The National Service Armed Forces Act of 1939 went into effect on September 3, 1939 by decree of Parliament, the day that the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. The act made signing up and joining the military compulsory on males between eighteen and forty-one who were residents in the United Kingdom. As before, Parliament included exemptions that met individual needs. One could be declared exempt for the following reasons: medically unfit for reasons-including being blind, disabled or having mental disorders, British subjects from outside Britain and the Isle of Man who had lived in the country for less than two years, students, persons employed by the government of any country of the British Empire except for the United Kingdom, clergy …show more content…
Passed just prior to the outbreak of war, the act authorized the British government to take up emergency powers to make the war efforts run more efficiently. This particular act contained the clauses giving government-wide powers to create legislation such as defense regulations to oversee each aspect of everyday life in the country. This also happened to be one of the more momentous acts passed at this time as it included stipulations that said specific acts of treason were punishable by death. The act, passed in reaction to the August, 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact, came into full force of government power starting August 24, 1939. Originally intended to be in place for only one year, the usefulness of the act resulted in it being followed by the Emergency Powers of Defence Act 1940, which then extended the 1939 act for another year and provided annual extensions by Parliament vote. It also significantly extended the government's powers in relation to defense regulations and involved civilian responsibilities including that a person was required to “ place themselves, their services and their property at the disposal of his majesty” This was then quickly followed by the second emergency powers of Defense Act of 1940 which enabled the creation of special courts which were in charge of administering criminal justice in war zones and authorize them to punish offenders for violating the defense regulations of the country. This particular act was especially useful to Great Britain's Parliament because it gave them more power in running the country expeditiously especially dealing with the war and the country's defense. Having the power to pass emergency wartime acts allowed the Parliament to pass other wartime legislation quickly, thus helping the war
As the Reconstruction Era ended, the United States became the up and coming world power. The Spanish-American war was in full swing, and the First World War was well on its way. As a result of the open-door policy, England, Germany, France, Russia, and eventually Japan experienced rapid industrial growth; the United States decided to pursue a foreign policy because of both self- interest and idealism. According to the documents, Economic self- interest, rather than idealism was more significant in driving American foreign policy from 1895 to 1920 because the United States wanted to protect their foreign trade, property and their access to recourses. While the documents also show that Nationalistic thought (idealism) was also crucial in driving American foreign policy, economic Self- interest prevailed.
In America the Great Depression hit hard especially in the 1930’s. People lost their jobs and then their homes. When the depression hit everyone blamed President Hoover for all of the homelessness. Hoovervilles are an important part of history; some important things about hoovervilles are how they started and who it involved.
In the 1920s it was an era where we see throughout history in the United States, many events that had an major impact to the society, people and financial. For example many events that had an impact that had created biggest changes to society are the business of America, business and government, the women’s freedom, and the birth of civil liberties. Referring to the book “Give Me Liberty by Eric Foner in the Chapter 20 from business culture to great depression (1920-1932)”, these are the events that had a biggest change in the 1920s.
During the rule of King Charles I, the Parliament had limited powers, and were not entitled to govern independently as a Parliament should. This is shown through King Charles’ power to veto their decisions, and his dissolving of the Parliament three times between 1625-1629. Consequently, the Parliament became frustrated with their minute role, and responded in attempt to control the King’s power, to maintain their control. This is clearly depicted in their refusal to grant tax raising and revenue for Charles’ increased expenditure, including the abolishment of the ‘ship tax’ which had been previously collected illegally. Following on from this was the enactment of legislation through the Petition of Right in 1928, after MP’s had been called back by Charles in his third parliament. The Petition of Right demanded that Charles could not imprison anyone without being found guilty in a court of law, that no tax could be implemented without Parliamentary consent, and soldiers could not be billeted against their will. Furthermore, the Parliament also abolished the Court of High Commission and the Star Chamber, disallowing for Charles to continue the arbitrary punishment of opposers to his reforms. The Parliament’s pressure on Charles through these reforms was largely driven by
“War is unorganized murder, and nothing else” (Harry Patch). In World War 1, which was first called the Great War, there were many causes of the war breaking out. The Great War started August 1st 1914 days later after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, when they visited Bosnia. Many soldiers went to war for no reason but to fight for their country. The Great War was not only affected by the soldiers, but also by the civilians as well. Women replaced men in factories, offices, and shops while the men were at war so that everything would be working smoothly. The main underlying causes of World War 1 were the alliances and imperialism in Europe.
East Asia from 1450-1750, including China, Japan, and Ming China, used many different strategies for empire and state building including taking voyages around the world to get ideas for their empire, having a good educational system and a strong, powerful government, including women in schooling and political events, having different views on religious freedoms and having a tough military.
In the colonization period, the urge to conquer foreign territories was strong, and many lands in the Western Hemisphere were conquered. With the colonization of these areas, a mercantilist relationship was formed between the conquered civilization and the maternal country. A major part of this was the restriction of exportation of native resources only to the mother country as well as the banning of trading with colonies of other countries. In turn, there was an increasing in the number of smuggling activities during the time. According to a British sailor named William Taggart in 1760, the illegal smuggling of goods into these areas had a positive impact because it brought prosperity to the people in Monte Christi, as there were only one hundred poor families. Likewise, Dominica governor John Orde praised the trading because it created prices much lower than with its maternal country. However, British admiral David Tyrell, Roger Elletson, Dominica governor John Orde, and a 1790 Bahaman newspaper report all had similar views on the harmful effects and corruptness present in smuggling. Despite this, physician George Lipscomb and British Lieutenant Governor Thomas Bruce had neutral opinions on the matter, and only stated what they witnessed in the process.
