The Conservatives won 326 seats, Labour 271. He had fallen in love with a married American woman, Wallis Simpson. But failure to secure concessions resulted in a second, led by Bobby Sands. The monopoly of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was broken when commercial television companies, financed by advertising, began broadcasting under the name of Independent Television (ITV) following the Television Act of 1954. Two of the dams were breached, but 53 of the 133 aircrew were killed. 15 August: Victory over Japan Day marks the end of World War Two. His health seriously diminished as a result. Government support was seen as necessary, not least in order to change the social composition of the student body. Britain became one of the five 'security council' members, with a power of veto. In summer 1942, George VI awarded the island of Malta the George Cross in acknowledgement of the . Liberal Party and Scotland 1832 to 1979. Female Liberal candidates 1918 to 1979. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. During World War Two the British occupied Iraq, as the pro-Axis government intended to cut oil supplies and British access between Egypt and India. Edward VIII's younger brother, the Duke of York, was crowned George VI. Tony Blair joined Margaret Thatcher as the only post-war prime ministers to have won three successive general elections. 29 July: Olympic Games open at Wembley Stadium in London Her successor John Major replaced the poll tax with the council tax. New legislation gave a weekly means-tested pension of a maximum of five shillings to all those aged over 70. Britain was reluctant to end its occupation of Egypt because the Suez Canal provided a vital sea route to India. This guarantee formally ended the policy of appeasement, and the British government reluctantly began to prepare for war. It was only with rearmament in the period immediately before the outbreak of World War Two that the worst of the Depression could be said to be over. The foundation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) reflected British recognition of the growing importance of military aviation. A combination of factors, including faulty intelligence about German strength and bad weather, resulted in failure. 1896-1905. The tests led to a debate in Britain about the dangers of nuclear weapons, and to the foundation in 1958 of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). Continue with Recommended Cookies. Under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, the British crown had retained some authority in the Irish Free State, although this was limited by the 1937 constitution. The bombing by Irish Republican Army terrorists of the Grand Hotel Brighton during the Conservative Party conference killed five and left more than 30 injured. He was succeeded as prime minister by Anthony Eden, who had also served as Churchill's Foreign Secretary and was widely recognised as his 'heir apparent'. In return for the loan, the IMF demanded cuts in government spending. Churchill became prime minister on 10 May, the same day Germany invaded Holland and Belgium. Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald asked a commission, headed by Sir George May, to investigate Britain's dire economic situation. These sales cut government expenditure, by bringing in large sums of money and by reducing the need for state subsidies. Fianna Fil members elected to the Free State's Dil (parliament) initially refused to take their seats unless the oath of allegiance to the British sovereign was abolished. A large crowd attending a Sikh religious festival in defiance of British martial law was fired on without warning by troops under the command of Brigadier General Reginald Dyer. Loaded 0%. Britain held a referendum on the matter in 1975, after renegotiating its terms of entry, and 67% voted in favour of staying in the EEC. They received the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, which they shared with another DNA pioneer, Maurice Wilkins. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. The Conservatives benefited from division among their opponents and doubts about Labour's competence on the economy and defence. The second German offensive of 1918 made three major incursions into the Allied line and precipitated a crisis on the Western Front. The army was divided within itself, representing a potential flashpoint for the government. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Britain, as guarantor of Belgian neutrality, told Germany to withdraw. The 1940 Games went to Tokyo, then Stockholm, but were cancelled - as were the 1944 games - due to World War Two. It was later discovered that the driver of the car in which he, Diana and her friend Dodi Al Fayed were killed had more than the legal limit of alcohol in his blood and was travelling at over 100mph. The invasion of Europe - the largest amphibious invasion in history - succeeded in landing 150,000 troops on the beaches of Normandy on the first day, through a massive combined operation requiring hundreds of ships and total air superiority. Allied merchant shipping losses to German 'U-boats' in the Atlantic had reached crisis levels in late 1942 to early 1943. By September 1918, Germany was exhausted and saw no prospect of victory. Nineteen mainly Saudi Arabian terrorists used hijacked planes to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and