Setting the Scene
📖 Setting the Scene
It is 1 July 1916. At 7:30am, whistles blow along a twelve-mile front and 100,000 British soldiers climb out of their trenches and walk forward into German machine-gun fire. By nightfall, 57,000 British men are casualties — 19,240 dead. It is the worst single day in the history of the British Army. Back home in Britain, the news is censored, the newspapers run lists of "glorious dead," and women in factories are working twelve-hour shifts making the shells that are supposed to be winning the war. This topic covers the Britain that went to war in 1914 — and the Britain that emerged from it in 1918. The two countries were very different.
The Britain of 1900 was the world's largest empire, controlling a quarter of the earth's land surface and a third of world trade. It was also a country of profound inequality. The statistics were stark.
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🧠 Memory Aids
The Liberal Reforms — "5 SHOP": Five key reforms in chronological order:
- School meals (1906) — free meals for malnourished children
- Health inspections in schools (1907)
- Old Age Pensions (1908) — 5 shillings/week for over 70s
- Placement bureaus/Labour Exchanges (1909) — finding jobs for unemployed
- National Insurance (1911) — 4d + 3d + 2d = sick pay + unemployment pay
The Somme statistics:
- 1 July 1916 — day ONE of the Somme
- 57,000 British casualties on that single day (19,240 dead)
- 420,000 total British casualties in the whole battle
- 7 miles maximum advance in 5 months
Why Britain went to war — "BABS":
- Belgium invaded (Treaty of London 1839 — the trigger that brought Britain in)
- Alliances (entente with France + Russia)
- British naval interests (naval arms race with Germany; sea trade vital)
- Schlieffen Plan (German war plan required crossing Belgium)
Votes for women — key dates: 1903 WSPU founded; 1913 Emily Davison at the Derby; 1918 women OVER 30 get the vote; 1928 EQUAL voting rights (all women 21+). The 25-year gap between 1903 and 1928 is the span of the whole campaign.
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