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History - Britain: 1.4.2 The effects of 'total war' and austerity,…
History - Britain: 1.4.2 The effects of 'total war' and austerity, 1939-51
In what ways is WWII a 'total war'?
Impact of national service
14.9 million
of the
15.9 million men
(
93.7%
) aged 14-64 were registered for ‘war service’
7.1 million
of the
16 million women
(
44.4%
) aged 14-58 were directly involved in the war effort
Government controlled the economy
by forcing people to do certain types of work. This resulted in the issuance of
8.5 million
EWO
s (
Essential Work Orders
).
By 1945,
5.5 million men
had been called up for military service in WW2 and
4.5 million
had been directly involved in the fighting (i.e. had seen active service).
Evacuation of children
Over 1 million children
were
evacuated from inner city areas
so that they would be safer from the bombing of cities
This meant that many more people became
aware of the terrible living conditions of children
from
‘slum’
areas in the inner cities
Effects of bombing
2/7
houses (
28.6%
) were destroyed during the bombing raids
Other cities, like
Birmingham
,
Liverpool
,
Coventry
and
Glasgow
suffered severe damage - industrial centres of production, but civilians were also targeted during the ‘Blitz’.
60,000
civilians were killed by German bombings
(majority in
London
during the
Blitz
period)
In what ways did WWII make people feel 'more equal'?
Effects of rationing
Foods controlled by the Government
: In
1942, the ‘National Loaf
’ of bread was introduced -
not rationed
however, the ‘National Loaf’ was still unpopular because of its grey colour and less pleasant flavour.
People were encouraged to
‘make do and mend’
(from 1943) - which meant that they were encouraged to
fix old clothes, rather than simply try to buy new ones
As a result, it became much
more difficult to tell people apart based on class
- appearance of all people became much
more ‘drab'
Although people had to buy food and clothing once they had given in their coupons,
rising wages
and
full employment
meant that paying for goods was rarely a problem
After 1942, restaurants had to comply with food rationing restrictions
- meant that richer people could not escape rationing by eating out all of the time.
Richer people could no longer simply buy more expensive or more fashionable food/clothing - had to make do with the same as everyone else,
received clothing coupons
which allowed them to buy
one new outfit per year
.
The ‘National Loaf’ was
loaded with Vitamin B and calcium
, making many people eat a
healthier diet
than before.
Increased affordability of goods
Levels of
unemployment fell to nearly zero
. - because of
new jobs being made available
(e.g. munitions production) leading to nearly
full employment
Affordability was further increased by
government price control
, which meant that
retailers could not put up their prices
by as much as they might otherwise have done.
Average wages doubled
during the period
1939-45
, meaning that
more goods became affordable
to ordinary people.
Extent of rationing
1948 - 30% of goods were rationed
1949 - 12% of goods were rationed
1946 - 25% of goods were rationed
1954 - 0% as rationing was abandoned
How successful were housing developments after WWII?
Successful
Many
prefabricated homes
were built to house people on a
temporary basis
- only designed to last for 10 years, many are still standing even today.
Many of the people who moved into prefabricated houses were
very happy with them
and were reluctant to move out of them.
New blocks of flats were built to house people. These
allowed large numbers of people to be housed quickly
. They were seen as
attractive and modern
.
New housing estates were built over bombed areas. (E,g Lansbury Estate in Poplar, East London) - people liked the fact that the
schools, shops and social clubs were integrated into the housing
.
The New Towns Act (1946) was often considered a success because the new accommodation was significantly better than the previous inner city accommodation - well-connected by transport and generally much more spacious.
Unsuccessful
The prefabricated houses were
often both damp and cold
. This made them
uncomfortable to live in
.
Once people had moved into the blocks of flats, some felt that they lacked the same community feel.