Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Why The Liberal Reforms Happened
- National Security
- Boer War 1899
- British army lost the war
to the Boers in south
africa
- they lost due to the
poor health of the
army
- 25% of the volunteers willing to go and
fight were sent away for being physically
unfit to serve
- Many started to doubt the
capability of the army to defend
the British empire
- As a result of this the government introduce reforms to
monitor the health of the nation and give suggestions on diet
and lifestyle
- R.C Birch feels that national
security and national efficiency
were the real reasons for the
liberal reforms.
- National Efficiecy
- By the end of the 19th century Britain's
status as a strong industrial power was
slipping
- It be came evident that as the health and
education standards for Britain deteriorated so
did her position of high power.
- However, national security was slightly more important to the
government as they were more concerned about keeping Britain
safe and maintaining the empire.
- Germany was becoming more efficient and she has put in place a welfare
system in the 1880s which proved a well looked after work force was much more
efficient
- The reports of Booth and Rowntree
- Booth lead an investigation into poverty in the east end of london to prove the
socialists were wrong in claiming a quarter of London's population was in
poverty however the results were quite different
- Booth's results showed that 35% of people in London lived in extreme poverty
- Booth told the Government that they were in danger of a socialist revolution if they did not deal with
the poverty levels
- Rowntree was inspired by booth and conducted a similar investigation in york
- His results showed that 30% of York's population was in
poverty
- Showed that it was a nation wide problem
- He created the poverty line- the minimum amount a
family needed for essentials
- he results of booth and rowntree showed
that poverty was not a choice, and made
them realise something must be done
- However, the results were not a
priority for the government and
were somewhat over looked as
they were more concerned about
national security and efficiency
- Political Advantage and New Liberalism
- From 1884, most working class men voted liberal, however by 1906 labour
was competing for the same votes.
- This would suggest that the liberal reform were done simply to gain more votes, however reform was not
mentioned on the 1905 manifesto
- New Liberalism
- nature of liberalism was changing
- New Liberals like David Lloyd George spread the ideas of
state intervention and collectivism
- Municipal Socialism
- second half of 19th local governments had been
intervening more in people lives.
- Liberals like Joseph Chamberlain helped to improve people's lives by building baths parks and
hospitals as well as supplying fresh water and sewage management
- In the words of one report, Chamberlain left Birmingham "parked, paved, gas and watered and improved"
- However this did not affect the national politicians in their decision
making as they were not interested in what was going on at a local level