Task 4. Supplementary Reading. Read the following texts and mark the facts that were not mentioned in the film

War and democracy

In 1901 Britain had a constitutional government, but it was not a fully-fledged democracy. In 1918 it became a democracy, with the introduction of universal adult male suffrage and votes for women aged over 30.

World War One determined the timing of democratic change.

What mattered more by then was the fact that the country was engaged in the greatest war of modern times, one in which Britain's military deaths were more than twice those it would suffer in World War Two.

World War One may not have initiated democratic change, but it determined its timing. Ironically, the war's demands also weakened the exercise of constitutional government, albeit temporarily.

Freedom of speech was curtailed by the Defence of the Realm Act in 1914. Elections, due in 1915, were deferred until the war was concluded. And the formation of a coalition government in the same year all but silenced parliamentary opposition.

When Britain entered World War One, it did so in the name of 19th century liberal values - the rights of small nations and the rule of law.

What justified these claims, which became the touchstone of British propaganda, was Germany's invasion of Belgium, as its army bypassed France's eastern defences by swinging round them to the north.