part of the Pentagon building in Washington. A hugely important discovery, it has since formed the basis for a wide range of scientific advances. The old sterling denominations of pounds, shillings and pennies were phased out over a period of 18 months, and replaced with decimal pounds and pennies. Liberal Party and Wales 1832 to 1979. Two hundred children were left fatherless in an area of North Wales where a 40% unemployment rate had already caused widespread poverty. This was a major blow to the Conservatives' reputation for economic competence, but it relieved pressure on Britain's economy by ensuring that the currency could float independently. With the IRA unable to deliver a decisive victory, and the British government increasingly worried about rising casualties and international criticism over its conduct of the war, a truce was called in July 1921. This Royal Air Force raid by 19 Lancasters utilised a 'bouncing bomb', developed by British scientist Barnes Wallis, in an attempt to destroy three major dams supplying water and power to the important German industrial region of the Ruhr. On 6 July, Germany effectively gave unconditional backing to any action Austria-Hungary took regarding the recent assassination of its crown prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, by a Bosnian Serb in Sarajevo. The charter was supported by 26 countries, including the Soviet Union, and after the war formed the basis of the United Nations Declaration. Having precipitated the fall of David Lloyd George's Liberal-Conservative coalition government with a brilliant speech to his Conservative colleagues, Andrew Bonar Law was invited by George V to form a government. Signs of a Labour recovery appeared in Scotland, where they won 50 of the 72 seats. Baldwin proposed to abandon free trade, hoping that tariff reform would help to beat unemployment - an unpopular measure. The Taff Vale Railway Company successfully sued a trade union, the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, for the costs of industrial action taken by its members. On 23 May the wartime coalition government ended. Referenda in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland endorsed the agreement on 22 May. The assembly met on 1 July. The 1948 Act repealed the External Relations Act and took Eire out of the Commonwealth. It was not until after the World War Two that televisions became widely available. Tony Blair had become leader of the Labour Party in 1994 after the sudden death of John Smith. The Munich Conference between Britain's Neville Chamberlain, Germany's Adolf Hitler, Italy's Benito Mussolini and Edouard Daladier of France agreed that the Czechoslovakian territory of the Sudetenland and its three million ethnic Germans should be joined with Germany. the Jet Engine. De Valera became the 'Taoiseach', the equivalent of prime minister. In March 1943, after a 'blackout' of several months, German U-boat ciphers were once again broken, allowing the new resources to be deployed to devastating effect. She immediately returned to Britain and was crowned on 2 June 1953. The Allies were forced to evacuate. Burgess and Maclean, who had fled Britain five years before, suddenly reappeared in the Soviet Union where they denied being spies. The abolition of the death penalty for murder - one of the few remaining crimes for which capital punishment could still be handed down - effectively meant the final abolition of the death penalty. Coalition forces, including British troops, remain in Afghanistan. The Representation of the People Act enfranchised all men over the age of 21, and propertied women over 30. In addition to making Ireland a de facto republic, the constitution laid claim to the whole of Ireland, including Ulster. Partnered couples gained the same legal rights as married couples and were permitted to hold wedding-style 'civil union' ceremonies. Other foreign concerns included the Malayan emergency and the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya. The results were Conservative and Coalition Liberals 509, Labour 72, Independent Liberals (former Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith's followers) 36, others 27. It was a revolution in publishing that massively widened public access to literature. With the British government distracted by the constitutional crisis of Edward VIII's abdication, Irish Free State leader amon De Valera seized the opportunity to draw up a new constitution for Ireland that omitted any references to its place within the British Empire. The attack on the French fleet at the Algerian port of Mers-el-Kbir left almost 1,300 Frenchmen dead and the fleet immobilised. This unexpected result appears to have reflected doubts about Labour's economic management, a view focused by a poor set of trade figures. The unpopularity of the tax contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher. Thousands of soldiers were trapped in a shrinking pocket of territory centred around the French seaside town of Dunkirk. why so many soldiers survived the trenches. The Robbins Report on Higher Education (1963) was followed by the state-funded growth of universities. Only about half a million people received the pension, and thus the significance of the legislation lay as much in the fact that it established a principle as in its immediate benefits. