Britain And Her Empire (1946)

of all the cannon has played with modern history than London Mother City of the British Empire an immense metropolis of some 700 square miles with a population of 8 million it has survived invasions by Romans and Saxons Danes and Normans in the 4000 odd years since it was founded today battered but indomitable London is still in the process of recovering from the greatest ordeal of its long history out of World War two Britain's basic institutions the crown and the democratic form of government which functions are emerged little altered but only time can tell what the stresses of war may have done to weaken the vast empire which centers in London and which has long supplied Britain with the overseas commerce which is its lifeblood for a thousand years British merchant ships have sailed the seas extending British trade horizons and British power throughout the world since the 16th century the Empire has grown by discovery by treaty and by confessed to include over one-quarter of all the land and of all the peoples on earth making tiny Britain one of the world's great powers of this vast empire some two-score colonies protectorates and mandates are ruled through the colonial office in London with its staff of civil servants though most of these dependencies are allowed some measure of self-government their code of law comes from Britain's Parliament and their administration from her colonial office vastly different as the status of the nations of the British Commonwealth Canada Australia New Zealand and South Africa are virtually independent nations free and self-governing associating voluntarily with the mother country of the Commonwealth nation's most remote failure and nearby New Zealand from the time the first English settlers took over the wild island continent Australia has derived most of its wealth from livestock [Music] Colonial Australia's dependence upon the mother country as a primary market for the wall and other raw materials she produced was a strong bond between them but as it emerged from the colonial stages Australia began seeking more economic self-sufficiency the development of its own industries began in World War one increased on a huge scale in World War two Australia is a self-governing Commonwealth its Parliament consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives though Australians are jealous of their independence they are strongly conscious of the ties of blood and tradition which linked them with Britain in prosperous New Zealand smaller Dominion neighbor of Australia problems are simpler New Zealand has remained an essentially non industrial country for her richest natural resources are agricultural and she had continued to depend for her living mainly upon the products of her flocks and herds with the United Kingdom as her chief market New Zealand has built up largely from dairy products the greatest export trade per capita in the world during a war New Zealand concentrated upon providing a large part of the food needed by US forces in the Pacific as reversed lend-lease far across the world from New Zealand is the biggest and perhaps the most important of the Dominions the ruggedly independent nation of Canada among the majority of its citizens British in origin there is a deep-seated attachment to the crown but among the growing french-canadian population of Quebec which now includes over three millions out of the nation's total of eleven and a half millions there exists marked indifference and even hostility to Britain for years wheat was the most important factor in the Canadian economy Canada was the biggest exporter of wheat in the world until international depression destroyed her markets and brought disaster to her farmers to lessen her dependence on agriculture Canada hopes to take advantage of the industrial expansion brought on by war but inevitably peace has slowed expansion down the Dominion whose ties to Britain are weakest is the Union of South Africa which lacks the strict British tradition that holds the others to the Empire of the white population only 40% are produced by origin the rest are mostly descendants of Dutch settlers who fought Britain in the Boer War far outnumbering the Europeans are some 8 million natives whom the whites still look upon in Rudyard Kipling's words as the new court sullen people's half devil and half child fearful of any awakening of the native stencil their own strength the whites feel obliged to keep them in political and economic inferiority with black labor available to work her rich natural resources with her gold deposits on her diamond mines South Africa has long waxed prosperous potentially the richest part of the Empire is the great subcontinent of India for nearly two centuries of British problem though before the British conquest the Indian people had never known anything but hopeless poverty wars and oppression under native princes they have never become reconciled to the comparatively enlightened rule of Britain British administration has brought tangible benefits industrialization and the development of India's resources putting her in 8th place among the world's industrial nations and it has at least helped to lighten their poverty and given them some measure of hope yet opposition to British rule is today the one thing common to most of India's warring factions and sects the intense rivalry between India's 92 million Muslims and its 255 million Hindus who's best known leader is the saintly Mohandas K Gandhi has long been a stumbling block to independence but there are many who hope that India may reconcile her inner conflicts resolve her differences with Britain and take her place as an independent nation in the great Commonwealth whose heart is London center of this vast Commonwealth has always been the mother country England a bulwark of Western civilisation in world war ii the achievements of Britain's wartime government a coalition including members of all important political parties are