The great depression came in a time when England was still recovering from the Great War and in 1929 a big crisis hit the world. This big crisis, or as commonly known the Great Depression, started in the US but had a worldwide effects.
England was already in economic problems but this just made it all worst. The great depression was mainly caused because of the loans that were lent to England from the US that couldn’t be paid. This led to the decrease of exports in England, this led to the fall of the industrial production because of this millions where left unemployed. In 1930 new taxes where imposed this to help pay the budgetary deficit from past years that England’s government had.
In 1931, George May, leader of the national expenditure, released a report, which announced that the deficit had just been growing in the past months and the solution was to cut the money that was destined to the unemployed. This never worked and a series of reports where released a little bit after this helping a little. In 1933, banks reduced bank rates and unemployment rates went down, by 1935 unemployment went back to the 1928 levels and the production in the industries grew by 55%.
Great Britain did not have a major involvement during the growth of the totalitarian regimes. The problems the country had due to the Great Depression kept them busy to take action (if they saw it necessary) over the rise of the dictators. The Treaty of Versailles was its most important act that actually affected the new governments. Because of the treaty, Italy and Germany had a grudge over how it ended. Because of this and the great depression, both countries changed their government to a totalitarian one.
As Great Britain had a passive role over the rise of the totalitarian regimes, Hitler (ruling Germany) began violating the treaty. They began arming themselves again and conquering lands. Great Britain’s influence over this is simple; along with France they didn’t punish Germany for the violation of the treaty. In October 1, 1938, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany signed the Munich Pact. The pact stated that none of these countries would attack each other; it was an appeasement. Great Britain signed it along with France to prevent another outbreak of the war, preventing confrontations with Germany. The pact also claimed that Germany would be given the lands of Sudetanland to Germany and stated that Germany would not conquer any other European lands.
In 1939 Great Britain said that if Germany attacked Poland, Britain would react against the Germans. But the Germans didn’t care and invaded and also sign a secret contract with Stalin dividing Poland. On Sep. 3 1939, Britain declares war to Germany and the World war in Europe started. In 1940 Winston Churchill became the prime minister of Britain, in these year the biggest mark of evacuation of people was established. In the middle of 1941 the German troops attacked with big artillery and bomb attack, but the British air forces defended and they didn’t let them be defeated. On 1941 around the beginning, USA began to send direct help to the British troops, and the Lend-Lease Act was created. Then in 1942 Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt decided to make Germany’s defeat the top priority in the war. After three years of battling, Germany was finally defeated and the war was over in Europe.
Sources:
"Munich Pact." Think Quest. Oracle Educational Foundation. Web. 13 Mar. 2011.
"SparkNotes: The Interwar Years (1919-1938): Britain During the Inter-War Years (1919-1938)." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 14 Mar. 2011.
"World War II in Britain." World War II History Library. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.
