The questions of Home rule for Ireland, on the other hand was a serious threat of revolution, especially when the North and South created paramilitary groups and armed them. With the North threatening to march on Ulster if Home Rule was passed, and the South threatening to attack if it was not passed, the Liberal Government faced a very serious problem, that had divided their party in 1886, and which would have troubled any government. It was clear that the Liberal government was trying to prevent a revolution in Ireland, by trying to please both sides. Another reason for the Government to be very troubled about Ireland was the ‘Curragh Mutiny’ where British Army soldiers refused to march on Irish armies, if necessary, this caused the government to feel unsafe about security of Britain. Ireland was the largest worry for the government and the largest threat for a revolution, taking into account the Easter Rising, and if the Liberal Government had passed Home Rule there would have been a revolution against it by the UUF. So the Liberal Government reasonable compromise was met.
Between 1912 and 1913 was the peak of Trade Union envoked strikes, workers from all around Britain striked for better working conditions and pay. However even though the strikes were nationwide with millions involved were localised and posed no real threat to the Liberal Government, most strikes were for better wage from employees. With this in mind, it can be said that the government felt threatened by the Trade Unions, and as a consequence took harsh action against some strikes for example in Tonypendy, Wales, troops were used to forcefully disperse the crowds of strikers, Historians agree that the use of unnecessary force on the strikers showed the desperation of the Liberal Government to de-fuel any threatening situation that may have led to a revolution, this can also be applied to the suffrage protester when extreme force was used against them on Black Friday. While it may have been correct for the Government to feel threatened by the many millions of striking workers, the action taken to disperse or end the strikes was to extreme in some cases. It worried the government that large Trade Unions may be trying to overthrow the government, the simple truth was that the Trade Unions were supporting the workers who were trying to get better conditions and pay.
The House of Lords crises started when the Lords Retold an important finance bill the people’s Budget, the escalation of this crisis was due to the Lord redoing other reform bills. The action taken by the liberal government to end this crisis was to threaten the lords with 500 new Liberal peers or impose a Bill to take their power of veto. This action was taken swiftly by the Liberal government, and then had managed to keep a lid on the situation.
In conclusion, Britain was quite close to a revolution, when all the problems faced by the Liberals were brought together, it is easy to see why this can be said, however, the threat from the Trade Unions, suffragettes and House of Lords was very minimal. The decline of the Liberal government was caused by the inability to solve these serious problems and the approach of war. The war swept all other problems aside and bought in new problems such as the growth of the conservation MP’S within the coalition government, throughout the war.
