The British home front during World War II covers the political, social and economic history during 1939–1945.
The war was expensive and financed through high taxes, selling off assets, and accepting large amounts of Lend Lease from the United States and Canada. The US provided $30 billion in munitions, while Canada also contributed aid. American and Canadian aid did not have to be repaid, but there were also American loans that were repaid.
Britain's total mobilisation during this period proved successful in winning the war by maintaining strong public support. The media dubbed it a "people's war," which caught on and signified the popular demand for planning and an expanded welfare state.Mark Donnelly, Britain in the Second World War (1999) is a short surveyAngus Calder, The people's war: Britain, 1939–1945 (1969) By 1945, the post-war consensus emerged, delivering a welfare state.Brian Harrison, "The rise, fall and rise of political consensus in Britain since 1940." History 84.274 (1999): 301-324. online The royal family played major symbolic roles during the war. They refused to leave London during the Blitz and visited troops, munition factories, dockyards, and hospitals all over the country.Alfred F. Havighurst, Britain in Transition: The Twentieth Century (1962) ch 9
The British relied successfully on voluntary labour. Munitions production rose dramatically while maintaining high quality. Food production was emphasised to free shipping for munitions. Farmers increased the area under cultivation from 12 million to 18 million acres (from about 50,000 to 75,000 km2), and the farm labour force expanded by a fifth, thanks to the Women's Land Army.Calder, The People's War: Britain, 1939–45 (1969) pp. 276–83, 411–30
Politics
Planning the welfare state
The common experience of wartime hardships created a new consensus for a post-war welfare state, including universal social security, a free national health service, improved secondary education, expanded housing, and family allowances.Richard Titmuss, Essays on 'the welfare state (1958), pp. 75-87.Paul Addison, The Road to 1945, pp 13-14, 239.John Bew, Clement Attlee (2017), pp 267-68. 294-95. The success of the wartime government in providing new services, such as hospitals and school lunches, and the prevailing egalitarian spirit contributed to widespread support for an enlarged welfare state, supported by all major parties. Welfare conditions, particularly regarding food, improved during the war as the government imposed rationing and subsidised food prices. However, housing conditions worsened due to bombing, and clothing was in short supply. Equality increased dramatically as incomes declined sharply for the wealthy and white-collar workers due to soaring taxes, while blue-collar workers benefited from rationing and price controls.Sidney Pollard, The development of the British economy 1914–1950 (1962 and later editions) pp 339–48
People demanded an expansion of the welfare state as a reward for their wartime sacrifices. The Labour Party took the initiative, but the Conservatives led the Education Act 1944, which made major improvements in secondary schools in England and Wales.F. M. Leventhal, Twentieth-Century Britain: an Encyclopedia (1995) pp 74–75, 251-52, 830 Historians consider it a "triumph for progressive reform," and it became a core element of the Post-war consensus supported by all major parties.Kevin Jefferys, "R. A. Butler, the Board of Education and the 1944 Education Act," History (1984) 69#227 pp 415–431.
William Beveridge of the Liberal Party declared war on the five "giant evils" of Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness. He recommended systematising and universalising various income maintenance services. Unemployment and sickness benefits were to be universal, with new benefits for maternity. The old-age pension system would be revised and expanded, requiring retirement. A full-scale National Health Service would provide free medical care for everyone. All major parties endorsed these principles, largely put into effect when peace returned.Brian Abel‐Smith, "The Beveridge report: Its origins and outcomes." International Social Security Review (1992) 45#1‐2 pp 5–16.
Planning for postwar housing began in 1941. Conservatives argued that wider ownership of property would give people a real economic stake in society. After 1945, expanding ownership became the signature Conservative issue, while Labour still deprecated private ownership.Harriet Jones, "'This is magnificent!': 300,000 houses a year and the Tory revival after 1945." Contemporary British History 14#1 (2000): 99-121. All parties wanted to stimulate the construction industry. The consensus policy was that local authorities would lead during the transitional period, but in the longer run, most new building would be left to the private sector. Local government would concentrate on slum clearance and provision for the least well off. Financial stringencies in the late 1940s postponed the ideal plan into the 1950s.Peter Malpass, "Wartime planning for post-war housing in Britain: the Whitehall debate, 1941-5." Planning Perspectives 18#2 (2003): 177-196.Peter Malpass, "Fifty years of British housing policy: Leaving or leading the welfare state?." International Journal of Housing Policy 4#2 (2004): 209-227.
