20TH CENTURY

The Second Industrial Revolution, 1870-1914
“If a Western Rip Van Winkle had fallen asleep in 1869 and awakened in 1896, he would
not have recognized the lands that the railroads had touched. Bison had yielded to cattle;
mountains had been blasted and bored. Great swaths of land that had once whispered grass
now screamed corn and wheat. Nation-states had conquered Indian peoples, slaughtering
some of them and confining and controlling most of them. Population had increased across
much of this vast region, and there were growing cities along its edges. A land that had
once run largely north-south now ran east-west. Each change could have been traced back
to the railroads.”  – Richard White, Railroaded
Between 1820 and 1860, the visual map of the United States was transformed by
unprecedented urbanization and rapid territorial expansion. These changes mutually fueled
the Second Industrial Revolution which peaked between 1870 and 1914. Between the
annexation of Texas (1845), the British retreat from Oregon country, and The Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848) which cemented Mexican cession of the Southwest to the United
States, territorial expansion exponentially rewrote the competing visions free-soilers,
European immigrants, industrial capitalists, and Native Americans held for the future of the
American Empire.
The need for massive industry was obvious: in order to reach California’s burgeoning port
cities like San Francisco and to expedite the extraction of gold from the mines, railroad
tracks would need to be laid across the plains to reach the Pacific and open up trade
networks. Questions abounded about the character this new American territory would take:
would it be reliant on slave labor and fulfill Jefferson’s original vision of an agrarian
republic? Would corporations or the federal government lay down the required
infrastructure to ‘tame the West’? Still, others wondered if turning over the bison laden
Plains to New York based corporations would stifle the American dream for America’s
second and third sons. Still, others believed the technological innovations of the Second
Industrial Revolution was the unstoppable culmination of modern civilization propelling the
fulfillment of Manifest Destiny. Questions of this nature were not new in American history.
Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, Americans were forced to adjust to the
implications of the First Industrial Revolution. 1750 to 1850 marked a century of heightened
industrial activity centered around textiles. After the invention of steam power and the
cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793, cotton could be shipped from the American South by
New England ships to the vast textile factories of Great Britain, producing a reverse triangle
trade around a single global commodity. These developments were hailed by some as
“progress,” but the pace, scale, and reliance of slave labor on these developments instilled in
others a great sense of anxiety and fear.
Although the economic and social problems of the first Industrial Revolution distressed
many, these concerns were set aside during the nation’s bloody Civil War (1861-1865).
The following maps demonstrate the advancement of the railroad before the Civil War (as
always, click to enlarge image):
 U.S. Railroad Map 19th Century
 

