Storia moderna inglese (1900-1945)

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THE IRISH QUESTION - In the 1910s and 1920s, one of the most problematic situations, in Britain, was the Irish Question, the tragic struggle of Irishmen for independence from England. On Easter Monday 1916, during World War I, a great number of volounteers organised a rebellion and proclaimed an Irish republic. Althought the revolt was brutally crushed, in Ireland it became a symbol of heroism against oppressors. After 1918 election, the Sinn Fein party, who had won all the seats except in Ulster, set up a new independent parliament, the Dail, in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish republic. In 1919 Irish volounteers founded the IRA, Irish Republican Army, preparing for civil war. In Easter 1920, civil war broke out; it ended a year later, with the establishment of the Irish Free State as a dominion of the Empire of Eamon de Valera. Six Protestant countries of Ulster remained part of the UK with a new parliament in Belfast. Only in 1949 the “proclamation of the Republic of Ireland” put an end to Commonwealth membership.

ENGLAND IN 1930 + JAZZ AGE, POVERTA’ E PURITANISM - In 1930s England knew several social transformations. The growth of population decreased and women became progressively more independent. In the north, industry declined and expanded in the south: so, in England began a drift of the population from north to south. Managers and professional people moved out to suburbs and dormitory towns. The unemployment that affected shipbuilders and coal miners in the 1920s and 1930s reached appalling, incredible levels. As for the daily press, a large number of newspapers were born. For example, besides the traditional newspapers like The Times and the Daily Telegraph, the Daily News, the Daily Chronicle, The Daily Express and the Daily Herald appeared for the first time. But newspapers were supplemented, in the 1920s, by the developement of a new mean of mass communication, the radio broadcasting.
In America, the 1920s, the so-called “jazz age”, were good times for the most of the population. Industry prospered, and the government encouraged the welfare of private business. But several areas of America, like the south-western towns and the farmers of the midwest, remained untouched by wealth. In the 1920s new reactionary attitudes broke out, as the fear of Socialism, the so-called “red-scare”, which caused the imprisonment of political activists with labour backgrounds. The murder of the Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti divided American public opinion.
The restriction of immigration and the segregation of minorities into city clums were typical phenomenons of the period. A revival of puritan attitudes imposed the prohibitionism of alcohol. This drastic decision caused, obviously, the illegal traffic of liquors and increased the phenomenon of gangsterism.

WALL STREET CRASH, II WORLD WAR, WELFARE STATE e ELIZABETH - In 1929 came the collapse of the American stock market, the well known Wall Street Crash, marked the beginning of the Great Depression. Banks failed, people who had invested their savings faced debt and thousands of businessmen were ruined. Three years later, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president and promised a new deal of reforms, following three aims: “relief, recovery and reform”. The government spent thousands of millions of dollars on relief for unemployed on public works. However, the new deal would have been insufficient to face unemployment if a new world conflict had not broken out.
In september 1939 Germany invaded Poland and the second world war broke out. In april 1940, Hitler’s army invaded Denmark and Norway, making the strategic position of Great Britain critical. So, King George VI appointed PM the conservative Winston Churcill; under his leadership British resistance became extremely determined. After a japanese air-attack on Pearl Harbour, in 1941 American joined the war. One year later came the Russian campaign, a disastrous experience for the German and Italian troops. In 1945 Germany finally surrendered, after Hitler’s suicide in a bunker. Then, to defeat Japan, USA dropped the atomic bomb on the asian small towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The nuclear era had begun.
In july 1945 the Labour Party won the elections. Labourists started a process of nationalization. For the next twenty-five years, both conservative and labour parties tried to look after the interests and welfare of everyone. This new kind of state became known as Welfare State. King george VI died in february 1952 and he was succeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II, in 1953. The aftermath of the Second World War caused a sense of general anguish and rootlessness, especially among young people. Britain definitely lost its Empire, and disillusionment increased.

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