How far did the two world wars transform British politics, society and the role of women?
The impact of the world wars: the growth of state power and total war, votes for women and the rise of Labour, social change, and the decline of the Liberal Party.
A focused guide to the impact of the two world wars on Britain for AQA A-Level History (Britain 1851 to 1964). Covers the growth of state power, votes for women, the rise of Labour and decline of the Liberals, and wider social change driven by total war.
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What this dot point is asking
You need to assess how far the two world wars transformed British politics and society: the growth of state power, votes for women, the rise of Labour and decline of the Liberals, and wider social change.
Total war and state power
The First World War saw the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA, 1914) give government sweeping powers, the introduction of conscription (1916), state control of railways, mines and munitions, and rationing. The Second World War went further, with near-total direction of the economy and the wartime coalition planning post-war reconstruction. The wars showed that the state could organise national life on a vast scale, raising lasting expectations of what it should do in peacetime, a key plank in the argument that the wars built the modern interventionist state.
Votes for women
Historians debate how far this was caused by women's war work versus the long pre-war campaigns of the suffragists (the constitutional NUWSS under Millicent Fawcett) and suffragettes (the militant WSPU under the Pankhursts). The strongest view distinguishes the campaigns that put the issue on the agenda from the war and the 1918 franchise reform (needed to re-enfranchise displaced soldiers) that supplied the political opportunity. Note that the 1918 Act enfranchised women only over 30 with a property qualification, partly to avoid a female majority electorate, so the reform was a cautious compromise.
Political realignment
The wars reshaped party politics decisively:
- The Liberal Party split during the First World War over the conduct of the war and conscription (Asquith versus Lloyd George, who took the premiership in 1916). The split, combined with the wider franchise that mobilised working-class voters, sent the Liberals into long-term decline.
- The Labour Party, strengthened by its association with the trade unions and its participation in wartime government, rose to become the main party of the left. It formed minority governments in 1924 and 1929 and, after sharing in the Second World War coalition, won a landslide in 1945.
Social change
The wars eroded some class barriers, drew women and the working class into national life, and expanded women's roles, though many wartime gains in employment were rolled back as men returned. The shared sacrifice and planning of the Second World War, crystallised in the hugely popular Beveridge Report (1942) with its attack on the "five giants" (want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness), built broad support for a comprehensive welfare state, realised by the Attlee government after 1945. Historians such as Arthur Marwick stressed war as an engine of social change, while others caution that many trends pre-dated the wars and that some changes were temporary.
Try this
Q1. Who got the vote under the 1918 Act? [2 marks]
- Cue. Women over 30 (with a property qualification) and nearly all men over 21.
Q2. Which party declined sharply after the First World War? [1 mark]
- Cue. The Liberal Party.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 201920 marks'The First World War was the main reason women gained the vote in Britain in 1918.' Assess the validity of this view. (Component 1, breadth essay, rescoped from 25)Show worked answer →
Weigh the war against the pre-war campaign and rank them.
Argue for the war: women's war work (munitions, nursing, transport) transformed attitudes and gave politicians a respectable reason to enfranchise them; the need to reform the male franchise (for soldiers who had lost their residence qualification) in 1918 created the opportunity to add women.
Weigh other factors: the long suffragist (NUWSS) and suffragette (WSPU) campaigns that had put the issue on the agenda before 1914, and the wider democratic momentum of the period.
Reach a judgement. Markers reward distinguishing the cause that created the demand (the pre-war campaigns) from the one that delivered the opportunity (the war and the 1918 franchise reform). A strong line is that the war was the catalyst rather than the root cause.
AQA 202115 marksUsing your understanding of the historical context, assess how convincing two historians' extracts are about the impact of the two world wars on the British state. (Component 1, interpretations, AO3, rescoped from 30)Show worked answer →
An interpretations question rewards evaluating historians' arguments against your own knowledge, not summarising them.
For each extract, state its overall argument (for example, one stressing that total war permanently expanded the state and built the welfare state, another stressing that wartime controls were rolled back and change was limited).
Test each against context: conscription, rationing and economic controls; the 1942 Beveridge Report and the 1945 settlement; but also the partial reversal of women's gains after each war.
Reach a judgement on which extract is the more convincing, and why. Markers reward sustained, context-grounded evaluation rather than agreeing with both.
Related dot points
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- Social change 1851 to 1964: shifting class structures and living standards, the changing position of women, mass immigration after 1945, and the transformation of everyday life.
A focused guide to social change in Britain from 1851 to 1964 for AQA A-Level History (Britain 1851 to 1964). Covers shifting class structures and living standards, the changing position of women, post-war immigration, and the transformation of everyday life.
- The Component 1 interpretations question: identifying each historian's argument, testing it with own knowledge, and judging which extract is the more convincing about the issue.
How to answer the AQA A-Level History Component 1 interpretations question. Covers identifying each historian's argument, evaluating it against your own knowledge, and reaching a judgement on which extract is the more convincing, to secure the AO3 marks.
Sources & how we know this
- AQA A-level History (7042) specification — AQA (2015)