1935: Rearmament and Abyssinia

Abstract

For many, 1935 was the first year for some time that offered grounds for guarded optimism. There were reasons to believe, for example, that the worst effects of the world depression may have been passing away. Some found hope in the fact that on 7 June Stanley Baldwin had replaced the exhausted James Ramsay MacDonald and once again become Prime Minister. MacDonald’s powers had been failing for many months, and by this time his eyesight and his memory were insufficient to his duties. With his dream of a successful international disarmament agreement shattered, he exchanged Cabinet posts with Baldwin and his significance and reputation began rapidly to fade. Baldwin, the son of a Worcestershire ironmaster, moved into Number 10 Downing Street for the third and last time in his long career. It was on to his shoulders that the burden of maintaining the British Empire in peace once again fell.