U.S. Railroad Map 1860

 
In the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction, the American economy grew
considerably as it entered “The Second Industrial Revolution,” generally recognized as the
period between 1870 and 1914. The U.S. was awash in an abundance of natural resources
from its newly acquired territories, a growing supply of labor immigrating from Europe, and
the migration of emancipated African Americans North and West, an expanding market for
manufactured goods, and the availability of capital for investment.
The Second Industrial Revolution took local communities and their new products out of the
shadow of large regional agricultural based economies which was assisted by new labor
forces and production techniques. During the Second Industrial Revolution, innovations in
transportation, such as roads, steamboats, the Eerie Canal, and most notably railroads,
linked distant, previously isolated communities together.
For the first time, goods from the American interior could be shipped directly to the
Atlantic, and vice versa. Being able to ship products great distances transformed the nature
of economic activity in the United States. Before the development of this elaborate
transportation and communication system, economies were localized and often based on a
barter system. The transportation revolution opened up new markets for farmers,
industrialists, and bankers who could now bring crops cotton in the Mississippi River
Valley, wheat in the Midwest, and manufactured goods in upstate New York into a global
market based on credit. Similarly,  the expansion of the railroad brought a dramatic
reduction in the time and money it took to move heavy goods, creating new opportunities
for wealth at a time when two-thirds of all Americans still resided on farms.
The federal government actively participated in this growth by promoting industrial and
agricultural development. High tariffs were enacted to protect American industry from
foreign competition, land was granted to railroad companies to encourage construction, and
the army was employed to forcibly remove Indians from western land desired by farmers
and mining companies. The rapid growth of factory production, mining, and railroad
construction all boosted the new industrial economy and stood in stark contrast to the
previous small farm and artisan workshop economy of the pre-Civil War era.
By 1913, the United States produced one-third of the world’s industrial out put–more than
the total of Great Britain, France, and Germany combined. The living standards and the
purchasing power of money increased rapidly, as new technologies played an ever-
increasing role in the daily lives of working- and middle-class citizens. Between 1870 and
1920, almost 11 million Americans moved from farm to city, and another 25 million
immigrants arrived from overseas. By 1920, for the first time in American history, the
census revealed more people lived in cities than on farms.
Inventions during the Second Industrial Revolution were interconnected. The railroad
spurred the growth of the telegraph machine. Telegraph lines and railroad lines inextricably
bound together as telegraph polls dotted the distance of railroad lines. The telegraph, and
later the telephone, ushered in the era of instant communication and brought about, in the
words of cultural historian Stephen Kern, “the annihilation of distance.” This was a
profound change for Americans. The “local” shot outward to the “national” and even
“international” as a new sense of world unity was established through these new
technologies. These technologies also increased the pace of life and the manner in which
people worked and lived.
Major technological advances of the Second Industrial Revolution:
• 1870s – Automatic signals, air brakes, and knuckle couplers on the railroads; the Bessemer
and then the open-hearth process in the steel mills; the telephone, electric light, and
typewriter.
• 1880s – The elevator and structural steel for buildings, leading to the first “skyscrapers.”
• 1890s – The phonograph and motion pictures; the electric generator, contributing to
modern household items such as refrigerators and washing machines and gradually replaced
water and steam powered engines; and the internal combustion engine, which made possible
the first automobiles and the first airplane flight by the Wright brothers in 1903.
The economic growth during this time period was extraordinary but unstable. The world
economy experienced harsh depressions in 1873 and again in 1897. Businesses competed
intensely with each other and corporations battled to gain control of industries. Countless
companies failed and others were bought up by larger corporations which eventually ruled
the marketplace.
For those who were able to capitalize on these technological advancements, the Second
Industrial Revolution was highly profitable. During the Depression of 1873, the soon-to-be
industry giant, Andrew Carnegie established a steel company which controlled every phase
of business from raw materials to transportation, manufacturing, and distribution.
 Andrew Carnegie, Industrial Giant
 
By the 1890s, Carnegie dominated the steel industry and had accumulated a fortune worth
millions. His steel factories were the most technologically advanced in the world, although
this honor came at a price for his workers. Carnegie ran his companies with a dictatorial
hand; his factories operated around the clock and workers were burdened with long hours.
Yet, at the same time, Carnegie believed that the rich had a moral obligation to promote the
advancement of society and he distributed much of his wealth to various philanthropies,
especially towards the creation of public libraries throughout the country.

Like Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller also accumulated enormous amounts of wealth,

although his came through domination of the oil industry.

John D. Rockefeller (1885)

 
Rockefeller annihilated rival oil firms through committed competition, secret deals with
railroad companies, and fixed prices and production quotas. He bought out competing oil
refineries and managed all aspects of the operation, including drilling, refining, storage, and
distribution. Before long, Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company controlled a majority of the
nation’s oil industry. Like Carnegie, Rockefeller publicly supported a number of
philanthropies, yet privately domineered over his workers and bitterly fought their efforts to
organize and unionize.
The following cartoon from the magazine Puck, September 7, 1904, portrays a “Standard
Oil” storage tank as an octopus with many tentacles wrapped around the steel, copper, and
shipping industries, as well as a state house, the U.S. Capitol, and one tentacle reaching for
the White House.

The second Industrial Revolution fueled the Gilded Age, a period of great extremes: great
wealth and widespread poverty, great expansion and deep depression, new opportunities and
greater standardization. Economic insecurity became a basic way of life as the depressions
of the 1870s and 1890s put millions out of work or reduced pay. Those who remained in the
industrial line of work experienced extremely dangerous working conditions, long hours, no
compensation for injuries, no pensions, and low wages. But for a limited minority of
workers, the industrial system established new forms of freedom. Skilled workers received
high wages in industrial work and oversaw a great deal of the production process. Economic
independence now required a technical skill rather than ownership of one’s own shop and
tools. It was labeled “progress” by its proponents, but those who worked the floor at the
factory knew it came at a price.
Causes of World War One

The causes of World War One are complicated and unlike the causes of World War Two,
where the guilty party was plain to all, there is no such clarity. Germany has been blamed
because she invaded Belgium in August 1914 when Britain had promised to protect
Belgium. However, the street celebrations that accompanied the British and French
declaration of war gives historians the impression  that the move was popular and politicians
tend to go with the popular mood. 

Was much done to avoid the start of the war?

By 1914, Europe had divided into two camps. 

The Triple Alliance was Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary.

The Triple Entente was Britain, France and Russia.

