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00:00March 1906, German uniforms in central London.
00:20The unsmiling men begin to disperse among the early morning shoppers.
00:25They'd arrived to bring fear to the very heart of Britannia's imperial capital.
00:37They were now goose-stepping down Oxford Street.
00:45No, this was not a real invasion, of course,
00:49which has been unaccountably missed out by the history books,
00:52but nor is it entirely television fantasy.
00:56It did happen, but it was a publicity stunt for the Daily Mail,
01:01who were serialising the latest thriller to shock the Edwardian British,
01:06The Invasion of 1910.
01:09The German military threat was real enough,
01:13and Britain was being drawn into a ruinously expensive arms race.
01:18But a liberal government had just been elected by a landslide,
01:22promising a welfare revolution.
01:27And Britain couldn't afford both.
01:29So which was it to be?
01:33Battleships or pensions?
01:35The underpinnings of warfare or of welfare?
01:40We are about to enter one of the most dangerous and exhilarating periods
01:45in the history of British politics,
01:48and our stage is set for a showdown.
01:51This show does.
01:54Byron Einner
01:55Oh, my God.
02:25The Edwardian era is often remembered as a romantic golden age.
02:36A long, hot summer of big hats, cottage gardens and messing about on the river.
02:45A time of simple pleasures.
02:47Country house parties with picnics on the lawn.
02:50A lost Eden of innocence and imagination, immortalised in classic children's stories.
03:01The railway children.
03:07The wind in the willows.
03:09And Peter Pan.
03:10Now, it may be partly because of those children's stories, but Edwardian Britain has been covered by a golden, dappled glow.
03:26Despite the facts, which are, that this was a country tearing itself apart politically, economic and socially.
03:33Millions of real Edwardian children were barefoot and living on diets worse than the Middle Ages.
03:39The glitter was real.
03:42Fun was being had.
03:44But almost everywhere you look in Edwardian Britain, dark, angry storm clouds were brewing.
03:52On the 15th of July, 1906, a young woman called Adela Pankhurst made her way to a park in Manchester called Boggart Hole Clough.
04:09She'd just been released from prison for heckling a local MP, Winston Churchill, at a public meeting.
04:19She was here to make a speech about that most basic right.
04:23The right to vote.
04:27Adela Pankhurst and her fellow speakers were standing here at the bottom of the hillside.
04:33A massive crowd spread out around them in all directions.
04:36As the meeting began, a group of thugs began mingling with the Pankhurst supporters.
04:43One of the speakers asked what the Tory cave dwellers and the medieval liberals were going to do about women's suffrage.
04:54The answer was a terrifying northern roar.
04:58And down the hill poured the men, many of them carrying sticks and coming straight for Adela.
05:06People in the crowd began to scream and panic.
05:13The men went straight for the women, grabbed them and brutally hauled them back up the hill, passing them from man to man.
05:20Their clothes were half torn off.
05:22They were beaten around the face until the blood flowed.
05:25And older men, respectable looking men, started to shout obscene suggestions.
05:29The mood of the crowd turned until they were roaring like savages.
05:43What happened here, one long ago Edwardian Sunday, was only the very beginning.
05:50Because the battle for democracy, women's votes, would prove to be extraordinarily violent.
05:59And this was only one of the increasingly violent arguments about poverty, privilege and liberty
06:06that provided the soundtrack for Edwardian Britain.
06:09But calming, progressive help was at hand.
06:24In January 1906, the liberals were swept into power, promising to tackle inequality and reform politics.
06:33Their policies were exciting.
06:35Their prime minister wasn't.
06:37Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman had a radical streak that looked and sounded like an elderly sea lion.
06:46Sir Henry once declared,
06:48Personally, I am a great believer in bed, in constantly keeping horizontal.
06:57The heart and everything else goes slower.
07:01And the whole system is refreshed.
07:03Now, Sir Henry wasn't a well man, as well as being rather an idle one.
07:10Never mind, he did lead the liberals to their greatest ever election victory,
07:15a new dawn after ten years of Tory rule.
07:20And the new liberal government contained three of modern Britain's great future prime ministers.
07:26Herbert Asquith was ridiculously clever, a self-made statesman whose sternly sober face hid a wildly romantic heart.
07:37Cartoonists called him the last of the Romans.
07:41Alongside him was Lloyd George.
07:47A charismatic Welsh radical and his unlikely admirer, a young aristocrat and former Tory MP, Winston Churchill.
07:57Three musketeers, they were ready to slash through the complacency of Westminster.
08:08But just at that moment, Campbell-Bannerman's clever lying-down-in-bed-cure failed him.
08:16In April 1908, he became the first and only prime minister to die in Downing Street.
08:21In April 1908, Asquith took over.
08:25Now the reforms would really begin.
08:28A little later, alarmed by his exuberant drinking habits,
08:33colleagues would refer to the prime minister as Old Squiffy.
08:36But in 1908, Herbert Asquith was reshaping the administration
08:41into the greatest liberal government of modern times.
08:45The Liberals came to power in an age of technological change.
08:55Careering motorcars, the telephone craze.
09:01Talk of hydroelectric energy and wave power.
09:07And above all, the flying machine.
09:10A Frenchman, Louis Bleriot, was the first man to fly across the Channel.
09:18In July 1909, Britain wasn't quite an island any more.
09:25Within 24 hours, his plane was on display at Selfridges in London.
09:30And a motorcar salesman called Claude Graham White
09:33was one of the thousands of visitors who came to Gape.
09:40Well, Claude was hooked.
09:45And within six weeks, he'd been over to France,
09:48helped to build his own aircraft,
09:50and then when it was trundled out of the factory,
09:52no instruction, no training,
09:54he'd flown it successfully for at least 20 minutes,
09:58which meant that he was officially a magnificent man in a flying machine.
10:04The Daily Mail, always ready for a sharp stunt,
10:08offered a prize of £10,000, huge money,
10:13more than three-quarters of a million pounds today,
10:16to the first pilot to fly the 195 miles from London to Manchester.
10:21And the race of the year was filmed.
10:24Two men came forward.
10:28Another Frenchman, Louis Poulon,
10:31and our Claude.
