Labour in 1945
Why did Labour win the 1945 election? Labour's victory in 1945 came as a shock to the political world, Winston Churchill almost suddenly lost is popularity. Labour also took full advantage of the BBC which had a left-wing approach in many of its news reports and talks. Also, by proposing a welfare state, Labour was able to more votes from within the working class and the economic crisis also played into their hands. Prior to the elections, Winston Churchill's approval ratings in the opinion polls stood at 83%, Churchill was considered as a hero for is involvement in winning the War and this is what the Conservatives based their campaign on, however he was seen as a war time leader and was not considered to be a man to lead Britain in a time when peace and party politics were now more important. The Source by Sir Joseph Balls suggests that the BBC was possibly under Labour control. He goes on to explain that the BBC granted attention to left-wing writers and politicians and therefore many of their news reports and talks were left-wing. At the time the BBC was the only TV Channel and therefore everyone watched it, and although this source represents one point of view it can be argued that Labour made the best use of the left-wing support from the BBC to target everyone who watched TV. With the Conservatives unable to get their right-wing views onto the television, it possibly
Conservatives 1945 - 51
Source A is reliable to a certain extent as it gives reason for the Conservative defeat in 1945, however the source is possibly one-sided due to it being written by the Conservative chairman at the time. The source does give valid reasons on why the Conservatives lost, such as the BBC granting attention to the left-wing writers and politicians, and as the BBC was the only TV channel at the time, Labour was able to target everyone that watched TV, as well as this, Sir Joseph Ball points out that Labour gained help from the columnists of popular daily newspapers. He also blames the defeat on their poor propaganda efforts, this is true, however the reasoning behind it may be exaggerated as the Conservatives had a poor campaign all together. Overall, the source is quite reliable as it contains many valid points, however some aspects of the source are exaggerated as it is coming from the Conservative chairman of the time of the election defeat and that has to be taken into account when studying the points in more depth. Source B is of significant value to a historian writing about the Conservative revival after the 1945 general election defeat. Firstly, the chairman at the time of the revival period; Lord Woolton talks about how the party had grown up after conflict within the party in the previous years, this shows that disunity within the Conservative party may have played a
Cold war 1945-1954
History Essay The Cold War 1945-1954 The Origins of the Cold War After World War 2, the Allies moved into Germany and Berlin in 1945, the US and Britain came from the west and the Russians came from the East. There was much dispute over who had the right to stay in Germany but in the end Russia stayed in the West and the rest of the allies stayed in the East. This created a lot of tension between the allies after World War 2 since Russia was strict about who left and who entered East Germany. Russians were angry at the West as they believed they had left Russian forces to fight more Germans as the war ended, thus costing Russian lives. Winston Churchill, the leader of Britain was concerned that the huge forces of Russia in Eastern Europe could become a threat to the UK and the rest of Europe. There were many meetings between the 'Big Three', Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman, including the Potsdam meeting where Truman warned Stalin of a 'powerful new weapon' that the USA was developing, more specifically the atomic bomb. This was before the Japan bombings, and the Russians were also working on nuclear weapons. A week after the Potsdam Meeting Japan was attacked by the USA with atomic bombs and Japan surrendered a few days afterwards, Stalin was frustrated as the Russians had gained little influence in Japan and the US had dominated most of Japan. In
Adolf Hitler(1889-1945).
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) Born April 20, 1889 in the small Austrian town of Braunau, son of an Austrian customs official of moderate means. Hitler's early youth under the repressive influence of an authoritarian, short-tempered and domineering father until the latter's death in 1903. After an initially fine performance in elementary school, Adolf soon became rebellious and began failing college. Following transfer to another school, he finally left formal education altogether in 1905. In 1907, when his mother died, he moved to Vienna in an attempt to enroll in the famed Academy of Fine Arts with no success, living him in a great depression. He lived on a modest orphan's pension and the money he could earn by painting and selling picture postcards. It was during this time that he first became fascinated by the immense potential of mass political manipulation. Consequently, Hitler first developed the fanatical anti-Semitism and racial mythology that were to remain central to his own "ideology" and that of the Nazi party. In 1913 he returned to Munich, and after the outbreak of World War I a year later, he volunteered for action in the German army. During the war, he fought on Germany's Western front with distinction. In the spring of 1919 he found employment as a political officer in the army in Munich. In this capacity Hitler attended a meeting of the so-called German
Assessing the German Threat 1945-1990
Assessing the German Threat 1945-1990 May 8th 1945, the end of an era. V.E. Day. A day remembered by millions who went through the terror of war between Hitler's army and the West. Finally the West was safe from the threat of the Germans, no more fear, pain or terror, the West was now secure, or was it? April 30th 1945 saw the death of one of the worlds greatest dictators, Adolf Hitler, the man whose name was synonymous with power, who ran terror through the Western world, the leader who commanded that millions of Jews should be persecuted and believed in an aerian race. Did the death of this man who put fear and insecurity in the western world mean that everyone was free from the German threat? According to USA ambassador W. Averell Harriman the threat of Germany and the security of their enemies could not be eliminated that easily. " Stalin was afraid of Germany, Khrushcehev was afraid of Germany, the present people Brezhnoz are afraid of Germany- and I am afraid of Germany... The soviets have a feeling that the Germans can arouse a situation which will involve us and that will lead to disaster." (www.ncesa.org.html/centralbomb3.html) Article-The centrality of the Bomb. G. Alperovizt It is clear from this statement that Harriman is aware of the threat of Germany and the insecurity felt by other world leaders included in his statement. Harriman does also state that he
The Soviet-German War 1941 - 1945.