memorialized in its report on how the British met the challenge of fascism in this report are recorded the efforts and sacrifices of the British people during five years and eight months in which life was carried on in a total blackout and adjusted to obliquely austere pattern of existence oh this is mrs. Finch and Doris three moving they've been bombed out you know but I thought we could manage to put them up for tonight of course we can poor dears isn't empty back faced for the first time with Total War Britain bent all her energies to a fight for survival nearly six million of our men and women went into the forces though the United Kingdom contains less than 1/10 of the total population of the Commonwealth from the Empire she provided more than 50% of the personnel of all the British Armed Forces the courage and endurance of Britain's 43 million civilians were tested to the fullest under direct attack by new weapons which turned their island into a virtual battlefront buzz bombs and other Nazi weapons killed or wounded over 140,000 civilians and wrecked over four and a half million homes and public buildings during nearly six years of war years in which the British people earned the respect of the world for their fortitude to meet a critical shortage of manpower more than half of Britain's women plunged into work directly related to the war effort in time the only limitation on women's activities came to be that set by their physical strength written organized a land army of women which replaced the farm labor called up to the forces and increased the output of food which was critically low it was due largely to their work that the United Kingdom produced 70 percent more of her own food than before the war production of war materials increased tremendously in spite of the constant need for training new workers and in spite of the difficulties caused by the dispersal of factories to lessen the chance of air attacks throughout the war the United Kingdom produced 70 percent of all munitions supplied to the forces of the Commonwealth on the Empire as bottlenecks occurred villages were called upon for help under a system called out working under this system volunteers operated makeshift assembly lines in the village halls or turned out piecework in their homes during the years of war nearly 3,000 British merchant ships were sunk by the blockading axis submarines aircraft and surface Raiders this represented a loss of 29% of the Merchant Navy but British shipyards on the Clyde and Tyne & Mersey and elsewhere built over four and a half million tons of Merchant Shipping in spite of the ever-present threat of enemy bombers moreover hundreds of warships were overhauled repaired and refitted in pretty stockyards and some 700 major naval vessels were built on British ways [Music] overseas trade the Keystone of Britain's entire economy before the war had to be reduced to clean her commercial export tonnage decreased by 71 percent as weapons of war took its place imports had to be just as rigidly controlled as exports for with Germany and Italy trying to starve Britain out shipping was at a premium and priority went only to the most essential of raw materials and foodstuffs Britain was able to reduce her civilian consumption by 21 percent by sticking to strict rationing and price control systems which ensure that all would obtain a fair share of rationed goods available this worked satisfactorily yet everyday in Britain housewives had to stand in line for hours to purchase even the necessities of life a hardship which like others was accepted with resignation and good humor for most Britons meet in any form was a very rare treat each person was permitted to buy only 23 cents worth a week the health and education of Britain's children were not neglected while mothers were away at work their children were cared for in government aided nurseries and for many bombed out city children these midday meals were the best they'd ever had to supplement short rations community restaurants were established in which people could get nourishing if not appetizing meals almost at cost each year the cost of the war rolls but the proportion of this cost met by government borrowings dropped by the final year taxes were providing 60% of the cost of the war while loans were supplying the other 40% of this 40% a large part came directly from the pockets of Britain's plane people who faithfully supported the war effort by investing much of their earnings and their savings and war loans [Music] on May 7th 1945 there came at last an end to the war which for almost 6 harsh years had conditioned the lives and the aims of the British people released from wartime pressures which had become almost intolerable the British joined in a wild celebration of victory but as the lights went on once more the British soberly realized that if one struggle was ended another was just beginning the struggle to restore to strength and prosperity their battered and almost bankrupt plan as the people of Britain began digging out from among their ruins they fixed all their energies upon one goal a post-war Society stabler and more equitable than any Britain had ever known all parties joined in support of a government-sponsored program for post-war housing and health for social security and education today even Britain's young people are being encouraged to take an active and critical interest in planning the reconstruction of the towns and cities in which they live or it will take years perhaps decades to translate the blueprints of today into the Britain of tomorrow and the nation realizes that the younger generation will be the one which must see the job through in the London of the future a city of air and light with slums replaced by tidy homes and pleasant parks Breton see a symbol of the new life they want for themselves and for all the peoples of the mmonwealth a society in which more than 500 million people of divergent backgrounds and beliefs may live together in freedom