10:35Things didn't start well for Claude.
10:39He went for an afternoon nap to prepare himself for the race the following day.
10:44Meanwhile, Poulon, not even waiting for a test flight, had set off.
10:48By the time Graham White was woken up,
10:53he was already an hour behind,
10:55and he decided, on a desperate measure,
10:58he would fly through the night.
11:07Now, he had no lights, no altimeter, no fuel gauge, no compass.
11:12This was enormously dangerous.
11:14He relied on the headlamps of friends' cars on the roads below.
11:20By four in the morning, his engine had failed,
11:22and he had to put down.
11:24A huge crowd gathered, and he was off again.
11:31Next time, he was forced down by winds
11:35to hear the dreadful news that it was too late.
11:38Poulon had already arrived in Manchester and claimed the prize.
11:43Thanks to such dastardly tactics
11:46as not having a sleep before he started.
11:57Meanwhile, swathes of deepest England were also sleeping.
12:03Compton Verney, near Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire,
12:06the traditional seat of the Willoughby de Brookes.
12:12Here, for centuries, there was hierarchy and order,
12:16fox-hunting and forelock-tugging,
12:19and it would go on like this forever.
12:21Or would it?
12:25Soon after the Liberal landslide,
12:28a quizzical, long-faced aristocrat,
12:31the 19th Lord Willoughby de Brookes
12:33was clip-clopping around his estate,
12:35reflecting on the joys of fox-hunting.
12:38That morning, Willoughby de Brookes met an old farmer
12:46who told him that after the Liberal victory,
12:48nothing would be the same again.
12:50Everything that you have will be taken away from you
12:53and divided amongst the people.
12:56I didn't believe a single word of it,
12:59said the 19th Lord.
13:00Later, I carried on hunting,
13:03as if nothing was going to happen.
13:05For Willoughby and his kind,
13:08the modern world was a most unpleasant rumour.
13:11But they were all about to get the shock
13:14of their titled little lives.
13:21From the day the Liberals came to power,
13:23a small army of gloriously old-fashioned Tory peers
13:27had been vetoing almost every attempt at reform.
13:30And in 1909,
13:34Asquith's Chancellor of the Exchequer,
13:36Lloyd George,
13:37was about to ignite
13:38one of the greatest political battles of the age,
13:42whose result shapes our politics even now.
13:50David Lloyd George
13:51was the most radical chancellor
13:53this country had ever known.
13:56He was pledged
13:56to bring Britain into a new age of welfare,
14:00when wretchedness
14:02and human degradation
14:03will be as remote
14:05to the people of this country
14:06as the wolves,
14:08which once infested its forests.
14:10But to the rich,
14:12Lloyd George himself
14:13was a great deal more dangerous
14:15than any wolf.
14:18In 1909,
14:20recession was looming.
14:22Unemployment was rising.
14:23With no state pensions
14:25or national insurance,
14:27Britain was still tormented
14:29by Victorian levels
14:30of poverty,
14:31sickness
14:32and hunger.
14:34Lloyd George
14:35wanted to pay
14:36for welfare reforms
14:37by making massive cuts
14:38in defence spending.
14:45But with fears
14:46of a German invasion
14:48being stoked
14:49by the popular press,
14:50he had little room
14:51for manoeuvre.
14:51Out on the street,
14:56patriotic crowds
14:57were chanting
14:58for the latest
14:59awesome war machine,
15:01the British-built
15:02Dreadnought battleship.
15:04We want eight
15:05and we won't wait.
15:07Lloyd George's problem
15:08was that Dreadnoughts
15:10were ruinously expensive.
15:12To pay both for them
15:14and for welfare,
15:16he devised
15:16what he called
15:17his people's budget.
15:19He said it was
15:20a war budget
15:21to wage
15:22implacable warfare
15:24against poverty
15:25and squalidness.
15:28To pay for both
15:29Dreadnoughts
15:30and welfare,
15:31Lloyd George
15:31announced an increase
15:33in estate duties,
15:34a huge blow
15:35to the wealthy.
15:37And he also introduced
15:38a new super tax
15:39for the super rich.
15:41The people's budget
15:44was a direct hit
15:46on landowners
15:47in the Lords,
15:48many of them
15:48in Lloyd George's
15:49own party,
15:50and they still had
15:51huge power
15:52over the elected commons.
15:56Lord Roseberry,
15:58an immensely wealthy landowner
16:00who'd also been
16:01Liberal Prime Minister,
16:02described the people's budget
16:04as pure socialism,
16:06the negation
16:08of faith,
16:10of family,
16:11of property,
16:12of monarchy,
16:13of empire.
16:13In fact,
16:14he said,
16:15it wasn't really
16:15a budget at all.
16:17It was a revolution.
16:19And around Britain,
16:20the wealthy began
16:22the most ferocious campaign.
16:24In the newspapers,
16:26in the city,
16:26among landowners,
16:27and in the House of Lords,
16:29they even formed
16:30the Anti-Budget League.
16:33And so,
16:34on the evening
16:35of July 30th,
16:371909,
16:38Lloyd George decided
16:39he had no choice
16:41but to take
16:42his people's budget
16:43directly
16:44to the people.
16:50That night,
16:514,000 men
16:52crammed themselves
16:53into a former pub
16:55called the Edinburgh Castle
16:56in the east end
16:57of London.
16:59The Chancellor
17:00of the Exchequer
17:01stood up
17:02to raucous applause.
17:06Many who heard
17:07Lloyd George
17:08in his prime
17:08said he was
17:09the greatest orator
17:11British politics
17:12ever produced.
17:13And this
17:14was to be the speech
17:15of his life.
17:18Was it not
17:19a shame
17:20that a rich country
17:22like Britain
17:23should allow
17:24people who had
17:25toiled all their lives
17:27to die in
17:28penury
17:29and starvation?
17:30his people's budget,
17:33he said,
17:33was being opposed
17:34by shabby
17:36rich men.
17:37He needed the money
17:38for dreadnoughts,
17:40he reminded
17:41the audience.
17:42And the workmen
17:43put in their coppers?
17:46But when he went
17:47round wealthy
17:48Belgravia,
17:49there arose
17:50such a howl.