The Soviet-German War 1941 - 1945 By Richard Overy The enormous scale of this particularly ferocious war is hard to comprehend. It started with Russia totally disadvantaged, but the turn-around was awesome, as Stalin's war machine revved into action. Richard Overy explains how the Soviets turned disaster into a victory that led to the formation of a Communist superpower. Roots of war On 22 June 1941, some three million soldiers of Germany and her allies began an attack on the Soviet Union. This war was supposed to be over in a matter of months, but it lasted for four years, and grew into the largest and most costly conflict in all history. 'The roots of the war lie in the appointment of Adolf Hitler as German chancellor in 1933.' It was here, in the vast struggle between the two dictatorships, that the German army was defeated and the outcome of World War Two was decided in favour of the Allied powers - the British Empire, the United States and the USSR. The cost to the Soviet Union was an estimated 27 million dead. The roots of the war lie in the appointment of Adolf Hitler as German chancellor in 1933. His hatred of Soviet Communism and his crude ideas of economic imperialism, expressed in the pursuit of Lebensraum ('living-space'), made the Soviet Union a natural area for Hitler's warlike ambitions. After the outbreak of war in 1939 came the added fear of Soviet
Why and when was Germany divided? 1945
Why and when was Germany divided? There are many arguments that can be put forward as to when Germany was divided. The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences in 1945 are often recognized by many as the events in which Germany was divided. The main reason for this is because after the Yalta Conference, Great Britain occupied northwest Germany, the U.S occupied south Germany and France the southwest. The three countries also shared occupation of West Berlin leaving the Soviet Union to occupy East Germany and East Berlin. The Potsdam Conference in August, as Glees explains, "laid down the basis for political and economical control of Germany under occupation". These mainly revolved around the famous 'five Ds', demilitarization, de-Nazification, disarmament, democratization and decentralization. So there is evidence to suggest that the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences were very important in the division of Germany. However as Glees points out, "it would be quite wrong to regard Germany's division as decided upon at this juncture". There is a lot of evidence that the division of Europe and thus Germany was discussed and prepared on a number of occasions before the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences. As Urwin says, "the allies (by 1945) had debated the problems of postwar Germany for some time". Some historians including Bulmer argue that 1943 was the key year in the arrangement for the division
Superpower Relations 1945-90
A6. Superpower Relations 1945-90 Why were the USA and USSR called 'Superpowers'? * The USA and USSR dominated world affairs from the 1940s onwards, and had a very strong influence over other countries. * They possessed the economic power and technology to compete with each other in a nuclear arms race. * Their power was based on an ideology: a fixed set of ideas about how society should be organised. USSR - Communism. USA - Capitalism. What are the main differences between Communism and Capitalism? Capitalism Communism Government Democracy. Free elections. Many political parties. One party rule. No choice at elections. Human Rights Few limits on basic human freedoms: religion, speech, travel etc. Strict limits on many human rights. Persecution / imprisonment for dissidents Economy Free-market: i.e. most farms, businesses, shops, etc privately owned. Socialist economy: state controls everything. Profits for public use (in theory). Living Standards Average living standards higher, but wide gap between rich and poor. Lower average living standards. More even distribution. Party members had privileges. 'Atomgrad' workers paid highly. Cultural Media and entertainment owned by private companies. Censorship rare, other than for public morality. State control of media & sport. Entertainment heavily censored for political conformity. Why did the superpowers
The Red Menace 1945-1991
Karl Beer 05/05/03 The Red Menace 1945-1991 After world war two the world was left with two superpowers, both engaged the other in a struggle for power. America's society was based on capitalism, free religion, and the notion of private property. The Communist U.S.S.R rejected capitalism and private property. The vision of communism is very similar to that of anarchism: a stateless society in which central government had "withered away," local, ground-up control of all affairs by strictly democratic processes based at the place of work, abolition of the market system and its replacement by a system according to which people would voluntarily work for the common good to the extent they were able under the understanding that they could receive whatever they needed for free. In 1945 Soviet Union saw an opportunity to spread communism to the countries it helped to liberate from Axis occupation. Tension and fear of communist expansion gripped America. The Cold War began with the end of World War II when America entered the nuclear age. With Japan and Germany defeated the spread of communism seemed all too real. Joseph Stalin sought to advance the interests of the Soviet state and his own regime. In 1946 the "Iron Curtain" was dropped separating the U.S.S.R. and its satellite nations from the rest of the free world. Iran, Greece, and Turkey and much of Europe seemed at risk to
Religious Landscape in Australia Post 1945
St Mary's Cathedral College HSC Course Studies of Religion II Research Assignment: Religious Landscape in Australia Post 1945 The religious landscape in Australia is diverse and changing. Many aspects of this landscape have changed since 1945 through to the present, some of these include: denominational switching, the rise of new age religions and secularism. In addition to this, the notion of non-religion has been a growing reality for many Australians; this can be explored through an observation of humanism. Each of these aspects has helped to shape Australia's present religious landscape. Denominational switching is a phenomenon that has occurred largely in the Christian religious tradition. It involves people (usually young people) moving to another denomination under the same umbrella of a single religious tradition (for example, a Catholic believer joining the Assemblies of God). 'Switchers' usually move over to more modern, Pentecostal denominations, such as Hillsong (an Australian branch of Assemblies of God). The vast majority of people that change denominations are young people between the ages of 15 and 24. This trend has increased over that last ten years, as shown in the 1996, 2001 and 2006 census data. Over the 10-year period from 1996 to 2006, traditional Christian denominations have seen a decline in 15 - 24 year olds whereas Pentecostal denominations have
