Great+Britain+Foreign+Policy+1919-1939

November 11, 1918 saw the end of the First World War with a win for the Allied forces: Great Britain, The United States, and Russia. Although the victory was a major advance in world politics, it came at a great cost to the nations involved. Great Britain suffered huge inflation and a transformation from being one of the biggest lenders to being indebted. This was largely due to the enormous burden of funding the war, which led to extreme political changes not only internationally, but also at home. In an effort to battle the consequences of the war, British foreign policy saw a shift in focus to that of increasing peaceful international relations in an effort to avoid future altercations of such magnetism. Meanwhile, at home, policy was focused more on attempting to satisfy the demands of the labor forces and battling the steadily rising unemployment. Although there was a radical change in policy to satisfy the needs of the time period, the government of Great Britain failed in its attempt to secure peace, avoid a second World War, and improve its domestic issues.   The victory of WWI came at a great cost to the British population. Although there were many gains from the war, the losses far exceeded them. After WWI, there was a sharp rise in business, including imports and shipping. However, the rise lasted for a short while, and British industry was soon oversupplied. The sharp decrease in demand led to an even sharper decline in employment [i].  The economic trouble was greatly worsened by the fact that funding for the war had been secured almost entirely through loans. This left the nation in great debt, and with a failing economy, unable to pay, therefore turning into a downward spiral [ii].  In 1925, Winston Churchill, a member of the Conservative Party, attempted to help the declining economic situation by introducing the Gold Standard to the British budget. Under the Gold Standard, the British monetary system would have a fixed value of $4.80 per pound. Although the introduction of the Gold Standard was intended to return Great Britain to the forefront of world economics, it ended disastrously. The change in economy had the opposite effect. It caused the British market to become uncompetitive, and prolonged the decline of the economic well being of Great Britain [iii].  In order to combat the rise of unemployment and the constant demand for reform, the government passed a series of acts from 1920 to 1939 in an attempt to appease the nation. The British government passed the Unemployment Insurance Acts to ease the burden on unemployed workers [iv]. Unfortunately, this lead to corruption in work environments, as often employees in a business developed a system by which they traded work days during the month to allow them pay as well as the welfare of the Insurance Acts [v]. In 1937, Neville Chamberlain, a member of the conservative party, took office as British Prime Minister following the resignation of Stanley Baldwin. From 1937 to 1939, Neville Chamberlain promoted his ideology of appeasement as the best way to secure future international peace and avoid a Second World War [vi]. Chamberlain described appeasement as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and compromise, thereby avoiding the resort to an armed conflict which would be expensive, bloody, and possibly dangerous [vii] ." Neville Chamberlain’s insistency on the policy of appeasement became apparent in the 1937 Munich Pact with Hitler, during which Hitler was allowed to annex Sudetenland, which had previously belonged to Czechoslovakia. The agreement was an act of appeasement, in order to “please” Hitler and avoid his threats of war. Upon returning from signing the agreement, Chamberlain gave his now famous “Peace for Our Time” speech promoting his policy of appeasement [viii]. In the speech, Chamberlain justifies the settlement by stating that” the settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved, is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace.” Chamberlain argued that his policy of appeasement will secure peace between the British nation and the German Nazis, therefore protecting the nation from another disastrous war [ix]. In retrospect, Chamberlain’s appeasement failed to fulfill its original purpose. After the British government’s adoption of the policy of appeasement, other nations followed suit for the same purpose: avoiding another World War. Hitler, being well aware of the fear other nations had for the rise of another world war, took advantage of the situation to gain power and territory. The policy of appeasement therefore failed to hold Hitler’s desire for world domination at bay, and in just a few years, the British nation, along with the other European nations, where thrust upon yet another World War of greater magnitude that the original. From 1923 – 1924, and later from 1935 to 1937, the office of British Prime Minister was held by Conservative Party leader Stanley Baldwin [x]. As Prime Minister, Baldwin’s most profound achievement in foreign diplomacy was perhaps the signing of the Locarno Pact, which guaranteed the German borders between France and Belgium. At home, Baldwin was faced with an even greater problem than the German borders when in the nationwide General Strike took place in 1926 [xi]. In 1925, tensions had grown increasingly between mine workers, led by A.J. Cook and mine owners. The workers were threatening to strike due to the lack of work and the threat of lower wages and longer hours from the mine owners. Baldwin, wanting to compromise and avoid a strike that would be disastrous to the coal industry, intervened on behalf of the mine workers. Baldwin promised the workers a subsidy to protect their wages for nine months, and set a Royal Commission to research the complaints regarding the mining industry. Despite Baldwin’s best efforts, the truce between the workers and owners did not last, and in 1926, the Trades Union Congress called a strike [xii]. In 1926, the General Council of the Trades Union Congress called for a ten day strike, from May 3 to May 13, in an effort to shift government focus to the rapidly deteriorating conditions of the coal miners. The deterioration of mining conditions was the direct result of WWI and the policy of Winston Churchill [xiii]. During the Great War, the coal supply of Great Britain was heavily depleted by domestic use. After the war, there was a lack