1st WW British production / economy

[JulianB]

I am doing some research into production and am looking for any discussions on wartime economy, particularly the production of military items, munitions etc. There may be general books on the economy during that period, but if anyone knows anything more specific, I'd be grateful. I'm pretty sure that cost of materials had been surpassed by cost of labour by the mid 19th century, would wartime conditions have been any different ?

thanks, Julian.

[liverpool annie]

Hi Julian !

is this the kind of thing you want ? ... or is this too basic ?

In May 1915 news that troops were short of high explosives shocked the country. Partly as a result of this scandal a new government was formed. One of its first actions was to set up a Ministry of Munitions. Headed by David Lloyd George, it quickly brought most munitions production under state control. With the need to increase production, the employment of women was now positively encouraged

Annie

[Bob Doneley]

For an Australian perspective, look at Vol XI of the Australian Official History, available on-line at http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=12. I would imagine that there would be a similar volume in the British Official history series?

Bob

[Chris_Baker]

I've studied this subject and actually gave a talk on it to many WFA branches two or three years ago. There's absolutely stacks of material in archives but relatively little published. What is published tends to be lots of data rather than analysis. Happy to send you a copy of the Powerpoint if you like.

There's some interesting bits in Niall Ferguson's "Pity of war"

One I found useful was Gerd Hardach's "The First World War", which despite its unrevealing title is about the economics of the war.

"Arms and the wizard", about Lloyd George's revolutionising of munitions production, is a hagiography but contains some interesting stuff too.

[SiegeGunner]

At the other end of the scale, Julian, is the official history of the Ministry of Munitions, which is a multi-volume series (13), copies of which are held by major reference libraries around the UK and the English-speaking world. Another useful insight is 'Arms and the Wizard - Lloyd George and the Ministry of Munitions, 1915-1916' by RJQ Adams (Texas A&M University Press).

[JulianB]

Thanks very much, I thought there would be info somewhere. I am personally more interested in equipment etc rather than munitions but I thought the literature on the munitions might be a good intro.

I'll certainly check out Ferguson but Hardach sounds as though that might be ore exactly what I anted. Yes, I wiol check the OHs as well.

Thanks to all

but if you know of any more specific articles etc, I'd be grateful.

What sort of archive material were you referring to Chris - PM me if you have a long list ! I'm used to going through material at eg Kew, it's just that this is a fairly new topic for me.

[Norrette]

Funny you mentioned this Julian.

I was going to put up a post on this topic following Mervyn King's throwaway line this week. When he said "the British banking system had been closer to collapse earlier this month than at any time since the start of World War I".

I had no idea the British economy was also in dire straits in 1914. Is this true and do we think it had any effect on Britain joining the war so readily?

Norrette

[bob lembke]

I have read that the French economy, at least, would have collapsed early in the war without US loans. What about the UK? How would it have fared w/o US loans? What about arms? The war did eventually turn out to be a 'Materialschlacht' more than a war of armies.

Bob Lembke

Funny you mentioned this Julian.

I was going to put up a post on this topic following Mervyn King's throwaway line this week. When he said "the British banking system had been closer to collapse earlier this month than at any time since the start of World War I".

I had no idea the British economy was also in dire straits in 1914. Is this true and do we think it had any effect on Britain joining the war so readily?

Norrette

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Production of .303 ammunition was discussed in this thread: