The Impact of the Great War

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The Impact of the Great War

• Scotland At Work And War

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1900-1914 Old traditional staple industries
facing problems. Rising unemployment
1914-1918 Wartime boost to industry and
agriculture. No unemployment. Pre-war economic
decline forgotten
1914-1928 Post-war economic decline. Old problems
return. End of war means end of orders to support
the war effort. New problems, such as loss of
export markets, adds to difficulties
The Impact of the Great War on the Scottish
Economy
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Shipbuilding

• 100,000 workers 14 of the adult male working
  population depended on shipbuilding.
• When war broke out, demand for ships increased
  rapidly and the main shipyards Beardmore,
  Fairfields and John Brown were taken over by
  the Royal Navy (Admiralty).
• During the war new technology and production
  methods were used e.g. automatic machinery and
  assembly-line production methods but this
  decreased the need for workers.
• After the war, international trade fell and
  orders for new ships dried up.

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Fishing

• Before the war, there were over 10,000 herring
  boats and Scotland caught 25 of the UK total.
• During the war, the North Sea was almost closed
  to fishing.
• The Royal Navy used many fishing vessels for
  coastal patrols or minesweeping.
• The Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve was created.
  This allowed fisherman to continue with their
  jobs until they were needed by the navy.
• After the war there were various problems fuel
  costs had risen and compensation for boats used
  during the war was rarely enough to repair them
  to equip them. Old markets in the Baltic,
  Germany and Russia were also gone.

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Jute

• Before the war, raw jute was exported to Dundee
  from Bangladesh and turned into sacking cloth.
• There was huge demand for sandbags during the war
  as they were used to reinforce the trenches.
• At the end of the war jute factories in Dundee
  needed investment and repair.
• Some businessmen had started to develop the jute
  industry in Calcutta this cut out the need for
  raw jute to be sent back to Scotland.

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Farming, Food and Rationing

• Britain imported a significant amount of food
  from abroad.
• During the war Germany used submarines or U-boats
  to sink ships taking supplies to Britain the
  aim was to starve Britain out of the war.
• With many farm workers now in the army, women,
  boys and older men took their places.
• 30,000 prisoners, 16,000 women in the Land Army
  and conscientious objectors worked on the land.
• Farmers also faced shortages of horses, donkeys
  and fertilisers because the army had priority
  during war time.

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• Profits and wages increased during the war.
• In many places farm wages rose by 150 and the
  wages of skilled ploughmen and shepherds doubled.
• By 1918 sheep prices were 60 higher than in
  1914.
• In 1917 the government bought all the wool in the
  country to meet the demand for blankets and
  uniforms for the armed forces.

• By 1917 food shortages became a more serious
  problems.
• The government encouraged voluntary rationing and
  asked people not to waste food.
• With shortages of food, prices and queues for
  food increased.
• By April 1918 full-scale rationing was in force
  in Scotland e.g. butter, tea, meat, jam.
• The aim was to protect food supplies, ensure fair
  distribution and control rising prices.

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Land Issue

• Many Scottish soldiers and sailors returned from
  war believing they had been promised land as a
  reward for fighting for their country.
• In 1917 the Duke of Sutherland had made a gift of
  a large estate farm to be used for returning
  soldiers and sailors who had volunteered to serve
  during the war.
• However land was scarce and with the fishing
  industry in decline there were few job
  opportunities.
• During the war many landowners had turned arable
  land (for growing food) into rough grazing for
  sheep and cattle.
• Land Raids took place men marched onto land
  they believed they should have a right to work on
  and marked out their farms. They hoped to gain
  publicity and sympathy for their cause.

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Land Issue

• The Land Settlement Act December 1919 promised
  land to men who had served in the war.
• The cost of compulsory purchase of land from
  previous owners exhausted government reserves
  within five months the funds ran out.
• The Secretary of Scotland stated that land
  raiders would be banned from any official
  settlement of land.
• However land raiders on Raasay were given
  temporary accommodation, the Board of Agriculture
  purchased the raided estate and the raiders were
  given the land.
• The government continued to argued that they did
  not have enough money to buy land but by the mid
  1920s land raiding had mostly died out.

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The Scottish Economy Additional Notes

• During the war, the government took control of
  all the key industries coal, steel, railways,
  shipbuilding.
• All of these industries were interlinked
  success or decline in one industry would have a
  knock on effect in another.
• After the war all the major industries in
  Scotland experienced economic decline.

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• Steel Industry
• Output doubled during the war.
• 90 of armour plate used in ships, tanks etc came
  from Glasgow.
• 24,000 men were employed in the steel industry
  which was heavily concentrated in the Clyde
  Valley.
• Coal Industry
• Coal was a major source of fuel for industry and
  peoples homes.
• Production fell from 42.5 million tonnes in 1913
  to an average of 30 million tonnes by the late
  1920s.
• Jute Industry
• In Dundee there were 69 firms involved in the
  production of Jute.
• 25 of male workers and 67 of female workers in
  Dundee worked in this industry.

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• Shipbuilding Industry
• Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee all benefited from
  the boom in shipbuilding during the war.
• 1914-1918, 481 warships were built on the Clyde.
• Skilled workers could not volunteer for the army
  and were exempt from conscription.
• At the end of the war there was a short term
  replacement boom as ships damaged during the
  war were repaired.
• In 1921 510,000 tonnes of shipping was being
  produced in Clyde shipyards, by 1933 this had
  dropped to 74,000 tonnes and shipyards were
  closing.
• The drop in demand had a huge effect on the steel
  and coal industry as well.

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Lewis and Leverhulme

• By the 1920s, Lewis was an island facing
  large-scale emigration, a declining fishing
  industry and a population struck down by
  tuberculosis.
• 7,000 Lewis men served in the army and 17 were
  killed.
• Lord Leverhulme hoped build a new fishing fleet,
  make farming more efficient by reducing the
  number of small farms and build a new canning
  factory in Stornoway.
• A land raid in Lewis increased tension between
  the islanders and Leverhulme. Leverhulme said he
  need the two farms to produce milk, he then
  sacked workers and promised to employ them again
  if the land raids stopped.
• It is argued that Leverhulme failed to understand
  the Highland way of life people wanted to work
  on the land and not in a factory.

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Migration

• Between 1921-1931 the Scottish population fell
  Scotland had the highest rate of emigration of
  any European country.
• Emigration to the USA and Canada increased due to
  shorter travelling times.
• The Canadian government also had two full-time
  agents in Scotland encouraging emigration.
• The Empire Settlement Act 1922 paid subsidies to
  emigrants who agreed to work the land for a
  certain amount of time. This offered many the
  chance to become independent landowners.
• The Salvation Army also helped single women,
  unemployed men and young people to emigrate.
• For many Scots emigration offered an escape from
  poverty and unemployment, however one third of
  emigrants did return to Scotland.