of coal for mining, and many coal miners were out of work. The Dawes Plan also influenced the coal. As part of its reparation payment plan, Germany exported coal to France and Italy, therefore causing a dive in prices [xiv]. The reintroduction of the Gold Standard as part of Winston Churchill’s attempt to combat unemployment was also a major cause of the decline in coal production and coal miners’ wages. The reintroduction of the Gold Standard caused sky high interest rates, making exporting difficult for coal companies. Coal mining was not the only business hurt by the reintroduction of the Gold Standard. Most businesses were hurt by it [xv]. During the strike the General Council of the Trades Union Congress utilized the motto "Not a penny off the pay, not a second on the day" in response to mine owners’ attempts to lower wages during negotiations [xvi]. By October, the strike began to fail, and strikers were beginning to feel the hardships of unemployment, and were forced to accept the lower wages and the longer work hours. Although the strike failed, Stanley Baldwin passed [|Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act] s, which allowed anti-Labour policies that Baldwin had disputed before the strike [xvii]. Between 1918 and 1939, the British Government was faced with great problems both internationally and at home. In an attempt to counterattack these issues, British policy, both domestic and international, saw radical changes. Although most of the political developments of the interwar period were expected to be successful, they were largely a failure as they were unsuccessful in achieving their original purposes. The main focus of British international politics was to maintain peaceful relations with other countries and avoid the occurrence of another World War. As evident, this was hugely unsuccessful, largely due to the faults in the policies, mainly appeasement. International leaders felt that the best way to ensure peaceful relations with Hitler was to give in to his demands. This stemmed from fear, as Hitler had been rapidly rising to power, and a second war seemed possible. Unfortunately, appeasement had the opposite effect. Hitler took advantage of the nations’ willingness to agree to demands, and used it to gain even more power, allowing him a better position to declare war [xviii]. While foreign policy focused on peace, domestic policy focused on the economic instability of Great Britain. Likewise, many of the political attempts to correct the situation not only failed, but aided the decline in the economy. The failure of domestic policy was not, however, due to a wrong analysis of the issues, but rather an inability to control the situation. The introduction of the Gold Standard was, according to many historians, the only possible decision for Churchill, and its failure is largely due to its time and place, and not a political fault. In retrospect, although many of the political aims of Great Britain had determined focuses, their results radically differed and worsened an already bad situation [xix]. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msoasciithemefont: minor-latin; msobidifontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msobidilanguage: AR-SA; msobidithemefont: minor-bidi; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msofareastlanguage: EN-US; msofareastthemefont: minor-latin; msohansithemefont: minor-latin; msotabcount: 2;">

[i]  Schama, Simon. //History of Britain: The Fate of the Empire 1776-2000//. New York: Hypeiron, 2002. Print. Vol. 3 of //A History of Britain//.462-65 [ii] Ibid. [iii]  "Budget Blunders." //BBC News//. BBc News, 9 Mar. 1999\. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. . [iv]  "Unemployment Insurance." //Unemployment Insurance//. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. . [v]  "Unemployment in Interwar Britain." //Refresh//. Eichengreen, Spring 1989. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. . [vi] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "Neville Chamberlain." //British Prime Ministers//. Unica Multimedia, 2001. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <http://www.britannia.com/gov/primes/prime46.html>. [vii] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "appeasement - Different views on appeasement, Appeasement of Hitler, Appeasement's effect on the Second World War." //Cambridge Encyclopedia//. Cambridge University, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.com/pages/1679/appeasement.html>. [viii] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "Munich Agreement." //New World Encyclopedia//. N.p., 29 Aug. 2008. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Munich_Agreement>. [ix] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "1938: 'Peace for our time' - Chamberlain." //BBC On This Day//. BBC, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/ 30/newsid_3115000/3115476.stm>. [x] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "Stanley Baldwin." //Britain's Prime Ministers//. Unica Multimedia, 2001. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <http://www.britannia.com/gov/primes/prime44.html>. [xi] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "General Strike and 'Safety First.'" //BBC News//. BBC, 18 Dec. 1997. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1997/uk_politics/ stanley_baldwin/40469.stm>. [xii] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "The Build Up." //The Union Makes Us Strong//. London Metropolitan University, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <http://www.unionhistory.info/generalstrike/ buildup.php>. [xiii] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "Ten Days in the Class War: Merseyside and the 1926 General Strike." //Nerve//. Catalyst Media, Fall 2006. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <http://www.catalystmedia.org.uk/issues/nerve9/general_strike.php>. [xiv] Ibid. [xv] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "Budget Blunders." [xvi] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "The Build Up." [xvii] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "Ten Days in the Class War: Merseyside and the 1926 General Strike." [xviii] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "appeasement - Different views on appeasement, Appeasement of Hitler, Appeasement's effect on the Second World War." [xix] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> "Budget Blunders."