However, the UK has remained the same throughout history. Some countries have changed their constitution as a result of civil disorder, while others have changed it just for the benefit of the countries. There have been many attempts in the past to change the constitutional framework of the UK. In 2003, under Tony Blair’s regime, the UK and the US controversially sent troops in Iraq on the basis that it had “weapons of mass destruction” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27852832) As a result a great discussion arose. Would it be any different if the power to declare war would be in the hands of the parliament instead of just the Prime Minister alone?
In 1893 a world fair was held in Chicago Illinois to celebrate the 4thcentenniel of Columbus discovering the Americas. The exposition displayed grand buildings with beautiful architecture, hundreds of exhibits ranging from exotic tribes of Africa, to new inventions, expertly constructed landscape, and astounding attractions such as the first Ferris wheel. The fair lasted for six months and had over 27 million visitors, including ¼ of the American population.
The Great Depression was one of the greatest challenges that the United States faced during the twentieth century. It sidelined not only the economy of America, but also that of the entire world. The Depression was unlike anything that had been seen before. It was more prolonged and influential than any economic downturn in the history of the United States. The Depression struck fear in the government and the American people because it was so different. Calvin Coolidge even said, "In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man." People were scared and did not know what to do to address the looming economic crash. As a result of the Depression’s seriousness and severity, it took unconventional methods to fix the economy and get it going again. Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration had to think outside the box to fix the economy. The administration changed the role of the government in the lives of the people, the economy, and the world. As a result of the abnormal nature of the Depression, the FDR administration had to experiment with different programs and approaches to the issue, as stated by William Lloyd Garrison when he describes the new deal as both assisting and slowing the recovery. Some of the programs, such as the FDIC and works programs, were successful; however, others like the NIRA did little to address the economic issue. Additionally, the FDR administration also created a role for the federal government in the everyday lives of the American people by providing jobs through the works program and establishing the precedent of Social Security...
During the 1970’s, the United States experienced "Watergate," the most famous political scandal in American History. It was a scandal that began with a break in and ended in resignation. On June 17, 1972 five intruders were caught and arrested for illegally entering the rooms of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington’s Watergate Complex. "The investigation of the break-in lead directly to the reelection campaign of President Richard M. Nixon and unraveled a web of political spying and sabotage, bribery and the illegal use of campaign funds" (Washingtonpost.com). Two-and-a-half-years later along with a number of court hearings led to the 1974 resignation of Richard M. Nixon. Nixon became the first President in U.S. History to resign. During all the political drama the United States brought an end to an unpopular war and made great strides in space exploration.
The home front during World War Two was initially based on the Atlantic CHarter that would be followed by the US and also England. This Charter was designed in order to keep the worlds superpowers “clean” and only fight the war to help the Axis powers from running the world into a communist and dictatorial government, with also the extinction of some religious and ethnic groups such as the Jewish, and the Africans. The Charter was a very good and strong base that the US and England tried to follow. The Only problem was that with desperate times desperate measures have to be placed. The US home front had a very hard time following the Charter, these were caused by the internment camps that violate the charter by relocating people, the zoot suit riots by latinos wearing excessive clothing, and the four freedoms that did not advance the US social welfare. The United States followed the Atlantic Charter as well as they could but in desperate times, desperate measures need to be placed.
The era of WW2 was un-doubtfully a horrific era in which regimes were created to achieve the perfect ideology of their respective leaders. Arguably the most terrifying regime during this era was Hitler, and his Nazi regime. With Hitler's goal to spread Nazism and anti-Semitism, great measures were taken in attempts to achieve this. There has been much debate on whether the Wehrmacht, particularly on the Eastern front, came out of the war with "clean hands" and were "just following orders", not having knowledge on Hitler and the Nazi's true intentions, or if they actually had full knowledge of what was happening politically in Germany and had full responsibility of their actions of the Eastern front. One would believe that the Wehrmacht did,
This act made it fine for a solder of Britain to stay in an Americans house, and the Americans had to provide food, and shelter to the solder at their own cost. In addition, it wasn’t voluntary, they had to do that if a solder came to their house. The Americans at this point were very angry because they were taxed to benefit the British, and they also were not represented. This was one of the major reasons why the Americans fought the British and had
The royal prerogative is a source of constitutional law; it is derived from common law powers that have been handed down from the monarchy to the executive. The significance of the prerogative in constitutional law is that it provides the executive with considerable power to act without following ‘normal’ parliamentary procedures. As Dicey explained, the prerogative is ‘every act which the executive government can lawfully do without the authority of an Act of Parliament’. In constitutional terms, it is therefore important to explore the means by which the UK constitution secures the accountability for the exercise of prerogative powers by the executive. Historically the prerogative was exercised by the monarchy, the majority of powers are now used by ministers, and very few remained the personal preserve of the sovereign.