The alliance between Germany and Austria was natural. Both spoke the same language –
German – and had a similar culture. In previous centuries, they had both been part of the
same empire – the Holy Roman Empire.

Austria was in political trouble in the south-east of Europe – the Balkans. She needed the
might of Germany to back her up if trouble got worse. Italy had joined these countries as
she feared their power on her northern border. Germany was mainland Europe’s most
powerful country – so from Italy’s point of view, being an ally of Germany was an obvious
move. Each member of the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria and Italy) promised to help
the others if they were attacked by another country.
The Triple Entente was less structured than the Triple Alliance. “Entente” means
understanding and the members of the Entente (Britain, France and Russia) did not have to
promise to help the other two if they got attacked by other countries but the understanding
was that each member would support the others – but it was not fixed.

France was suspicious of Germany. She had a huge army but a poor navy. Britain had the
world’s most powerful navy and a small army. France and Britain joining together in an
understanding was natural.

 Britain was also concerned about Germany because she was building up a new and
powerful navy. The inclusion of Russia seemed odd when Russia was so far from France
and Britain. However, Russia’s royal family, the Romanovs, was related to the British Royal
Family. Russia also had a huge army and with France on the west of Europe and Russia on
the east, the ‘message’ sent to Germany was that she was confronted by two huge armies on
either side of her borders. Therefore, it was not a good move by Germany to provoke
trouble in Europe – that was the hoped for message sent out by the Triple Entente.

Certain specific problems also helped to create suspicion throughout Europe. The first was
Germany’s fear of the huge British Empire.

By 1900, Britain owned a quarter of the world. Countries such as Canada, India, South
Africa, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand were either owned by Britain or were still highly
influenced by the British Empire. Queen Victoria had been crowned Empress of India. Huge
amounts of money were made from these colonies and Britain had a powerful military
presence in all parts of the world. The Empire was seen as the status symbol of a country
that was the most powerful in the world. Hence Britain’s title “Great Britain”.

Germany clearly believed that a sign of a great power was possession of overseas colonies.
The ‘best’ had already been taken by Britain but Germany resolved to gain as much colonial
territory as possible.

 Her main target was Africa. She colonised territory in southern Africa (now Namibia)
which no-one really wanted as it was useless desert but it did create much anger in London
as Germany’s new territories were near South Africa with its huge diamond and gold
reserves. In reality, Germany’s African colonies were of little economic importance but it
gave her the opportunity to demonstrate to the German people that she had Great Power
status even if this did make relations with Britain more fragile than was perhaps necessary
for the economic returns Germany got from her colonies.

A second issue that caused much friction between Britain and Germany was Germany’s desire to
increase the size of her navy. Britain accepted that Germany, as a large land-based country, needed
a large army. But Germany had a very small coastline and Britain could not accept that Germany
needed a large navy. 

Postcard from 1912 of the Spithead review of Britain’s Navy

Britain concluded that Germany’s desire to increase the size of her navy was to threaten
Britain’s naval might in the North Sea. The British government concluded that as an island
we needed a large navy and they could not accept any challenges from Germany. As a
result, a naval race took place. Both countries spent vast sums of money building new
warships and the cost soared when Britain launched a new type of battleship – the
Dreadnought. Germany immediately responded by building her equivalent. Such a move did little
to improve relations between Britain and Germany. All it did was to increase tension between the
two nations.

HMS Dreadnought

17,900 tons; 526 feet in length; ten 12 inch guns, eighteen 4 inch guns, five torpedo
tubes; maximum belt armour 11 inches; top speed 21.6 knots.

With Europe so divided, it only needed one incident to spark off a potential disaster. This
incident occurred at Sarajevo in July 1914.
The Treaty of Versailles and the Impact on Germany