17:52Well,
17:53I tell you,
17:54the day
17:55of their reckoning
17:56is at hand.
17:59This was
18:00bare-knuckle
18:01class warfare.
18:03Rumours
18:04were already
18:04spreading
18:05that some
18:05landowners
18:06were threatening
18:06to sack
18:07their servants
18:08if the people's
18:09budget was passed.
18:12Lloyd George
18:14was merciless.
18:16Are they going
18:17to threaten
18:17to devastate
18:18rural England
18:19by feeding
18:20and dressing
18:21themselves?
18:22he asked.
18:23A typical
18:24nobleman
18:25needs one man
18:26to fix his collar
18:28and adjust his tie
18:29in the morning.
18:30A couple of men
18:30to carry a boiled egg
18:32to him
18:33for his breakfast.
18:34A fourth man
18:35to open the door
18:36for him.
18:37A fifth man
18:37to help him
18:38in and out
18:39of his carriage.
18:39A sixth
18:40and a seventh
18:41to drive him.
18:42Why,
18:43a fully equipped
18:44duke
18:44costs as much
18:45to keep up
18:46as two dreadnoughts.
18:48To his fervent
18:50admirers,
18:51Lloyd George
18:52was the Welsh
18:52wizard.
18:53He was the Merlin
18:55of radical politics.
18:57And on that night
18:59he blew on the fire
19:00with all his
19:01magic dragon
19:03might
19:03and brought
19:04the trouble
19:05to boiling point.
19:10This was an age
19:12of public meetings
19:13and mass hysteria,
19:15live politics
19:16and live theatre.
19:18While Lloyd George
19:20was wowing them
19:21at the Edinburgh
19:21Castle,
19:22another rising star
19:23was doing the same
19:24in the West End.
19:27Music,
19:29or vaudeville,
19:30mattered in 1909.
19:32Films didn't.
19:33They were mostly
19:34novelties
19:35and curiosities.
19:37Like the aristocrats,
19:39music hall stars
19:40would surely
19:40be around
19:41forever.
19:43Not quite.
19:44One young Londoner
19:45would become
19:46the symbol
19:46of this next revolution.
19:50Charlie Chaplin
19:51grew up in Lambeth,
19:53South London
19:54and his early life
19:55was as grim
19:56as anything you'll find
19:57in the novels of Dickens.
19:59His father
20:00deserted the family
20:02before drinking himself
20:03to an early grave.
20:06The Chaplains
20:07ran out of money
20:09and food
20:10and they touched
20:11bottom
20:12here
20:13at the Lambeth
20:14workhouse.
20:16A place
20:17built to be scary,
20:19designed
20:20to be humiliating.
20:24Desperately trying to help out
20:25the family finances,
20:27Chaplin
20:28tramped
20:28all over Britain
20:29as a child performer.
20:31He had a go
20:32at singing,
20:33clog dancing
20:34and a disastrous
20:36attempt at stand-up comedy
20:37before settling on
20:39slickly timed,
20:40gag-filled
20:41comedy sketches.
20:43In early 1908,
20:45he had his big break,
20:47a contract
20:47with the Fred Cano Company.
20:51Cano had been
20:51a famous acrobat
20:52and clown
20:53credited with
20:54the invention
20:54of the
20:54custard pie
20:55in the face
20:56gag.
20:58Now he was
20:59head of the
21:00greatest comedy
21:01troupe in Britain,
21:02if not
21:03the world.
21:06Fred Cano's
21:07headquarters
21:07here in
21:08Camberwell
21:09in South London
21:10was known
21:10as the
21:11Fun Factory.
21:13It really was
21:13a kind of factory.
21:15He drove his
21:15performers
21:16very hard
21:17with frantic
21:18rehearsal schedules
21:19and if he didn't
21:20like an act
21:21he'd stand
21:22in the wings
21:23and blow
21:23raspberries
21:24at his own
21:25actors.
21:26Whenever he was
21:27asked,
21:28who's your
21:28star turn,
21:29he'd reply,
21:31my name's
21:32up there
21:32and that's
21:33enough.
21:35Mr Cano,
21:37and who's
21:38heard of him
21:38nowadays,
21:39had a cuckoo
21:40in the nest.
21:42In February
21:431908,
21:45Charlie Chaplin
21:45topped the
21:46Cano bill
21:47for the first
21:47time.
21:49In the same
21:49year,
21:50a young comic
21:51called Arthur
21:51Stanley Jefferson
21:53joined the
21:53company.
21:54He's better
21:55known now
21:55as Stan
21:56Laurel.
21:58So for a
21:58couple of
21:59years,
21:59two of the
22:00greatest comic
22:00geniuses of
22:01cinema shared
22:02shabby digs
22:03and performed
22:04together all
22:05over Britain
22:06and the
22:06United States.
22:09In 1912,
22:11Chaplin was
22:12spotted by the
22:13emerging American
22:14film industry
22:15and offered a
22:16contract with
22:17the Keystone
22:17company in
22:18Los Angeles.
22:21Chaplin had
22:22seen some of
22:23the Keystone
22:23films and he
22:24wasn't much
22:25impressed.
22:26He described
22:26them as crude,
22:27rough and tumble.
22:29But he took the
22:29money, it was a
22:30lot, and said
22:31ta-ra to the
22:32Cano troupe.
22:34Stan Laurel
22:34thought he was
22:35making a great
22:36mistake.
22:38We all wished
22:38him well from the
22:39bottom of our
22:40hearts, he said
22:41later, while
22:42secretly congratulating
22:44ourselves on
22:45possessing a
22:46superior wisdom.
22:48Even Chaplin
22:49didn't really
22:51get the movies.
22:53A year in that
22:54racket, he said,
22:55and I could
22:55return to
22:56vaudeville, an
22:57international star.
23:01In his first
23:02movie, Making a
23:03Living, Chaplin
23:04played a hapless
23:06newspaper reporter.
23:12Drawing on his
23:13Carnot training, he
23:14packed every scene
23:15of the eight-minute
23:16reel with improvised
23:18gags.
23:23Later, he sat
23:24down with great
23:24excitement to watch
23:25the edited version
23:26of his first
23:27performance on
23:28screen.
