LIFE
BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS
v INTRODUCTION
The First
World War that began in 1914 ended by the peace treaty of Versailles in 1919. As a result of the war many were killed and
many were wounded and several countries in Europe were collapsed. People of England faced many difficulties
after the war.
v AFTERMATH OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
After the
First World War, the use had become the foremasts super power of the world and
as Britain’s trade and economy were badly shaken, she receded to the background. During the war England had borrowed a lot
from the use. So, the war had incurred a
heavy national debt to the country
After the
war the armies were demobilized which resulted in unemployment, the cost of
living which was raided during the war never came down. The two important industries of England
namely the coal mining and railways were badly hit. The employers wished to reduce the wages as
their profit decreased. Discontent and dies-appointment
prevailed all over the country.
v UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE
The women
played an active role during the war and had become politically important. So all women over 25 years and men over 21
years were given the right to vote and the parliament was elected on universal
suffrage.
v LABOR GOVERNMENT
The labor
party won the election of 1924 and formed the first government. It remained in power only for eleven
months. Though it was looked upon with
fear in the beginning. It had become
strong and now it is one of the two major parties of England.
v TRADE UNIONS STRIKE
The
conservatives came too power in 1924.
During this period, trade declined and unemployment increased. Demand for coal declined and so the mine
owners reduced the wages which resulted in the miners’ strike. To support the miners, a general strike of
all trade unions was declared in 1926.
Because of the steps taken by the government, the strike was a failure.
v DEPRESSION
Due to the
crash in the New York stock exchange, whole Europe faced a depression. Mac Donald, the then prime minister called
for a national government to solve the financial crisis. Because of the drastic measures taken by the
national government, the economy gradually improved.
v KING OF ENGLAND
In 1936,
the king George v dies and was succeeded by his son Edward viii who abdicated
after ten months. So his brother Prince Albert
became the king George VI.
v IRISH WAR
Irish
republican army revolted against England and the revolt was put down by the
state police and the special police. In
December 1921, an agreement was made by which Leland was divided. The south Ireland became the Irish Free State
and the north Ireland remained as part of England.
v POST-WAR LITERATURE
The experience
of the war and its devastation had deeply affected the people. As all their hopes of prosperity were
shattered, they had become pessimistic and disillusioned. The literature of the time reflected the
despair and hopelessness that prevailed all around. James Joyce and Virginia Woolf wrote stream
of consciousness novels. T.s. Eliot’s
poem reflects the chases and frenzy of the period.
v MODERNISM
The
innovations of the twenties came under the title modernism which was influenced
by imagism and symbolism. Ezra pound
introduced imagism by using images to communicate messages. Symbolism makes use of symbols too evoke
feelings in the readers. Web. Yeast and T.S. Eliot made use of images and
symbols in their poems. W.b. years were awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
v NOVELISTS
D.H.
Lawrence, Pearl s. Buck, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood and graham Greene
were the popular novelists.
v IRISH LITERARY MOVEMENT
Irish
literary movement revived the dying Gaelic language and the early history and
literature of Celtic which led to the founding of abbey Theatre of Dublin where
the plays of GM Synge and seen O’Casey were staged
v COMIC CINEMA
Children
were attracted by the comic films and Walt Disney comic characters. Disney made a full length cartoon film with
sound to entertain the children.
v CINEMA
Charlie Chaplin
was the famous film star. Laurel and
hardy was the noted comic pair. Margaret
Mitchell’s novel gone with the wind was made into a film in 1939 and it broke
all records. The Hollywood celebrated
its golden age.
v OTHER ARTS
Pablo
Picasso, the famous painter created the new style of cubism, in music the new
form called jazz became a passion and new sounds were created by jazz men like
roll Morton, king Oliver and duke Ellington
v CONCLUSION
Because
of the devastation of the world war, life between the two world wars was filled
with despair and hopelessness. All forms
of art reflected this mood of the period.
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