Churchill’s England – Final Exam Study Guide, Fall 2023

Part I consists of eight IDs taken from the list below. You must answer five of
them – each worth 20 points. Where applicable, give the approximate date and
basic description. Also explain the historical significance of the term – this last
requirement is worth most of your points on the IDs.

Amritsar Massacre Eden, Anthony

Anglo-American Loan Edward VIII
Attlee, Clement General Strike
Balfour Declaration Halifax, Lord
Battle of Britain IMF
Bevan, Aneurin IRA
Beveridge Plan Jutland
Bevin Boys Keynes, John Maynard
Bevin, Ernest League of Nations Mandate
Black & Tans Lloyd George, David
Blitz MacDonald, J. Ramsay
Blitzkrieg Munich Crisis
Bretton Woods Conference National Government
Britain, Battle of NHS
British Rail Operation Sealion
Brittain, Vera Pankhurst, Emmeline
Butler Education Act Representation of the People Act
Casablanca Conference RIC
Chamberlain, Neville Roundtable Conferences
Collins, Michael Singapore
Commonwealth Conference, 1949 Sinn Fein
Coupon Election Soft underbelly
Cripps, Stafford Somme
Daíl Éirann Special Relationship
Deficit spending Suez Crisis
DeValera, Eaman Sykes-Picot Agreement
DORA Westminster, Statute of
Easter Rebellion
Part II (100 points) will consist of two essay questions taken from those below.
You must answer one of the two.

Question #1
But the old man would not so, but slew his son, And half the seed of Europe, one by
one.
Wilfred Owen (1918)

Wilfred Owen’s view of the First World War is just one example of how the
conflict changed Britain’s society and standing in the world. Explain what this
verse refers to, and place it in the context of other changes that the First World
War either brought about or accelerated. How did the war affect Britain and its
empire over the next twenty-one years?

Question #2
In 1942 Winston Churchill declared, “I have not become the king’s first minister to
preside over the dissolution of the British empire.” Recently some scholars have
suggested that if Churchill had been willing to make peace with the fascist
powers after the fall of France, Britain might have been able to keep its empire.
Was he mistaken in assuming that Germany was the greatest threat to British
power? What other forces threatened to diminish Britain’s international stature?
Do you think Churchill was right to insist on fighting Germany given the existence
of these other challenges to Britain’s position as a world power?

Question #3
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
Winston Churchill, quote in The Reader’s Digest, Dec. 1954

Is this a fair assessment of the policies of the Conservative government in the

late 1930s? Justify your answer by explaining the motives behind appeasement
and the consequences for Britain. Discuss also why “appeasement” is used as
an epithet when attacking opponent’s foreign policy today. Why do so many
people share Churchill’s view eighty years later?

Question #4
British citizens often credit the Labour Government of 1945-51 with (or blame it
for) creating a socialist society in the United Kingdom. How responsible was this
administration for bringing about such reforms as cradle to grave health care and
nationalization of key industries. Did it preside over a revolution in British
governance, or did it merely confirm policies that had been evolving in this
direction since the turn of the century?

Question #5
Winston Churchill is the most famous British politician of the first half of the
twentieth century. But how successful was he? To what extent did he preserve
the institutions and attitudes he valued most? To what extent did he fail to do
so? In retrospect would you consider Churchill successful or not?