ABSTRACT
The British economy was at its apogee at the start of this period. A worldwide empire defended by a huge navy was underwritten by a higher level of income and of industrialisation than any other country. It appeared also to be different in being wedded to free entry to markets both at home and abroad. In the event, when its rulers were tested, as the other major powers had been, they behaved no differently. The crucial factors, both of which stemmed from Britain being the first to industrialise, were the cataclysmic decline in its share of world output and exports of manufactured goods and, second, the cesspits of disease and desperate living conditions which had accompanied rapid urbanisation. By the 1930s local government was deeply involved in the delivery of health and education services with central government closely monitoring and regulating key sectors of the economy and with all the ingredients in place for the state to shortly become the major supplier of energy, steel and transport.
