British Society at War 1939-1945

Course plan: This course will deal with events leading up to the Second World War with emphasis being laid on the so-called “guilty men”. They apparently bear the responsibility for letting the quest for peace be transformed into excessive appeasement policies. During the course of the war, the political tide was to gradually turn giving Labour a distinct advantage and far more leeway to introduce the sort of social reforms they had been hankering after since 1906 when the party emerged as a political force to be reckoned with. We will also look at what happened during the war on the home front including the Blitz, evacuation, day to day organisation, political organisation and employment. Hopefully, this will enable us to dissipate a few of the myths surrounding WW2, especially its popular image as having been “The People’s War” conveyed so skilfully by the wartime medias. Major international events will also be listed enabling students to have a global vision of the conflict. Finally the impact of the Beveridge Report will be studied and the need to establish a “New Jerusalem”. One of the pillars of the future welfare state was established during the war in the shape of the 1944 Butler Act. A closer look will reveal that although this law did provide free education for all children, it also maintained the traditional hierarchy within the school system. The establishment of the welfare state after WW2 was perhaps the ultimate reward for the sacrifices made by the population during the war. Despite Winston Churchill’s immense popularity, the Labour Party won a landslide victory in 1945 showing perhaps that things had definitely changed during the war and that British society would never be the same again.

Contents:
The Treaty of Versailles

Abroad: events leading up to WW2 the situation in Germany Russia the Abyssinian crisis the remilitarisation of the Rhineland Czechoslovakia declaration of