Economics
The scale of mobilisation for war is best measured by the proportion of GDP devoted to the war effort, which was 7.4% in 1938, 15.3% in 1939, 43.8% in 1940, 52.7% in 1941, 55.3% in 1943 (peaked figure) and 53.4% in 1944. The wartime net losses in British national wealth amounted to 18.6% (£4.595 billion) of the pre-war wealth (£24.68 billion), at 1938 prices. Finance In six years of war, there was a net inflow of £10 billion. Of this £1.1 billion came from the sale of investments; £3.5 billion was made up of new borrowing, of which £2.7 billion was contributed by the Empire's Sterling Area. Canada made C$3 billion in gifts and loans on easy terms. Above all came the American money, and loans and Lend Lease grants of £5.4 billion. This funded heavy purchases of munitions, food, oil, machinery and raw materials. There was no charge for Lend Lease supplies delivered during the war. There was a charge for supplies delivered after September 2, 1945. Britain's borrowing from India and other countries measured by "sterling balances" amounted to £3.4 billion in 1945. Britain treated this as a long-term loan with no interest and no specified repayment date. The British treasury was nearly empty by 1945.Marcelo de Paiva Abreu, "India as a creditor: sterling balances, 1940-1953." (Department of Economics, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, 2015) online
When the war began Britain imposed exchange controls. The British Government used its gold reserves and dollar reserves to pay for munitions, oil, raw materials and machinery, mostly from the U.S. By the third quarter of 1940 the volume of British exports was down 37% compared to 1935. Although the British Government had committed itself to nearly $10,000 million of orders from America, Britain's gold and dollar reserves were near exhaustion. The Roosevelt Administration was committed to large-scale economic support of Britain and in March 1941 began Lend-Lease, whereby America would give Britain supplies totalling $31.4 billion which did not have to be repaid.Walter Yust, ed. Ten Eventful years (1947) 2:859
The government and the public opinion in the early months were preoccupied with inflationary dangers. In the end the government did a reasonable job in lowering the rising cost of living index. Industry
When war broke out in 1939, Great Britain, as an island nation, was dependent on goods imported by sea for many of its supplies. The days of significant air cargo traffic had yet to arrive but would have been equally vulnerable to enemy attack. Although the term was not used in those days, there was an immediate recourse to recycling to conserve scarce resources. Garden railings were removed for their scrap metal and aluminium kitchen saucepans were collected for their potential in the aircraft industry. Whilst there may have been undue optimism of some of the benefits, nevertheless, the whole population was involved in a practical way in contributing to the war effort.
David Edgerton has emphasised the success story in producing munitions at home and using the Empire and the U.S. to build a very large high quality stock of weapons.David Edgerton, Warfare State: Britain, 1920–1970 (Cambridge UP, 2005). Industrial production was reoriented toward munitions, and output soared. In steel, for example, the Materials Committee of the government tried to balance the needs of civilian departments and the War Department, but strategic considerations received precedence over any other need.Peter Howlett, "Resource allocation in wartime Britain: The case of steel, 1939-45," Journal of Contemporary History, (July 1994) 29#3 pp 523-44 Highest priority went to aircraft production as the RAF was under continuous heavy German pressure. The government decided to concentrate on only five types of aircraft in order to optimise output. They received extraordinary priority. Covering the supply of materials and equipment and even made it possible to divert from other types the necessary parts, equipment, materials and manufacturing resources. Labour was moved from other aircraft work to factories engaged on the specified types. Cost was not an object. The delivery of new fighters rose from 256 in April to 467 in September 1940—more than enough to cover the losses—and Fighter Command emerged triumphantly from the Battle of Britain in October with more aircraft than it had possessed at the beginning.Postan (1952), Chapter 4. Starting in 1941 the U.S. provided munitions through Lend lease that totalled $15.5 billionHancock, British War Economy online p 353
Rural economies
Before the war Britain imported 70% of its food. Home agricultural production increased 35% during the war. In terms of calories, domestic output nearly doubled. Together with imports and rationing, this meant the British were well-fed, they ate less meat (down 36% by 1943) and more wheat (up 81%) and potatoes (up 96%).Hancock (1949) p 550. Farmers increased the area under cultivation from , and the farm labour force was expanded by a fifth, thanks especially to the Women's Land Army.Calder, The People's War (1969) pp 411–30 Farm women had expanded duties, with the young men absent at war. They were helped by prisoners of war from Italy and Germany. The Women's Land Army recruited tens of thousands of young women from urban areas for paid labour on farms that needed them, at about 30 shillings a week. Wages for available male farmworkers trebled during the war to £3 a week.
One new speciality was harvesting timber, for which the government set up the Women's Timber Corps, a branch of the Women's Land Army that operated 1942-46.Emma Vickers, "'The Forgotten Army of the Woods': The Women's Timber Corps during the Second World War" Agricultural History Review (2011) 59#1 101-112.