By Walter S. Zapotoczny
The Paris Peace Conference opened on January 12, 1919. Meetings were held at various
locations in and around Paris until January 20, 1920. Leaders of 32 states representing about
75% of the world's population, attended. However, the five major powers, the United States,
Britain, France, Italy, and Japan dominated negotiations. Important figures in these
negotiations included Georges Clemenceau (France) David Lloyd George (Britain), Vittorio
Orlando (Italy), and Woodrow Wilson (United States). The Versailles Treaty was one of the
products of the conference. The Germans believed that the treaty would be based on
President Wilson’s Fourteen Points, which offered a framework for a just peace, and the
hopes that any future international tension would be prevented. The Germans believed the
Fourteen Points would have resulted in drastically less devastation to Germany if used in the
treaty. However, the Big Four were determined to punish Germany for the war, and so they
did.
This treaty held Germany solemnly responsible for WWI. Germany was forced to pay
reparations totaling 132,000,000,000 in gold marks, they lost 1/8 of its land, all of its
colonies, all overseas financial assets, a new map of Europe was carved out of Germany,
and the German military was basically non-existent. To the German people they were being
ruthlessly punished for a war not only were not responsible for but had to fight. The main
terms of the
Versailles Treaty were:
(1) the surrender of all German colonies as League of Nations mandates
(2) the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France
(3) cession of Eupen-Malmedy to Belgium, Memel to Lithuania, the Hultschin district to
Czechoslovakia, Poznania, parts of East Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland
(4) Danzig to become a free city
(5) plebiscites to be held in northern Schleswig to settle the Danish-German frontier
(6) occupation and special status for the Saar under French control
(7) demilitarization and a fifteen-year occupation of the Rhineland
(8) German reparations of £6,600 million
(9) a ban on the union of Germany and Austria
(10) an acceptance of Germany's guilt in causing the war
(11) provision for the trial of the former Kaiser and other war leaders
(12) limitation of Germany's army to 100,000 men with no conscription, no tanks, no heavy
artillery, no poison-gas supplies, no aircraft and no airships
(13) the limitation of the German Navy to vessels under 100,000 tons, with no submarines
Germany signed the Versailles Treaty under protest. The USA Congress refused to ratify the
treaty. Many people in France and Britain were angry that there was no trial of the Kaiser or
the other war leaders.
The treaty devastated Germany politically and economically. Because of the treaty, many
Germans were desperate to find a new leader to get them out of the Great Depression, which
they blamed on the extravagant reparations they had to pay to the Allies. They found this
leader in Adolf Hitler. Hitler believed Germany had given up to easily to the allies and still
had a chance to win the war because there had been no fighting on German soil. He
encouraged many German’s feelings of being betrayed http://www.wzaponline.com Page 1
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by their own government and therefore thought they had no obligation to follow the treaty;
this group
became the Nazi’s. They still felt like they had more fighting to do and the Versailles Treaty
fueled
their anger. It created aggressive resentment and nationalism in Germany. There was a lot of
increasing hostility towards the allied nations. Leaders like Hitler saw this treaty as
something that weakened the great empire he was striving for. He didn’t sign it and he was
not about to follow it. But because of this treaty he was able to conquer and manipulate
people by justifying his actions on the unfairness of the Versailles Treaty. This lead to the
emergence of the National Socialist Party in Germany.
The economic impact of the Treaty of Versailles
John Maynard Keynes and Christopher Isherwood were both alive to the wider economic
impact of the treaty of Versailles

After Versailles: a warning from John Maynard Keynes

The treaty includes no provisions for the economic rehabilitation of Europe – nothing to
make the defeated central empires into good neighbours, nothing to stabilise the new states
of Europe, nothing to reclaim Russia; nor does it promote a compact of economic solidarity
among the allies themselves; no arrangement was reached at Paris for restoring the
disordered finances of France and Italy, or to adjust the systems of the old world and the
new.
The Council of Four [Britain, France, Italy and the US] paid no attention to these issues. It
is an extraordinary fact that the fundamental economic problem of a Europe starving and
disintegrating before their eyes was the one question in which it was impossible to arouse
the interest of the four. Reparation was their main excursion into the economic field, and
they settled it from every point of view except that of the economic future of the states
whose destiny they were handling.
Europe consists of the densest aggregation of population in the world. In relation to other
continents, it is not self-sufficient; in particular it cannot feed itself. The danger confronting
us, therefore, is the rapid depression of the standard of life of the European populations to a
point that will mean actual starvation for some (a point already reached in Russia and
approximately reached in Austria). Men will not always die quietly. For starvation, which
brings to some lethargy and a helpless despair, drives other temperaments to the nervous
instability of hysteria and to a mad despair. And these in their distress may overturn the
remnants of organisation.
In a very short time, therefore, Germany will not be in a position to give bread and work to
her numerous millions of inhabitants, who are prevented from earning their livelihood by
navigation and trade. "We do not know, and indeed we doubt," the [German Economic
Commission] report concludes, "whether the delegates of the allied and associated powers
realise the inevitable consequences that will take place if Germany, an industrial state, very
thickly populated, closely bound up with the economic system of the world, and under the
necessity of importing enormous quantities of raw material and foodstuffs, suddenly finds
herself pushed back to the phase of her development that corresponds to her economic
condition and the numbers of her population as they were half a century ago. Those who
sign this treaty will sign the death sentence of many millions of German men, women and
children." I know of no adequate answer to these words.