London in the First World War: questions of legacy

White, Jerry (2016) London in the First World War: questions of legacy. The London Journal 41 (3), pp. 313-327. ISSN 0305-8034.

Abstract

The impact of the First World War on London has long been unduly overshadowed by the war that came after. In fact, the years 1914 to 1918 proved transformative for the future direction of both London and the Londoners. The unprecedented employment prospects of the war years revolutionised the working lives and living standards of the London poor. The metropolis expanded to accommodate new industrial areas that formed the nucleus of London’s suburban development in the interwar years. As part of that, the war ensured that the economic fortunes of West London would be tied to the aeroplane, quickly adapted for civilian uses once hostilities ceased. This wartime capital, which depended so heavily on women’s labour to oil the machinery of government and of munitions manufacture, would never lose its dependence on women in the new industries that emerged from the economy of total war. And the experience of London’s workers during the war began a tendency that altered for generations their political alignment; the Labour Party in London continues to reap the harvest sown during the First World War.

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