23:31And it broke
23:32his heart.
23:37Chaplin's first film
23:38performance had
23:39been butchered
23:40beyond recognition.
23:41The next day, he
23:43was told to go
23:44away and put on
23:45some comedy
23:46make-up.
23:47Anything would
23:48do.
23:48They were already
23:49haphazardly improvising
23:51the next film.
23:53On his way to the
23:54wardrobe, Chaplin
23:55said, he decided to
23:57put on some baggy
23:58pants, big shoes, a
24:01cane and a derby
24:03hat.
24:04Already, gags and
24:06joke ideas were
24:07racing through his
24:08mind.
24:09and with the
24:10single edition of
24:11a small moustache,
24:14the tramp was
24:15born.
24:20By 1912, the
24:22British were flocking
24:23to the movies in
24:24their millions, and
24:26the boy from the
24:26Lambeth workhouse would
24:27go on to become the
24:28greatest film star of
24:29the age.
24:30Had he not taken that
24:34reckless gamble on the
24:35other side of the
24:36Atlantic, he'd have
24:37been stuck in the
24:38declining world of the
24:39music hall, and
24:41Charlie Chaplin would
24:42be a name known only
24:44to a tiny number of
24:45enthusiasts.
24:47Actually, more likely,
24:48given the streets he
24:49came from, he would
24:51have signed up early for
24:52the First World War and
24:54been killed.
24:54Throughout 1909, British
25:05fears about German
25:06military expansion grew
25:08and grew.
25:10But five months after his
25:12great People's Budget
25:13speech, Lloyd George's
25:15attempt to balance
25:16defence and welfare was
25:18still being blocked by the
25:19House of Lords.
25:20In November 1909, by a
25:25huge majority, they
25:27finally kicked it out.
25:29The first time the Lords
25:31had ever rejected a
25:33budget.
25:34It was an act of
25:35suicidal stupidity.
25:38And it was Asquith's
25:40chance to clip the old
25:41buzzard's wings.
25:44Under the British
25:45system, the Lords would
25:46only lose those powers by
25:48voting themselves, a kind
25:50of political self-slaughter.
25:52Not very likely.
25:54And so Asquith asked the
25:56king to allow the
25:57creation of four to
25:58five hundred new liberal
26:01peers.
26:02Democracy would swamp
26:04aristocracy.
26:06Edward VII hated the idea.
26:10The man was, after all, a
26:11king-emperor.
26:13And so to try and delay
26:14things, he said to Asquith,
26:15there'd have to be another
26:17special general election
26:19first.
26:20This concession did not
26:23reassure the landed
26:24aristocrats.
26:26In this chamber, behind
26:28gnarled hands where blue
26:30blood still flowed, they
26:32started to call the king
26:34himself a traitor.
26:401910 would be a year of
26:43political turmoil.
26:44There would be two general
26:47elections.
26:49The first, to break the
26:50deadlock on the people's
26:52budget.
26:54The second, to decide the
26:56fate of the House of Lords.
26:59The Liberals hung on to
27:01power with the backing of
27:0240 Labour MPs and 82 Irish
27:07nationalists.
27:09The people's budget was
27:10finally passed.
27:15Asquith now turned his
27:16attention to the House of
27:18Lords.
27:19His reform bill to cut away
27:21their powers of veto wouldn't
27:23mean the total abolition of the
27:25upper house.
27:27But it did mean that the
27:29domination of the House of
27:31Commons over this place would be
27:36near absolute.
27:40In May, worried old King
27:43Edward died.
27:45His successor, George V, was
27:47just as queasy, but he was
27:49afraid the monarchy would be the
27:51Liberals' next target.
27:53Feeling bullied and with great
27:55reluctance, he secretly gave
27:56Asquith the promise he'd been
27:58looking for.
28:00If the government won a second
28:01election in December, the king
28:03would allow the Lords to be
28:05swamped by 500 mass-manufactured
28:08Liberal peers.
28:11To the king's dismay, the
28:12Liberals won that election
28:14too.
28:16On the 23rd of July, 1911,
28:19Asquith set out for his
28:21parliamentary triumph.
28:23He had the king's promise to
28:24swamp the Lord's Chamber with
28:26Liberal peers in his pocket.
28:28On the short journey, he was
28:30cheered by crowds.
28:31But when he got into the
28:33Commons chamber, Asquith was
28:36shouted down by almost berserk
28:40Tory MPs chanting,
28:43Traitor!
28:44Traitor!
28:45Traitor!
28:46And who killed the king?
28:49After 45 minutes of this, Asquith
28:54gave up and walked out.
28:56But the last of the Romans wasn't
29:00going to crack.
29:02The Tory party itself was now at
29:04daggers drawn, with the
29:06leadership calling for surrender.
29:09234 Tory peers eventually agreed to
29:12throw in the towel, including Lord
29:15Curzon, who'd led the campaign for
29:17the defence of aristocratic
29:19government.
29:19Curzon said that anyone who kept
29:23fighting deserves to be sent to a
29:26lunatic asylum.
29:28Willoughby de Broeck preferred bedlam
29:30to Curzon.
29:31I am prepared to defend the
29:33hereditary principle, he said,
29:35whether it be applied to peers or to
29:38foxhounds.
29:41After a bitter debate, the vote was
29:43going to be very tight.
29:45Lord Willoughby de Broeck could see that
29:47some of his allies were wavering.
29:49Some cowardly souls were even
29:51sneaking out of the house.
29:55In a rather desperate attempt to keep
29:57one wobbly duke in the chamber for
29:59the vote, Willoughby de Broeck stole
30:02his top hat and coat.
30:04In 1911, it would have been unthinkable
30:07for a gentleman to go outside,
30:09hatless.
30:10But the noble peer
30:11bolted anyway.
30:13He scampered off into the night
30:15without his hat.
30:17And that's as good an image,
30:20perhaps, as we'll get of the final
30:23political scuttling of Britannia's
30:26aristocratic order.
30:27The Liberals had triumphed over
30:36the Lords, but they weren't
30:38nearly radical enough for the
30:40trades unions, now aflame with
30:42anger and a sense of
30:44injustice, and nowhere more so
30:46than in the docks.
30:48The Edwardians were hugely dependent
31:00on imported food.
31:05Unloaded by tens of thousands
31:08of badly paid men.
31:09At the start of a scorching August
31:21in 1911, the London
31:23Dockers came out on strike.
31:26Piles of vegetables on the wharves
31:28rotted, barrels of butter
31:30turned rancid, fish and meat
31:33began to stink.
31:34It was getting hotter, and tempers
31:39rose.
31:41Armed police and the army
31:42prepared to break the strike.
31:46The key union leader, a flamboyant
31:49man called Ben Tillett, wrote a
31:51letter to the Home Secretary,
31:53Winston Churchill.
31:55Tillett's letter to Churchill was
31:58a blood-curdling warning.
32:00We shall bring about
32:02a state of war.
32:06Hunger and poverty
32:07have driven the dock and
32:09ship workers
32:10to this present resort.
32:13And neither your soldiers
32:15nor police,
32:17your murder,
32:18shall avert the catastrophe
32:20that is coming to this country.
32:24In the early years of the century,
32:26most radicals and socialists
32:28had relied on the liberals.
32:30But the Russian Revolution of 1905
32:33changed the mood.
32:36Ben Tillett and his comrades
32:37intended to take Britain
32:38down the same revolutionary road.
32:41Now they challenged the liberals
32:43directly by calling strikes
32:46all over Britain.
32:49The mood turned ugly
32:51when police intervened
32:53in a dock strike in Liverpool.
32:57Violence spread rapidly
32:59through the city.
33:00The mayor of Birkenhead
33:03warned that this was no longer
33:05a strike.
33:07A revolution
33:07was in progress.
33:10And he told the Home Office,
33:11if you cannot offer me more
33:13military or naval support,
33:15I cannot answer for the safety
33:17of life
33:18or property.
33:19within days,
33:32the entire Aldershot garrison
33:35had been ordered north
33:36and off the coast of Birkenhead,
33:39there were two warships.
33:40the strikes and violence
33:44continued to spread.
33:45It was getting hard to see
33:48how the liberals,
33:49with so many landowners
33:51and mill owners
33:52among their MPs,
33:53could ever be the true champions
33:55of the working class.
33:58In 1912,
34:00the leader of the London Port Authority,
34:02Lord Devonport,
34:03tried to break another strike
34:05in the London docks
34:06by drafting in black-legged labour
34:08with police protection.
34:14Tillett came here
34:15to Tower Hill
34:16to a huge open-air meeting
34:19to test the workers' resolve.
34:23In front of the now silent river
34:26and a sea of faces
34:28with his hat tipped back on his head,
34:31Tillett demanded to know
34:32how many of the striking dockers
34:34had military training
34:36and how many would serve
34:38in a workers' police.
34:40And a forest of hands went up
34:42and his language became more inflamed.
34:46Sedition or no sedition,
34:48I want to say
34:49that if our men are murdered,
34:52I am going to take a gun
34:53and shoot Lord Devonport.
34:56And later,
34:57he called upon God
34:59to strike Lord Devonport dead.
35:02And the cry came back
35:04from the crowd,
35:05HE SHALL DIE!
35:07HE SHALL DIE!
35:16Mounting panic,
35:18army camps appeared in
35:19Hyde Park,
35:20Regent's Park,
35:21Battersea Park.
35:22It's reckoned
35:22that almost every available soldier
35:26in the country
35:26was on standby
35:27for the coming uprising.
35:30In the West End,
35:31gents left their clubs
35:33to go and buy revolvers
35:34to protect themselves
35:36from the revolution
35:37that was about to happen.
35:39HE SHALL DIE!
35:40For a short while,
35:50it seemed that those who predicted
35:52a British revolution
35:53weren't so daft.
35:56All of this happened
35:57exactly between
35:58the first Russian revolution
36:00and the second Russian revolution.
36:04And though,
36:05in the end,
36:05this fever,
36:07with its talk of workers,
36:10police and revolvers,
36:11would be washed away
36:13in the vastly greater violence
36:15and bloodshed to come.
36:18In 1912,
36:20the old order
36:21seemed not only old,
36:23but fragile.
36:24And the same was true
36:30in private life.
36:32In 1930,
36:34a 33-year-old biologist
36:36marched into
36:37the British Museum reading room
36:38with only one thing
36:40on her mind.
36:44She'd been married
36:45for over a year
36:46to a Canadian
36:46called Reginald Gates,
36:48but she was still a virgin.
36:53Her name was
36:54Marie Stopes
36:55and, like so many women
36:57of her time,
36:58sex was a subject
36:59she knew very little about.
37:03In true scientific spirit
37:05and showing
37:06considerable courage,
37:08Marie Stopes came here
37:10to the reading room
37:10at the British Museum
37:12to find out
37:13everything that was known
37:15about sex.
37:17And for six months,
37:19she read her way
37:20through every document
37:21and tracked
37:22in English and French
37:23and German,
37:25some of them
37:26so explicit,
37:27so dangerous,
37:29that they were kept
37:29locked away
37:30in a room
37:31with restricted access,
37:33known simply as
37:34the cupboard.
37:37Marie Stopes
37:38was genuinely puzzled
37:39about what was wrong
37:40with her marriage.
37:42She'd recently fallen in love
37:44with her married man,
37:46the translator of Tolstoy,
37:47Elmer Maud,
37:48who was lodging in her home.
37:52Reginald Gates
37:54was suspicious
37:54of their friendship
37:55and in a jealous rage
37:57he threatened
37:57to shoot him.
38:00When Marie Stopes
38:01returned home
38:03each evening,
38:04her husband
38:05was waiting for her,
38:07livid and brimming
38:08with abuse
38:09and taunts.
38:10She wanted to escape
38:13to the arms
38:14of Elmer Maud,
38:16but in those days
38:17for an Edwardian woman,
38:19divorce was almost impossible.
38:24Edwardian Britain
38:25wasn't a nation
38:26of universal
38:27sexual repression.
38:30Among working-class families,
38:32huge numbers of children
38:33were born out of wedlock.
