1951-1964 key dates and info

AQA A-Level: The making of Modern Britain

What years was Churchill PM?

1951-1955

What years was Eden PM?

1955-1957

What years was Macmillan PM?

1957-1963

What years was Douglas-Home PM?

1963-1964

What were the conservative successes?

• Successful economic policies → unemployment mainly remanined below 2%

• World Power → nucelar weapons and commendable record in the Korean War - 1952 atomic bomb

• Housing → Churchills gov built 300,000 houses a year

• Schools → 6,000 new schools built

What were the Conservative failures?

• Scandals

  • Profumo affair 1963

  • John Vassal - blackmailed due to his homosexuality to pass info to the soviet union

• Economic Slowdown

  • Rejected from EEC 1963 - growth not comparing to the EEC member countries

• Tensions within the cabinet

  • Night of the long Knives 1962 - macmillan sacked 1/3 of his cabinet

• Macmillan’s replacement

  • Resignation caused a power struggle in 1963 and douglas-home chosen as a compromise

• Satirists

  • Mocked those in power e.g. through caractures

When was the housing policy and what was it?

1951 - 300,000 new houses a year

When and what was the clean air act?

1956 - aimed to reduce air pollution, especially smog

When and what was the homicide act?

1957 - abolished the death penalty for certain types of murder

→ e.g. murde committed by an U18 or people who could be considered ‘insane’

When and what was the housing Act?

1959 - focused on slum clearance and improving housing standards, helping to rebuild and modernize post-war housing

When and what was the factories act?

1961 - It set rules for working ours, machine safety, worker health protections and the conditions being worked in

What was Butskellism?

→ describes the consensus economic approach shared by the Conservative and Labour parties

→ maintaining a mixed economy and commitment to the welfare state

Problems:

• BoP issue - imported more than exported so always in a deficit

• Modern economy - couldn’t afford alongside defence commitments and the welfare state

• Growing inflation

• Industrial relations - workers continued to demand pay rises

What was stop-go economics?

• the use of interest rates to control economic growth

How much did unemployment grow between 1951 and 1958?

367,000 → 563,000

What was the budget deficit by 1863?

£800 million

What organisations were set up in 1961 to develop a planned economy?

NEDDY → Represents emploters, unions & gov planned growth

NICKY → Regulate wage demands

How did living standards rise?

Car ownership → 3 to 7 million

Credit introduced

Labour saving devices

TV: 1951=340,000 → 1963=13 million

How did the position of women regress?

• Most became nurses or teachers - limitied job options

• Averaged 40% less pay than men in the same job → BUT - civil service did introduce equal pay in 1958

• Less than 2% of women went to uni

How did lives of women improve?

• Availibility of the pill as a contraception - more choice over children and family

• National Housewives register - set up by Maureen Nicol - brought women together

What cultural developments were there? (TV & Theatre)

• TV - until 1956 BBC had a monopoly - commerical TV began with programmes financed by advertising

• Theatre - ‘kitchen sink drama’ →plays reflecting tensions in society

What were the race relationships like 1951-1964?

• People from the commonwealth encouraged to come over and fill unskilled jobs

• 1950-59=676,000

• 1960-69=1,243,000

What racial violence occured?

• 1958 - Racial attacks in Nottingham to Notting Hill

• TV focusing on attacks on the police and firefighters trying to douse the burning buildings drew attention to the conflicts

When and what were the Notting Hill Riots?

• 1958

• began after a series of skirmishes between the white Teddy Boys and the black community

• They were a series of racially motivated attacks lasting about a week

• SIGNIFICANCE:

  • exposed deep racial tensions in Britain

  • turning point in British Race Relations

What and when was the Report on Racial Tensions?

• Published 1959

• Following the race riots in 1958 & tried to investigate racial tensions

• pointed to poor housing, discrimination and lack of intergration

What was changing with the class and the establishment?

• Britain still dominated by class

• Change:

  • WW2 - sense of all ‘being in it together’

  • welfare state and NHS → raised expectations of the less well off

  • Satire and scandals mocking the establishment - e.g. Caractures in the private eye

What were the 4 main aspects/events of foreign policy during the time period?

• International relations

• Winds of change and decolonisation

• Suez crisis

• Attempts to join the EEC

What was the Suez Crisis and its impact?

• 1956 - Nasser nationalised the canal and UK, France and Israel made a deal to keep it open

• IMPACT:

  • Triggered a sterling crisis - US refuse to support the currency

  • Eden resigned and the limits of Britain’s power was evident

  • Condemned by USSR and US

  • End of empire illusion - couldnt act without US support

  • Accelerated decolonisation and and loss of public support in the government

When and what was the winds of change speech?

• Speech my Macmillan 1960 - spoke of the right for people to govern themselves

What was the decolonisation like?

• Post-war period → demise of the overseas empire

• Began with ghana in 1957 - majority of colonies gained independence by 1966

• Showed the impracticality of European countries forcing their will on others

When and what were the attempts to join the EEC?

• West Germany experienced growth rate of 5% 1951-64 compared to Britain’s 2.5%

• Application in 1961 rejected 1963

• De Gaulle feared britain had weak commitment to Europe

What were Britain’s international relations like?

• Britain wanted its own nuclear deterrant - 1950s → 8% GDP spent

• Tied to NATO and USA during the cold war - became heavily involved e.g. the Korean War

• Macmillan tried to be a mediator between US and USSR emphasising the ‘special relationship’ supporting the US