A New World Order
(1945-1956)
Performer - Culture & Literature
Performer - Culture & Literature
Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2013
The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
1. Britain between the wars
• Disputes between the coal
miners and the mine owners led
to the General Strike of 1926.
• Unemployment meant
prolonged periods of hardship
for the families of the miners.
• The areas in the north of
England, South Wales and central
Scotland became depressed.
• In the south-east of England
new light industries such as
chemicals, electrical goods and
automobiles developed.
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Workers demonstrating during
the General Strike of 1926.
The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
1. Britain between the wars
In 1931 the Statute of Westminster formalised the creation
of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
This marked the
end of the
British Empire
the recognition of
equal status for all
member states of the
new organisation
normally referred
to today as The
Commonwealth
The British Commonwealth of Nations is an intergovernmental
organisation including fifty-four countries led by the United
Kingdom.
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The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
1. Britain between the wars
1936
• Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940),
leader of the Conservative party,
became prime minister.
• King Edward VIII abdicated to
marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced
American woman.
• He was succeeded by his brother
George VI (1936-1952).
• The Spanish Civil War broke out.
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Wallis Simpson and Edward,
Duke of Windsor (1937).
The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
1. Britain between the wars
The 1930s brought about important social transformations
• the growth of population slowed down thanks to birthcontrol practices
• women were more and more independent
• the drift of the population from south to north, which was
a characteristic of the Industrial Revolution, was reversed
• fewer people lived in the centres of towns
• new ‘popular’ newspapers appeared, such as the ‘Daily
News’, the ‘Daily Chronicle’, the ‘Daily Express’, and the
‘Daily Herald’
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The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
2. World War II
In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland and the Second
World War started.
Poland fell in September 1939;
Belgium, Holland and Norway
fell in 1940; France surrendered
in June 1940.
The Conservative Winston
Churchill became prime minister
in 1940; he established a War
Cabinet of five ministers
to make important decisions.
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London bombed (1940).
The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
2. World War II
REASONS FOR THE GERMAN DEFEAT
• Germany did not manage to get control of the air over the
English Channel.
• Hitler’s greatest mistake was his decision to invade the
USSR in June 1941.
• The German army was destroyed by the long Russian
winter and by resistance in the sieges of Leningrad,
Moscow and Stalingrad, where it was forced to surrender in
January 1943.
• The Russian Red Army marched
through Eastern Europe to liberate
the invaded countries.
Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph
Stalin (Yalta Conference, February 1945).
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A New
World
Order
The
birth
of the
Nation
2. World War II
REASONS FOR THE VICTORY OF THE ALLIES
• American intervention in 1941, following a Japanese
air-attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
• The advance of Montgomery’s army in North Africa
(1942) proved disastrous for the German and Italian troops.
D-Day – D for Deliverance
On 6th June 1944, the Allies touched down
on the French coast in Normandy and
liberated France.
• In 1945 Germany surrendered.
• President Truman ordered the dropping of the atomic bomb
on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
3. World War II and after
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR
The European empires were weakened
The French, the Dutch and the British
had to abandon some of their colonies.
Britain withdrew from India, Burma,
Ceylon, Malaya and Singapore.
Britain’s foreign trading position was
weakened by the huge debts to pay for
the war and extensive bomb damage.
The general election in July 1945 was
won by the Labour Party.
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The Labour Party issued this general election
campaign poster in 1945. The design incorporates
a large 'V', representing Victory in the Second
World War.
The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
4.The US opening towards Europe
The US Marshall Aid Plan (1947)
the
American programme to help European
countries recover economically and prevent the
weaker ones from falling under Russian
influence.
Britain received large US loans but recovery
was slow
• huge foreign debt
• the markets for goods in Europe were
largely non-existent
• the currency was weak
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,
known as NATO
an agreement of
mutual defense with Western Europe.
The United Nations Organisation (UN, 1945)
replaced the League of Nations.
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The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
5. Labour government policies
The Welfare State
The new role of the government in looking after the interests
and welfare of its citizens in such areas as health,
unemployment and pensions.
Nationalisation of power and natural resources, transport
(airlines and railways) and credit (the Bank of England).
The government bought all the shares of the companies in
these fields in exchange for government bonds.
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The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
6. The Cold War
Competition and fear between the United States and the
Soviet Union was seen as a ‘Cold War’.
It dominated international affairs for decades when major
crises occurred:
• the wars in Korea (1949-1953)
• the Vietnam War (1957-1975)
Both the USA and the Soviet Union massively built up
nuclear weapons.
• 1952  the USA exploded the H-bomb  smaller
in size than the Hiroshima atomic bomb but 2500 times more
powerful.
• 1953  The Russians produced an H-bomb.
• 1957  Britain carried out its first H-Bomb tests.
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The
birth
of the
Nation
A New
World
Order
7. The Suez Crisis
CAUSES
CONSEQUENCES
1869 The Suez Canal had
been built by the French to
connect the Mediterranean
Sea with the Red Sea
1956 British and French forces
bombed and invaded Egypt
1952 there was a revolution in
Egypt and Britain agreed to
withdraw from the Canal Zone
but kept its shares in the
Canal
1956 President Nasser
nationalised the British and
French company that owned
the Suez Canal
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Condemnation from the United
Nations and from the USA
The invaders forced to withdraw
their troops by the United Nations
Britain no longer a world power
and unable to manage
international relations without US
support
A New
World
Order
The
birth
of the
Nation
8. Elizabeth II
George VI died in February 1952.
He was succeeded by his
daughter Elizabeth II,
crowned in 1953.
The general euphoria for a ‘New
Elizabethan Age’, was mingled with
a sense of anguish and rootlessness,
especially among the young.
Queen Elizabeth II (1953).
Disillusionment came at the realisation that
Britain was a second-class power dependent
on the USA.
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A New
World
Order
The
birth
of the
Nation
9. Indian Independence
15th August 1947 India gained its independence
from Britain
Split into two countries: India (mostly Hindu) and
East and West Pakistan (mostly Muslim)
Mohandas Gandhi, the leader of the Indian
independence movement, fasted in protest against
partition in vain
Prime Minister Nehru began the modernisation of
India, building factories, railroads and roads
1948 Gandhi assassinated by a Hindu fanatic
1970 East Pakistan became the new state of
Bangladesh
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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.