Britain 20th Century

Now we have an overview of some of the 20th-century historical events in Britain, let's look at how they affected society.

Britain At The Start of The 20^th Century

To understand the social changes throughout the 20^th century, let's look at the atmosphere at the beginning of the 1900s.

Fig. 1: 11921 marks the height of the British Empire, with all the red areas showing British colonial territory. However, colonial attitudes in Britain were set to change after the Second World War.

Abolition of slavery

The abolition of slavery in the early 19^th century demonstrated a change in attitude in public regarding the Empire.

• In 1807, the slave trade was made illegal when King George III signed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.

• After this time, a process known as 'apprenticeship' was still used on plantations, simply slavery under a different name. Abolitionists continued to protest this poor treatment of the British Empire's subjects.

• In 1838, the Slave Emancipation Act abolished the apprenticeship scheme.

• Morality was becoming a crucial part of society and began to outweigh the economic benefits of the Empire for the British public.

Effects of the Industrial Revolution

When the Industrial Revolution began in 1760, Britain's economy grew significantly, providing employment in factories and creating a new working class. However, it also resulted in important social changes.

• Living standards were very poor in the cities due to overcrowding to accommodate the rise in workers.

• Charles Booth famously conducted a poverty survey between 1886–1903 which demonstrated the levels of the population living in abject poverty through maps. The results started a movement to improve the lives of the lower classes.

• At the start of the 20^th century, the upper classes understood that poverty was not a result of immorality or poor work ethic but instead due to unemployment and social barriers.

• The 1908 Old Age Pension Act and the 1909 introduction of minimum wage provided economic benefits, especially for the lower classes of society.

Class system

Despite the increasing morality of the British public, the class system was still very much in place.

• Your family situation often decided the kind of work you could do, and it wasn't easy to climb the social ladder.

• Trade Unions were formed for the working class in Britain during the Industrial Revolution in the early 19^th century. Unions organised strikes against wage decreases and mistreatment of the working population.

• The presence of Trade Unions allowed for effective action by the working classes and started the fight for employment equality, and eventually challenged the class divide.

• An example of this is the 1912 Miners Strike which forced the government to provide clear minimum wages for coal miners.

Significant social changes began with welfare reforms in the 1900s, such as the 1908 Old Age Pension Act and the introduction of a minimum wage in 1909. The National Insurance Act was passed in 1911 and protected workers against income losses due to sickness, injury or unemployment. However, progress was relatively slow at this time, and it wasn't until the events of the World Wars that significant reform led to societal and cultural changes in Britain.

The Most Important Events Of The 20th Century in Britain: World Wars (1914–1918, 1939–1945)

Fig. 2: The World Wars brought devastation to both British troops abroad and civilians at home. In the process of rebuilding the country, many social changes occurred.

The Wars instigated nationwide changes to the pre-20^th century system. Some key challenges to the British societal framework were:

Gender equality: Women in the 20th Century

With the joint efforts of men and women during World War One, feminism had more justification than ever for its movement towards equality.

• Many men enlisted to fight whilst women stayed home to work in munitions factories and keep Britain running. All British citizens, regardless of gender, could aid the war effort and so wanted recognition.

• After WWI, the 1918 Representation of the People Act allowed women to vote for the first time but only for those over 30. Women and men were given equal voting rights in the 1928 Equal Franchise Act.

• This turning point for Feminism in Britain spurred further dramatic changes for equality throughout the 20^th century.

Social class

Social class in the United Kingdom was increasingly challenged due to the wars.

• People from many social backgrounds joined the British forces to fight, developing camaraderie and integration between classes.

• The arbitrary social barriers were questioned in another case for equality.

Empire

The Second World war, in particular, spelt the end of the British Empire.

• The World Wars had been expensive for Britain, meaning that sustaining the colonies in its Empire was becoming increasingly difficult.

• Furthermore, the atrocities witnessed during the Wars and the prevailing morality gave anti-colonial movements more influence to end Empire.

• The first major domino to fall was when India gained Independence in 1947, and many other colonies followed suit.

Immigration

As Britain was suffering financially after the Wars, the government encouraged immigration from its Commonwealth members to bolster the economy.

• The 1948 British Nationality Act declared all colony populations British citizens.

• Ahead of this announcement, Empire Windrush transported over 1000 passengers from Jamaica to London in 1948, looking for employment in Britain.

