What impact did the Second World War have on the

British people?

By the end of the lesson you will:

1.All be able to list some of the key changes to British society2.Most of you will be able to weigh up which changes are positive and which are negative3.Some of you will be starting to think about the implications of these changes

Pre-war

Look at each of these pictures. What would life have been like for each of these people prior to WW2?

Now look at the 5 Giants, below. What does it tell you about the main issues facing British society

before WW2?

William BeveridgeAn economist and social reformer; later a Liberal peer

1942 Beveridge Report

Other contributing events

• 1918 and 1928 Votes for women – female suffrage is finally achieved

• 1926 General Strike• 1929 Wall Street Crash – Led to the

Great Depression• 1936 Jarrow March – following 70%

unemployment in the North East of England

Post-war

The setting up of the Welfare State

• The Labour Government of 1945-1951 brought in a series of reforms designed to remove the Five Giants identified by Beveridge. These reforms finally established a welfare state – whereby the government took on the responsibility for helping those who could not help themselves.

How were the 5 Giants tackled?

Want•Family allowances began in 1945 with a payment for each child after the first. National insurance against illness and unemployment was made compulsory and extended to the whole workforce.

Disease•In 1946 Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health, introduced the National Health Act. Under this act everyone received free medical, dental, hospital and eye treatment. The scheme was launched in 1948.

Ignorance•The 1944 Education Act, brought in by Churchill’s wartime government introduced ‘secondary education for all’. Children had to be taught in separate primary schools and secondary schools to replace the previous all-age ‘elementary’ schools, no-one could leave school until the age of 15.

Squalor•There were serious housing shortages due to the effects of bombing and the lack of building during the Second World War. The Labour Government built a series of estates of council houses. In addition, the New Towns Act of 1946 provided government money for a series of new towns close to London and other cities. These reduced overcrowding in older urban centres.

Idleness•By 1950 the Labour Government had managed to achieve virtually full employment. This was helped by assistance from the USA, known as Marshall Aid, which provided much needed finance and resources for new buildings.

• Immediately after the end of World War II, Britain underwent enormous social change. The country was bankrupted after the war. The new Labour government provided the reformation of the main institutions such as mining, railways, road traffic, air traffic, petrol, electricity and even the Bank of England.

Other changes post-war

• 22nd June 1948 SS Windrush arrived from the Caribbean

• When WWII came to an end Britain was left with a labour shortage – many had of course died in the conflict, and reconstruction meant that there were more jobs available than people to fill them, an attractive situation for British passport holders in the colonies, for whom at that time an open door policy existed.

• The employment of women and ‘moonlighting’ of many people led to improving standards of living

• Falling birth rates signified smaller and richer households

• More families owned cars• The old aristocracy could not take care of their

old castles and parks anymore and that’s why many of them became the property of the National Trust

• New devices such as washing machines and electric cookers made domestic servants less necessary

Discuss the information in groups and make a mind map to show how the war affected

Britain

Post war Changes

Political

Social Cultural

Economic

Then annotate any developments which are positive, and any which are negative

What impact might these developments have on British society?

What impact did the Second World War have on the

British people?

Now check whether you have:

1.Listed some of the key changes to British society2.Weighed up which changes are positive and which are negative3.Started to think about the implications of these changes