Life in 1912

(Remember, the play is set in 1912 but

Mr Birling: “Just because the Kaiser makes a
speech or two, or a few German officers have too
much to drink and begin talking nonsense, you’ll
hear some people say that war’s inevitable. And
to that I say – fiddlesticks!”
Whilst the catalyst for the war was the assassination
of Archduke Ferdinand, there were in fact a number
of causes. One issue was that many of the allies
disliked the fact that the central powers were
countries which had a very powerful elite who
wanted more power and resisted democracy.
We are not used to seeing World War One as an
ideological struggle, a battle between democracy and
dictatorship. Yet that is in many respects exactly
what it was. The original alliance of countries, of
course contained Tsarist Russia, but Britain and
France had a shared democratic heritage. In 1917,
the defeat of Russia and adherence of the USA to the
alliance narrowed the conflict to one between a
group of states committed to liberal and democratic
values, and a militarist autocracy. The alliance was
imperfectly democratic. Both Britain and France had
large empires whose people did not have access to
democratic forms of government, and both sought to
extend their empires at the expense of their enemies.
In Britain, universal male suffrage, along with the
vote for some, but not all, adult women, was only
introduced at the end of the war. All states behaved
in some ways that were at odds with liberal
democratic principles, persecuting pacifists (a
person who believes that war and violence are
unjustifiable) for example.
written in 1945.)
What reasons for WW1 are outlined
in this source?
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What would have been the
difference if Germany had won?
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New technologies were being developed.
Mr Birling: “the Titanic – she sails next week – forty-six thousand eight hundred tons – forty-six thousand eight
hundred tons – New York in five days – and every luxury – and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.”
As soon as the waves of the North Atlantic closed over the stern of RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912, the myths began
surrounding her design, construction and transatlantic voyage. On her maiden voyage, she carried 2,224 passengers and
crew. Under the command of Edward Smith, the ship's passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world,
as well as hundreds of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia and elsewhere throughout Europe seeking
a new life in North America. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with an on-board
gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. Though Titanic had advanced safety
features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, there were not enough lifeboats to
accommodate all of those aboard due to outdated maritime safety regulations.
It was said that the builders and owners of Titanic claimed she was 'unsinkable'. The claim actually made was
that she was 'practically unsinkable', close enough, but nevertheless an unfortunate statement and one which would
haunt both builder and owner for years.
On 14 April 1912, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles (604 km) south of Newfoundland, she hit an
iceberg at 11:40 pm ship's time. The glancing collision caused Titanic's hull plates to buckle inwards along her starboard
side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea; the ship gradually filled with water. Meanwhile,
passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly loaded. A
disproportionate number of men were left aboard because of a "women and children first" protocol followed by some of
the officers loading the lifeboats. By 2:20 AM, she broke apart and foundered, with well over one thousand people still
aboard. Just under two hours after Titanic foundered, the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene of the sinking,
where she brought aboard an estimated 705 survivors.
The disaster was greeted with worldwide shock and outrage at the huge loss of life and the regulatory and
operational failures that had led to it.

Yet there was a marked difference between the

democratic powers and Germany. For one thing,
encouragement of the French and British peoples by
playing the democratic card helped rally support for
the war in 1917-18 whilst, in Germany, support for
the regime crumbled. Britain and France came to be
led by Lloyd George and Clemenceau, popularist
democratic leaders, while Germany was ruled by a
military dictatorship that sidelined the constitutional
leader, the Kaiser. An Allied victory led to the
maintenance and even extension of liberal
democracy in Europe. A German victory would have
snuffed it out. When the German army appeared to
be on the verge of victory in spring 1918, the Kaiser
crowed that this was the vindication of monarchy
and autocracy over democracy.
What does this source tell us about advancements
Dramatic irony the device of giving the audience an
item of information that at least one of the characters
in technology in the early 1900’s?
in the play is unaware of, thus placing the spectator a
step ahead of at least one of the characters. For
example, In Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows
___________________________________________________________
that Juliet is already married to Romeo, but her family
do not. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Look at the quotes before each of your sources from How is Priestley using dramatic irony here?
Mr Birling. Think about how and why Priestly uses ___________________________________________________________
dramatic irony.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

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Poverty in the Victorian era and early Twentieth
Centaury.
19th century Britain saw a huge population
increase accompanied by rapid urbanisation
stimulated by the Industrial Revolution. The
large numbers of skilled and unskilled
people looking for work kept wages down to
a barely subsistence level. Available
housing was scarce and expensive,
resulting in overcrowding. These problems
were magnified in London, where the
population grew at record rates. Large
houses were turned into flats and
tenements, and as landlords failed to
maintain these dwellings slum housing
developed. Kellow Chesney described the
situation as follows: "Hideous slums, some
of them acres wide, some no more than
crannies of obscure misery, make up a
substantial part of the metropolis... In big,
once handsome houses, thirty or more
people of all ages may inhabit a single
room." Significant changes happened in the
British Poor Law system in England and
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. These
included significant expansions in
workhouses (or poorhouses in Scotland),
although with changing populations during
the era.
Poverty and The Great Depression
Mr Birling: “And we’re in for a time of steadily
increasing prosperity.
How does your source contrast with what
What was life like for workers in The Great Depression.
Mr Birling says?
the Victorian era?
The Great Depression in the United
Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was
a period of national economic downturn in the
___________________________________________________ 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great
_______________________________________ Depression. It was Britain's largest and most
___________________________________________________
_______________________________________ profound economic depression of the 20th
___________________________________________________ century. The Great Depression originated in the
_______________________________________
___________________________________________________ United States in late 1929 and quickly spread to
_______________________________________ the world. Britain had never experienced the
_______________________________________ boom that had characterized the U.S., Germany,
______________________________________ Canada and Australia in the 1920s, so its bust
What was the Great Depression? How far did appeared less severe. Britain's world trade fell
What was the main reason for low in half (1929–33), the output of heavy industry
it spread? Who was the worst affected?
wages? fell by a third, employment profits plunged in
___________________________________________________ nearly all sectors. At the depth in summer
_______________________________________ 1932, registered unemployed numbered 3.5
___________________________________________________
_______________________________________ million, and many more had only part-time
___________________________________________________
_______________________________________ employment.
___________________________________________________
_______________________________________ Particularly hardest hit by economic
_______________________________________ problems were the industrial and mining areas
in the north of England, Scotland, Northern
_______________________________________ Ireland and Wales. Unemployment reached
What were the consequences of the Great
What were the slums like? 70% in some areas at the start of the 1930s
Depression? (with more than 3 million out of work
nationally) and many families depended
___________________________________________________
_______________________________________ entirely on payments from local government
___________________________________________________ known as the dole.
_______________________________________
___________________________________________________
_______________________________________ Consequences of the Great Depression
___________________________________________________
_______________________________________
Following the end of the Second World War, the
_______________________________________ majority of the British people, and particularly
_____________________ ___________________________________________________ the working class and returning servicemen
___________________________________________________ and women, did not want a return to pre-war
___________________________________________________ Conservative economic policies, which they
blamed for the hardship of the 1930s, and there
What impression do you get from the picture about life in the was a mood for widespread social change. At
workhouses? the 1945 general election, to the surprise of
many observers, Winston Churchill was
defeated by the Labour Party headed by
Clement Attlee.
_______________________________________________________________________ The Labour government built up from pre-war
_______________________________________________________________________ foundations what was to become a
______________________________________________________________________ comprehensive 'cradle-to-grave' welfare state,
and established a tax funded National Health
Service, which gave treatment according to
_______________________________________________________________________ need rather than ability to pay as the previous
tax funded system had been.
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