Lloyd-George's mistakes in falling from power
How Important were Lloyd-George’s own mistakes in explaining his fall from office in 1922 (24)
Lloyd-George held a massive majority and popularity in 1918 as he seemed irremovable from office, this was however starkly contrasted by the 1922 election where his popularity drastically dropped and he managed only to scrap the bottom of the barrel for votes leaving him with only a small amount of seats. There were many reasons for this one of the most important ones was his own mistakes; such as how he faced a lot of problems on the issue of Germany, and how he should deal with it. He required a strong Germany for trade, however the populace of Britain was out for blood on Germany for in their eyes causing World War 1. In the end he led a middle of the ground stance between Roosevelt and Clemenceau. This was met with opposition who believe that he was too soft on Germany. This effected people’s opinions of him quite a bit, as he promised to “bleed Germany dry” and didn’t deliver, furthermore a lot of people’s relatives had died during WW1 leading to them seeing revenge as not being delivered. Another key issue he faced was the Irish crisis, which had been plaguing Britain for the early half of the 20th century. Even after he passed the Home Rule Bill which gave limited self-government to Ireland Sinn Fein the independence movement was still popular, this was partly due to during the war the self-government was revoked, and after the Easter rising their opinion in Ireland had spike to an all-time high. This was also polarised by the Ulster nationalist who believed that all the nationalists were “Traitors and deserved to be shot.” This then escalated and led to an all-out civil war in Ireland between the Ulster Nationalists/British and the IRA. LG decided to form the Black and Tans a counter terrorist movement to try and stop the IRA, however most of them were Ulster nationalists and ruthless towards the southerners even those who were innocent. This gained the support
Lloyd-George held a massive majority and popularity in 1918 as he seemed irremovable from office, this was however starkly contrasted by the 1922 election where his popularity drastically dropped and he managed only to scrap the bottom of the barrel for votes leaving him with only a small amount of seats. There were many reasons for this one of the most important ones was his own mistakes; such as how he faced a lot of problems on the issue of Germany, and how he should deal with it. He required a strong Germany for trade, however the populace of Britain was out for blood on Germany for in their eyes causing World War 1. In the end he led a middle of the ground stance between Roosevelt and Clemenceau. This was met with opposition who believe that he was too soft on Germany. This effected people’s opinions of him quite a bit, as he promised to “bleed Germany dry” and didn’t deliver, furthermore a lot of people’s relatives had died during WW1 leading to them seeing revenge as not being delivered. Another key issue he faced was the Irish crisis, which had been plaguing Britain for the early half of the 20th century. Even after he passed the Home Rule Bill which gave limited self-government to Ireland Sinn Fein the independence movement was still popular, this was partly due to during the war the self-government was revoked, and after the Easter rising their opinion in Ireland had spike to an all-time high. This was also polarised by the Ulster nationalist who believed that all the nationalists were “Traitors and deserved to be shot.” This then escalated and led to an all-out civil war in Ireland between the Ulster Nationalists/British and the IRA. LG decided to form the Black and Tans a counter terrorist movement to try and stop the IRA, however most of them were Ulster nationalists and ruthless towards the southerners even those who were innocent. This gained the support