• Many of the immigrants were not given proper documentation on arrival, so they were unable to access the NHS or prove their legal status. The poor government handling of immigrants led to the subsequent civil rights movement throughout 20^th century Britain.

Public welfare

A significant change in legislation came when the 1945 Labour Government, led by Clement Attlee, introduced the Welfare State in 1946.

• The 1942 Beveridge Report publishes guidelines for a Welfare state to improve the lives of British citizens.

• The 1946 National Insurance Act and the 1946 Health Service Acts saw significant governmental intervention in the welfare of British citizens.

• Minister of Health Aneurin Bevan introduced the National Health Service in 1948. The Wars had improved the administering of health care on the front line and at home, making the welfare reforms easier to coordinate.

• The change in governmental attitude towards public health was partly due to the nationwide medical crisis of the World Wars.

The world wars resulted in significant social reforms enacted through parliament. Once the fire was lit for the idea of equality, British society began to use its voice to enact further changes to the country's systems.

The Anti-Establishment Era

Beginning roughly six years after WWII, the anti-establishment era introduced a new mindset to the British public. A number of factors motivated the rise in challenging political and social systems, such as:

• The relative success of immediate post-war activism such as feminism and anti-colonialism

• The shift to the political left with the election of the post-war Labour government.

This was expressed in various ways.

Fig. 3: The Mods and Rockers were rival youth subcultures. Mods were often seen riding mopeds or scooters whilst Rockers rode motorcycles.

Subcultures

The British Youth Cultures that emerged throughout the 20^th century demonstrate how younger generations were fighting for their place in society, or removing themselves from it.

• The Teddy Boys were prevalent in the 1950s as young people gained employment and became independent earlier in the post-war era.

• Immigrant communities brought different cultures, music and fashion to Britain, creating youth subcultures and diversifying the country.

• Youth cultures in the 1960s and 1970s came to be associated with anti-establishment protests such as campaigns for Nuclear Disarmament and against the Vietnam War, mainly due to the rise in education creating groups of like-minded young people.

• In the 1960s, two major subcultures emerged, the Mods and Rockers. They were rivals and were often associated with violent clashes between each other.

• The progression of subcultures helps to understand the changing social situations of young people throughout the second half of the 20^th century.

Civil rights

In the post-war era, Britons strived to realise the society they had fought for; this included empowering marginalised groups with civil rights and equality movements.

• Britain's fight for LGBTQ+ rights gained traction when the 1967 Sexual Offences Act partially decriminalised homosexual activity between men.

• The first gay pride rally was held in London in 1972 and protested inequality against members of the LGBTQ+ community.

• The rise in immigration led to a more diverse British population, which increased the demand for racial civil rights for all members of society.

• Feminism in Britain also developed in the 1960s, with the birth control pill being made available in 1961 and the legislation of the 1967 Abortion Act and the 1969 Divorce Reform Act. This allowed women in the 20^th century greater freedoms in society and helped develop the Permissive Era's sexual, moral, and social revolution.

Permissive era

The sexual liberation of the 1960s lent Britain's culture the name of the Permissive Society. The sexual prudence of Christian moral values was another target of the anti-establishment movement and produced scandals and a move towards an open and more equal society.

• The permissive era demonstrated how society was becoming more tolerant of marginalised groups from all backgrounds, including LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, and women.

• A famous case from this time was the Profumo Affair between 1961-3, which involved an MP's affair and other factors such as parliamentary sleaze and Russian spying. The scandal can be associated with the rise of Harold Wilson's Labour government in 1964.

• Britain's permissive society also demonstrated a move away from the Christian values of British history and towards secularism. Christianity was associated with justifications for colonialism, racism and sexism and hence became a nominal part of British society rather than its key religion.

The Troubles

The late 1960s also saw the rise of a period known as "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland. Related to the Irish Catholic rejection of Protestant Britain's rule of Ireland, the Troubles arose during the time of anti-establishment against the British government.

History of 20th Century Britain Summary

The World Wars caused a major upheaval in British society, leading to the end of the British Empire and a revision of moral, social and political values in the United Kingdom. In the second half of the 20^th century, attitudes changed away from pre-War values toward a more liberal and tolerant society that was unrecognisable from pre-war Britain. As Modern Britain entered the later stages of the 20^th century, society was increasingly adapting to its new cultural focuses, which led to further clashes with inequality and the government.