Why was Prohibition introduced in the USA in 1919?

Year 10 Prohibition Coursework Lucy Sparks 10A Why was Prohibition introduced in the USA in 1919? In the USA in 1919 the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the sale, manufacture and transportation of "intoxicating liquor", was ratified and then became law in1920 under the Volstead Act. It was a decision that had taken many years to reach and had been effected by political and economic issues. Temperance societies date back to 1808 in New York when people became concerned about the quantities of alcohol consumed and its effects on health and behaviour. Other states soon followed in setting up temperance groups such as Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1813. Prohibition gained its early supporters from the southern Bible belt and rural areas where it was believed that alcohol abuse was mainly in the rapidly growing industrial cities. The majority of these people were Protestants who believed in hard working values. Drinkers were thought of as bad workers and their habits offended the Christian morals of Protestants. By the 1850s individual states were already beginning to introduce bans on alcohol. In 1851 Maine was the first to place temporary bans on alcohol, a lead followed by many that led to 13 out of the 31 states having prohibition laws in place by 1855. Support for prohibition declined during the

  • Word count: 618
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Why was the Munich Agreement signed on 29 September 1938?

Why was the Munich Agreement signed on 29 September 1938? The Munich Agreement was an agreement between Britain, France, Germany and Italy by which a part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland was ceded to Germany. To understand why the agreement was signed it is necessary to look at what had been happening in Europe during the previous twenty years. After the First World War Germany had been severely punished. It had been forced to give away land and money and was not allowed to have a proper standing army. Czechoslovakia was an artificial country constructed partly from the old Austro-Hungarian Empire and as a consequence about one quarter of its population was German. During the 1930s Adolph Hitler came to power as Chancellor of Germany. He used his position to become dictator and brought about many changes in Germany. He successfully seized land such as the Rhineland and the Saar And was not stopped by any other country. He gradually built up the size of his army, navy and airforce for example, the anglo-german treaty that allowed them to increase the german navy to 35% of Britain's, and again was not stopped. He used the Luftwaffe (the german air force) in the Spanish Civil War to bomb places like Guernica. He made a pact with the other Fascist State, italy and the two tried to distablise the solidarity against germany by keeping on reasonably good terms with

  • Word count: 863
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Why was There a Revolution in Russia in 1905?

Why was There a Revolution in Russia in 1905? In Russia in 1905 there was a revolution. It occurred because of many long term, and short term causes, however was triggered by one main event that will be examined later. The main causes that will be looked at in detail are; the long-term political problems involving the tsar, the backward economy, and the rigid social system. The short-term causes to be examined include; the Russo-Japanese war, and the main cause, the 'Bloody Sunday' massacre. The long-term events leading up to the revolution in 1905, were mostly political problems, and the dislike of the autocratic rule at the time. The tsar tried to ease to continuing problems by emancipating the serfs, however they were still being taxed with redemption repayments. This lead to growing unrest as they called for further rights, and so it can be classed as long term cause of the revolution. This lead to the political organization the "Land and Freedom" formed by the 'Populists' or 'Narodniks'. "The People's Will", a terrorist group also formed to kill the Tsar in March 1881. When Alexander III came to power in 1881, he set about suppressing the peasants and all opposition to himself. His Russification policy forced Russian culture on the 50 million non-Russians in the empire. Censorship was also increased and the freedom of universities was reduced. Alexander's mistakes lay

  • Word count: 1056
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Why was there a revolution in Russia in 1905?

Why was there a revolution in Russia in 1905? The Russian revolution in 1905 happened for a number of reasons. The four main reasons were the workers problems, the Russo-Japanese war, Bloody Sunday and the Tsars personality. On the morning of, January 22nd 1905, a peaceful procession made up of factory workers and there families, led by Father Gapon, went to the Winter Palace. The march to the palace was to raise awareness about how angry the workers were. The kinds of things they were angry about were long hours of work a day. An unfair wage system, and ending of the war and a duma so they can have a say about things they wanted. Instead of seeing their Tsar, two hundred of the peaceful demonstrators of the procession got shot and killed by nervous, panic stricken soldiers. Whilst this was happening, the Tsar wasn't even in the palace. This was called "Bloody Sunday" and it was all blamed on the Tsar, even though he didn't give the order to shoot those people. This made him look very sinister to all of Russia. Bloody Sunday wouldn't have happened if there weren't any problems with the workers. Russia was an 18th century country living in a 20th century world insinuating that they were behind in technology and people's rights. There were a lot of problems in Russia, for example, the population of Russia was rapidly increasing, therefore food supply was running short.

  • Word count: 859
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay