Twentieth Century Britain, A Very Short Introduction
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loginAt the Lord Mayor of London’s annual banquet at the Mansion House on17 July 1914, the chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, issuedstern warnings about the ominous condition of British society. At home,the ‘triple alliance’ of miners, railwaymen, and transport workers wasthreatening a mass united strike to back up the railwaymen’s claim forunion recognition and a 48-hour week. Alongside this prospect ofnationwide industrial paralysis, there was across the Irish Sea a state ofnear civil war in Ireland, with 200,000 or more under arms in ProtestantUlster and the Catholic south, and the likelihood of the age-long saga ofIrish nationalism being brought to a grim and bloody resolution.Abroad, there were nationalist troubles in India and in Egypt. Nearerhome in south-east Europe, the ethnic nationalities of the Balkans werein renewed turmoil following the assassination of the Austrianarchduke, Franz Ferdinand, at Sarajevo in Bosnia on 28 Jun