38:35Among the upper classes,
38:39sexual behaviour
38:40was getting wilder.
38:44The late King Edward
38:46had led the way.
38:49Rather earlier,
38:50his notorious appetite
38:51for women
38:52had earned him
38:53the nickname
38:53Edward the Caresser.
38:57Herbert Asquith's
38:58diaries and letters
38:59reveal floods of passion
39:01for his much younger mistresses.
39:02If Asquith
39:05was an elderly romantic
39:07and possibly a lecher,
39:09Lloyd George
39:10was a notorious goat.
39:13Old Kitchener
39:14used to say
39:14that he objected
39:15to discussing
39:16sensitive military matters
39:17in front of the Cabinet
39:18because they all went home
39:20and told their wives.
39:22Except for Lloyd George
39:23who went home
39:24and told somebody else's wife.
39:30But like Marie Stopes,
39:32most people
39:33were still comparatively
39:34ignorant about sex.
39:37In the course
39:38of her research,
39:40Stopes came to the conclusion
39:41that her husband
39:42was impotent.
39:44To get a divorce, however,
39:46she'd have to prove it.
39:49May 1914,
39:50she underwent
39:51a medical examination
39:52that certified
39:53her virginity.
39:55And the marriage
39:56was annulled.
39:57Mary Stopes wrote
40:02about her traumatic
40:03experiences
40:04of love,
40:04sex and marriage
40:05in the pioneering book
40:07Married Love.
40:10She was the first
40:11to write about
40:11sexual intercourse
40:12in a matter-of-fact way.
40:16We tend to think
40:17of women's lib
40:18as a 1970s thing,
40:20but it was also
40:21one of the growing
40:22intellectual movements
40:24of Edwardian life.
40:35Just after 6am
40:37on the 19th of February,
40:381913,
40:40there was an explosion
40:41at Lloyd George's
40:42new house,
40:43still under construction
40:44near his golf club
40:45at Walton-on-the-Hill
40:47in Surrey.
40:49The servant's wing
40:51was badly damaged,
40:53the ceilings ruined,
40:54doors and windows
40:55blown out.
40:57The bombs
40:57were simple canisters
40:59filled with gunpowder
41:00and the timing device
41:01very crude,
41:02simply a lighted candle
41:05stuck on top
41:06of a paraffin-soaked rag.
41:08No note was found,
41:10but the police
41:11did discover
41:12two broken hat pins
41:14and in the road outside,
41:16one woman's shoe.
41:23The main culprit
41:24was a gawky,
41:26rather awkward
41:26young redhead
41:27called Emily Wilding Davison.
41:30Within a few months,
41:31her name would echo
41:33round the world.
41:34But for now,
41:35responsibility was taken
41:36on behalf of the
41:37whole suffragette movement
41:38by Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst.
41:40Speaking that very night
41:42in Cardiff,
41:43she said,
41:44we may not yet
41:45have got the whole
41:46government in prison,
41:47but we have blown up
41:48the Chancellor
41:49of the Exchequer's House.
41:51Now,
41:51some people booed
41:53and one protester said,
41:54why have you blown him up?
41:56To which Mrs. Pankhurst replied,
41:58to wake him up!
41:59Laughter,
42:01applause,
42:02and hooting of horns.
42:06Even radical liberals
42:08like Lloyd George
42:09still drew the line
42:10at votes for women.
42:13On both sides,
42:14the struggle
42:14became more intense.
42:18Hunger strikes,
42:20forced feeding,
42:21windows smashed,
42:22paintings slashed,
42:23postboxes burned,
42:26and telegraph links
42:27brought down.
42:32And sweet-looking
42:34little old ladies
42:35terrorising the authorities
42:37by applying for gun licences.
42:41Music
42:42Next target,
42:47the social event of the year,
42:50Derby Day in Epsom.
42:51Music
42:52Emily Davison
42:55arrived at Epsom
42:56by railway,
42:58made her way
42:58to the racecourse,
42:59and then marked up
43:01her card,
43:02waiting for the
43:02all-important
43:03three o'clock race
43:05when the king's horse,
43:06Anmer,
43:06would be running.
43:07Music
43:07The race
43:22was a flat sprint.
43:24As the horses
43:24turned into the final straight,
43:27Anmer was running
43:28in third from last position.
43:30Emily Davison
43:31slipped
43:31underneath the barrier.
43:33One of the bystanders
43:35tried to grab her,
43:36but he said later
43:37that she shook herself free
43:39and cried,
43:39I will!
43:40And then she strode
43:41straight into the path
43:43of the king's horse.
43:54The horse hit
43:55Emily Davison
43:56with colossal force.
43:57She fell and rolled over
44:00two or three times,
44:02then lay unconscious.
44:03Music
44:04Film footage
44:09shows her grabbing
44:10the reins.
44:12Some believe
44:12she was trying
44:13to pin a banner
44:14on the horse.
44:14Music
44:15Davison
44:19was taken to hospital.
44:25Hate mail
44:27was to follow.
44:30This being Britain,
44:31more concern
44:32was expressed
44:33for the horse,
44:34which survived.
44:37Emily Wilding Davison
44:38didn't.
44:41On the 8th of June,
44:431913,
44:44four days after her protest,
44:46she died of terrible
44:47internal injuries.
44:48Music
44:48At the funeral,
44:58her coffin
44:59was draped
44:59in a suffragette flag.
45:01Music
45:01Thousands of men
45:06and women
45:06lined the streets
45:07as it passed.
45:08Music
45:08The coffin
45:15was flanked
45:16by women dressed
45:17in the colours
45:18of the suffrage movement.
45:21Green for hope,
45:23purple for dignity
45:24and white for purity.
45:25Music
45:26The
45:27thunder of freedom
45:29the voice
45:31of the Lord
45:32Music
45:33These rebel women
45:45and rebel girls
45:47smashed the complacent face
45:49of Edwardian Britain
45:50and changed
45:52the image
45:52of this country
45:53around the world
45:54no longer
45:55the stuffy,
45:57narrow,
45:58unchanging society.
46:01Suffragettes
46:01turned Emily Davidson
46:03quite deliberately
46:04into an international martyr
46:07impossible to ignore
46:09and unforgettable.