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on the port city of Nagasaki. The Conservative leader, William Hague, resigned after the party showed little sign of electoral recovery. 41,681 immigrants were admitted to Canada. These were the first Games since Berlin in 1936. New legislation gave a weekly means-tested pension of a maximum of five shillings to all those aged over 70. At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, Allied leaders allocated more resources to the battle. The Japanese unexpectedly attacked down the Malay Peninsula instead of from the sea, where Singapore's defences were concentrated. As Prince of Wales, Edward had visited many parts of the country hit by the prolonged economic depression. General Ferdinand Foch, who had been appointed the supreme commander of the Allied armies on the Western Front on 26 March 1918, coordinated attacks by British, French and American forces. 23 December Exclusion of women from many jobs is made illegal The marchers attracted considerable public sympathy, but the crusade ultimately made little real impact. It paved the way for the privatisation of British Aerospace, Cable and Wireless, Britoil, the National Bus Company, British Airways, Rolls Royce, British Steel, British Telecom, the electricity-generating industry and the water companies. By the end of D-Day, five beachheads were secured, and the Allies had a foothold in France. He became the fourth Conservative prime minister since 1951. The structure and charter of the organisation were established at another conference in San Francisco. They became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Liberal Party votes 1900 to 1979. Labour's share crashed to 209 seats. The officers of the 6th Cavalry Brigade, stationed outside Dublin, indicated that they would refuse to enforce Irish 'Home Rule' in Ulster if a parliamentary act proposing greater autonomy for Ireland were carried. The death sentence for treason and piracy with violence remained on the statue books until 1998 when they were abolished by the Crime and Disorder Act. Russia's alliance with France now threatened Germany with war on two fronts. It allowed for the rationalisation of the coal industry, with the closure of many small pits, although the nationalised industry soon came to need state subsidies in order to delay further restructuring and closures. that brought the fighting on the Western Front to a halt at 11am on 11 November 1918. Sir Richard Stafford Cripps was sent to India in March 1942 to win the co-operation of Indian political groups. They failed and the campaign prompted the United States, the principal neutral power, to declare war on Germany on 6 April 1917. Every issue is packed with our inspirational photography, fascinating features, shopping and travel advice. The National Health Service, established by the post-war Labour government, represented a fundamental change in the provision of medical services. 1940. 1945. In 1946, Transjordan received independence and Abdullah became King Abdullah I of Jordan. Nonetheless, she held strong opinions, not least a belief in the Commonwealth. For most Britons this was an remote and insignificant event, but the conflict would escalate sharply, drawing in the 'Great Powers' and ultimately resulting in the outbreak of World War One. Many were given homes by British families, or lived in hostels. Elizabeth II proved an experienced and skilful adviser of successive prime ministers, but was careful to main constitutional conventions and not take a political stand publicly. Nonetheless, the raids were a major propaganda victory. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) ordered a general strike. Euro coins first hit the streets of the 12 'eurozone' countries on 1 January 2002. Of those, 124 were American civilians, but despite strong pressure US President Woodrow Wilson declared that the United States was 'too proud to fight'. British troops had been sent to Northern Ireland in 1969 in a 'limited operation' to restore law and order. The Conservatives won the general election by 330 seats to 287 for Labour. In 1927, a parliamentary commission headed by Sir John Simon was sent to India to investigate grievances and make recommendations on the future of the country. Circular 10/65', issued by the Labour government's education secretary, Anthony Crosland, obliged local education authorities to draw up plans for replacing the existing division between 'grammar' and 'secondary modern' schools in order to create all-inclusive 'comprehensive' schools. Climate scientists argued that the 5.2% target was far too low, and a 60% cut was needed to make an impact on climate change caused by human activity. 1900. The mandate system was conceived by US President Woodrow Wilson. When the British government outlawed Sinn Fein's Dil Eireann, it sparked a vicious two-year guerrilla war between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in southern Ireland and British forces, which included the hated 'Black and Tan' auxiliaries. Mohandas Gandhi defied the British government, which had a monopoly on salt-making, by leading a 400km march to the sea to make his own salt. In 1919, he advised on the Government of India Act. The failure of British naval efforts to break through the Dardanelles and so threaten Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, led to a decision to land troops on the Gallipoli peninsula. More than 1,130 Allied troops were killed and 6,000 captured. The Indian National Congress insisted on immediate independence, which Stafford Cripps refused. Deprivation was widespread and industrial relations deteriorated. The union of Austria and Germany was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. why so many soldiers survived the trenches. After a short but stunning bombardment, the Germans attacked across the old Somme battlefields and made the greatest advance on the Western Front since 1914. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. On 6 August, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the American bomber 'Enola Gay'. A powerful disarmament movement reached the peak of its activities in the 1930s. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. This helped Macdonald allay fears that a party representing the working class must be revolutionary, but disappointed many supporters on the left. A total of 10,000 Jewish children between the ages of five and 17 were sent from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to Britain between December 1938 and the outbreak of war in September 1939. Ramsay Macdonald, a committed internationalist and pacifist, was an enthusiastic believer that the League of Nations could make the world disarm through dialogue. Irish nationalists, supplied with German rifles, rebelled at Easter and seized key buildings in Dublin, including the post office where their final stand was made. Diana was the ex-wife of the heir to the British throne, Charles, Prince of Wales. Although women had been able to attend degree level courses, they could not receive degrees until 1920. The British were unable to prevent the resulting inter-communal violence which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Evidence suggested that voters had turned against Harold Wilson, rather than towards the uncharismatic Edward Heath. The cost and conduct of the war prompted concerns that Britain was no longer fit for its imperial role. Despite onerous terms, Germany eventually capitulated and signed an armistice that brought the fighting on the Western Front to a halt at 11am on 11 November 1918. A The Indian National Congress, which wanted dominion status granted immediately, organised huge demonstrations. By the end of the 20th century, about 1,400 IVF babies were being born each year. A first strike, begun in late 1980, was called off with no deaths. At the height of the raid an appeal was sent to the Irish leader amon De Valera, who sent fire engines to help fight the fires raging in the city. Reflecting their dependence on Irish Nationalist votes in the House of Commons, the Liberals proposed 'Home Rule' for Ireland. One of the new Labour government's first acts was to give the Bank of England control of interest rates. France and Britain were commanded to govern their mandates in the interests of their inhabitants, until these territories were ready to be admitted to the League of Nations. The 'Triple Alliance' of Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary (also known as the 'Central Powers') was faced by a 'Triple Entente' of Britain, France and Russia (also known as the 'Entente Powers'). Plaid Cymru and Votes. No city, save London, suffered more loss of life in one night raid than Belfast, after 180 German bombers attacked the city. Louise Brown, the first 'test-tube baby', was a success for 'in vitro' fertilisation (IVF), a method by which egg and sperm are mixed in a glass dish, and the embryos inserted into the womb. The militancy of her organisation, the Women's Social and Political Union, proved counter-productive to the cause of women's rights, but the more moderate National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies also had little to show for its efforts through negotiation. More reforms were to be discussed in ten years. Although the party was initially formed to promote Welsh language and culture, by the 1930s it had a political agenda and was determined that Wales should achieve independent status as a dominion. On 17 September, two days after the Luftwaffe sustained its heaviest single day of losses, Hitler postponed the invasion. The Conservatives won 344 seats, Labour 142, National Liberals (Lloyd George's party) approximately 53, Liberals (under Herbert Asquith) approximately 62. A provisional government of liberals and moderate socialists was established, but it also failed on the battlefield and was overthrown in a carefully planned coup by the Bolsheviks, who promised 'peace, bread and land' to the war-weary Russian people. The decision of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to recognise the king of Italy as emperor of Ethiopia following the Italians' unprovoked invasion was a concession too far for Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, who resigned. The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied during the war. The budget was then passed. In all, 140,000 people perished. British prestige in the Middle East plummeted. It was a controversial step, welcomed by most of the church but rejected by traditionalists, some of whom joined the Catholic Church in protest. John Logie Baird, a Scottish engineer and inventor, gave a demonstration of a machine for the transmission of pictures, which he called 'television'.
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