46:11What she did
46:12to herself here
46:13was horrible.
46:14but what happened
46:16to her
46:16after her death
46:17was everything
46:18she hoped for.
46:19Music
46:20Attacked by militant women
46:37and challenged
46:38by socialist strikes,
46:40Asquith now
46:41made another
46:42even more
46:43dangerous enemy.
46:46For more than
46:47a generation
46:47the Liberals
46:48had been committed
46:49to loosening
46:50Britain's grip
46:50on Ireland
46:51with a form
46:52of devolution
46:53or home rule.
46:55But they'd always
46:55been angrily opposed
46:57by the Protestant
46:57majority
46:58in Ulster.
47:00In April 1912
47:02Asquith
47:03tried again.
47:04Under the leadership
47:07of the lawyer
47:08and QC
47:09Sir Edward Carson
47:11the Ulster Unionists
47:13started organising
47:14fellow Protestants
47:15and the Tories
47:17were with him.
47:20At a vast meeting
47:22here in Belfast
47:23Edward Carson
47:25challenged the crowd
47:26to raise their hands
47:28and declare that
47:29never under any
47:31circumstances
47:31will we submit
47:32to home rule.
47:34Even the leader
47:35of the Conservative
47:36Party
47:37standing beside
47:38Carson
47:39raised his hand
47:40as well
47:40and then they
47:41set out
47:42to get the entire
47:44Unionist population
47:45of Northern Ireland
47:46to sign an oath
47:48of resistance
47:49not just with
47:50speeches
47:51and pens
47:52but if necessary
47:53bullets
47:54and bayonets
47:55too.
47:56this oath
47:57was called
47:58the Ulster Covenant
47:59and in the end
48:00nearly half a million
48:02people signed it
48:03including
48:05a man called
48:06Fred Crawford
48:07who to show
48:09his dedication
48:09to the cause
48:10signed
48:11in his own blood.
48:18In January 1913
48:20the Unionists
48:22formed the Ulster
48:23Volunteer Force
48:24to defend
48:25the Northern
48:25Counties of Ireland
48:26against British
48:27attempts to enforce
48:29Home Rule.
48:31Some 100,000 men
48:33joined up
48:34armed with
48:35half a dozen
48:35machine guns
48:36and 50,000
48:38rifles
48:38mainly smuggled
48:40from Germany.
48:46This wasn't just
48:48about Ireland.
48:50All across Britain
48:51huge sums of money
48:53were being raised
48:54for the Unionist
48:54cause.
48:56In Liverpool
48:57shipyards
48:58and Hammersmith
48:59pubs
48:59working men
49:00were secretly
49:01stockpiling
49:02massive quantities
49:03of arms.
49:05Lorries
49:05were jolting
49:06across the roads
49:07of England
49:08and Scotland
49:09with secret
49:10cargoes
49:10of guns
49:11and ammunition.
49:12Young men
49:13were slipping
49:14quietly away
49:15from their homes
49:16to go across
49:16the water
49:17and fight
49:18for Ulster
49:19because for
49:20many people
49:20the loss
49:21of Britain's
49:22first colony
49:23would be
49:23the beginning
49:24of the end
49:25for that great
49:26imperial power
49:27Britannia.
49:30On the 20th
49:31of March
49:311914
49:32British troops
49:34based near Dublin
49:35were ordered
49:36to prepare
49:36to move
49:37north
49:37to Ulster.
49:40The commander
49:41of British forces
49:42in Ireland
49:42Lieutenant General
49:43Sir Arthur Padgett
49:45was worried
49:45by the orders
49:46because many
49:47of his men
49:48were from
49:48Protestant
49:49Unionist
49:50families.
49:52Padgett
49:53sent an urgent
49:54secret telegram
49:55to the war office.
49:57All but two
49:58officers
49:58resigning
49:59their commissions
50:00today.
50:02Fear men
50:02will refuse
50:03to move.
50:05From London
50:06silence.
50:08Padgett
50:08sent another
50:09telegram.
50:10Brigadier
50:11and 57
50:12officers
50:13prefer to
50:14accept dismissal
50:15if ordered
50:16north.
50:17For a large
50:18swathe of the
50:19British army
50:20in Ireland
50:20this was close
50:22to outright
50:23mutiny.
50:27The government
50:28sent a battle
50:29fleet to the
50:30Ulster coast.
50:31If it comes
50:32to rebellion
50:32and civil war
50:34Winston Churchill
50:35said the
50:36government
50:36will fight
50:37to win it.
50:44in the end
50:49the rebellion
50:50was stopped
50:50dead in its
50:51tracks.
50:52Not by troops
50:53not by battleships
50:54but by the
50:55great war.
50:58Within weeks
50:59the men of the
51:00Ulster volunteer
51:01force would be
51:02reorganized into
51:03the 36th Ulster
51:04division.
51:06Their action in
51:06battle would be
51:07so heroic
51:08the scale of their
51:09slaughter so
51:10overwhelming
51:11that the idea
51:12of betraying
51:13their memory
51:14by imposing
51:15a single
51:16united Ireland
51:17disappeared
51:18from most
51:19British minds.
51:20On June
51:34the 28th
51:351914
51:35one and a
51:37half thousand
51:38miles away
51:38in Sarajevo
51:40a single
51:41shot
51:41rang round
51:42the world.
51:44A Serbian
51:44nationalist
51:45had assassinated
51:46the heir
51:47to the
51:47Austro-Hungarian
51:48throne
51:49Archduke
51:50France
51:50Ferdinand
51:51the starting
51:52pistol
51:53for Armageddon.
51:56The Austro-Hungarians
51:58declared war
51:58on the Serbs.
52:00The pro-Serb
52:02Russians
52:02declared war
52:03on them.
52:05And suddenly
52:06half Europe
52:07was mobilizing.
52:11Churchill
52:12wrote to his
52:13wife Clementine
52:14everything
52:15tends towards
52:16catastrophe
52:17and collapse.
52:19I am interested,
52:22geared up
52:23and happy.
52:25Is it not
52:25horrible
52:26to be built
52:27like that?
52:28The preparations
52:29have a hideous
52:31fascination for me.
52:35Right to the end
52:37Herbert Asquith
52:38was working through
52:39the night
52:39to preserve peace.
52:41After midnight
52:42on the 1st of August
52:43he drove to
52:43Buckingham Palace.
52:44Asquith said
52:48the poor king
52:50was hauled out
52:51of his bed
52:51to appeal
52:52to his cousin
52:53Tsar Nicholas II
52:54to stop
52:55the Russian
52:56mobilization.
52:58King George
52:58appeared in a
53:00brown dressing gown
53:01over his
53:02night shirt
53:02and with
53:03copious signs
53:04of having been
53:05aroused
53:06from his
53:06beauty sleep.
53:08He topped
53:09the diplomatic
53:10letter
53:10my dear
53:11Nicky
53:12and signed
53:13it
53:13Georgie.
53:15But Russian
53:16mobilization
53:17continued.
53:19Later that
53:19day
53:20Germany
53:21declared war
53:22on Russia.
53:24Asquith called
53:25an emergency
53:25cabinet meeting.
53:27He'd been told
53:28that three
53:29quarters of
53:30his own
53:31MPs were
53:31against
53:32intervention
53:32in Europe.
53:34Churchill
53:35stood firm
53:36but his
53:37great friend
53:37and ally
53:38Lloyd George
53:39was threatening
53:39to resign
53:40from the
53:41government
53:41rather than
53:42vote for war.
53:45Lloyd George
53:46and Churchill
53:47spent a lot
53:48of the meeting
53:48scribbling
53:49hasty notes
53:50and throwing
53:50them across
53:51the table
53:51at each
53:52other.
53:53After it
53:54was over
53:54Lloyd George
53:55tore most
53:56of them up
53:56but his
53:57mistress
53:58and secretary
53:59Frances
53:59Stevenson
54:00gathered together
54:01the pieces
54:02and she kept
54:03them and
54:03what they
54:04show
54:05is Churchill
54:06exerting
54:06all his
54:07eloquence
54:09and cajoling
54:10charm
54:11to win
54:11his ally
54:12round.
54:14I am
54:15deeply
54:15attached
54:15to you
54:16and have
54:17followed
54:17your
54:17instinct
54:18and guidance
54:19for nearly
54:20ten years
54:20and again
54:22pray God
54:24it is
54:25our whole
54:26future
54:26comrades
54:27or opponents
54:28and again
54:30all the rest
54:32of our lives
54:33we shall
54:34be opposed.
54:37Lloyd George's
54:38replies
54:38are much
54:40terser
54:40almost
54:42coquettish
54:43in their
54:44brevity
54:44and fewer
54:45but they do
54:47show
54:48that he was
54:49coming round.
54:51Like most
54:52radical liberals
54:53Lloyd George
54:54had always been
54:55a patriotic
54:56imperialist.
54:57in the end
55:00he believed
55:01that the two
55:02democracies
55:03Britain and
55:03France
55:04would have
55:04to stand
55:05together.
55:10Awful
55:11but necessary.
55:13On the street
55:14it all seemed
55:15simpler
55:15time to teach
55:16the Hun
55:16a lesson.
55:19The Daily Mail's
55:20old goose
55:21stepping Germans
55:22would turn out
55:23to be the ghosts
55:24from a terrible
55:25future.
55:27An anti-war
55:28demonstration
55:29in Trafalgar Square
55:30on Sunday
55:31August 2nd
55:32was a damp
55:33squib.
55:36Very late
55:37the following
55:37night
55:38Asquith heard
55:39a roaring sound
55:41half a mile
55:42away.
55:43It was the crowd
55:44cheering the king
55:45and he found
55:46himself
55:47disgusted.
55:49He wrote
55:49to his lover
55:50Venetia Stanley
55:52war
55:53or anything
55:55that seems
55:55likely
55:56to lead
55:57to war
55:57is always
55:58popular
55:59with the
56:00London mob.
56:04On the 3rd
56:05of August
56:06at 6.45
56:07in the evening
56:08Germany
56:09declared war
56:10on France.
56:12German troops
56:13were gathering
56:14on the
56:14Belgian border.
56:16Foreign
56:17Secretary
56:17Edward Grey
56:18informed the
56:19German ambassador
56:20that if
56:20Germany
56:21invaded Belgium
56:22Britain
56:23would go
56:24to war.
56:29Armed
56:30guards
56:30suddenly
56:31appeared
56:31at British
56:32railway
56:32junctions
56:33and ports.
56:36Britannia's
56:37home fleet
56:38lights doused
56:39slipped down
56:40the channel
56:41to take up
56:41battle stations
56:42in the North
56:43Sea.
56:45The British
56:46ambassador
56:47in Berlin
56:48packed his
56:49bags
56:49and hurried
56:50home.
56:55At dusk
56:57on the 3rd
56:58of August
56:58Edward Grey
56:59was standing
57:00by a window
57:01in his room
57:02at the Foreign
57:03Office
57:03looking down
57:04at the
57:05lamplighters
57:06going about
57:07their business
57:07and he said
57:09the lamps
57:11are going out
57:12all over Europe
57:13and we shall
57:14not see them
57:15lit again
57:16in our
57:17lifetime.
57:23At 11pm
57:24on the 4th
57:26of August
57:261914
57:27Britain
57:28declared war
57:29on Germany
57:30and in doing
57:31so
57:32committed
57:32herself
57:33to the
57:34greatest
57:34bloodletting
57:35the world
57:36had ever
57:37seen.
57:37not
57:41the
57:42the
57:43the
57:48fires
57:50were
57:50the
57:50thing
57:51that
57:51is
57:51to the
57:52the
57:53end
57:53of the
57:54the
57:54fall
57:55and
57:55to the
57:56go.
57:56The
57:57first
57:57was
57:57to go.
57:58The
57:59left
58:00and
58:00to the
58:00his
58:01own
58:01and
58:02to the
58:03live
58:04and
58:04go.
58:05In the next program, anti-German riots,
58:13trench warfare, the first blitz,
58:17and the dictatorship of David Lloyd George.
58:35www.german.co.nz
Recommended
57:36
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