In 1919 Prime Minister David Lloyd George had a wealth of bad news crossing his desk about the state of Britain. The public knew very little about this, especially in relation to the British Empire, with the newspapers feeding them watered down and `spin' stories to cover events. One major concern for Government in London was the state of the British Empire post World War One. 

Across America in 1919 there was a bloodbath of events that terrorised and victimised Black communities across the U.S.A. We list a timeline of 37 brutal riots and attacks from Louisiana to Chicago. 
President Woodrow Wilson and the FBI blamed Black people for the actions of the white mobs, accusing NAACP and others of agitating and even of being Bolsheviks, but it would be very wrong to see all of those Black people as passive, in fact those in some of the major Northern cities fought back and resisted the brutality that they faced.
The legacy of these events has not gone away, the actions of the police, the FBI and Government set a tone that was not new but it is clear that Black people, especially returning soldiers were no longer willing to put their rage against injustice back in the box it was simply one step too far.
There was more happening in America than race riots but we will come to that in a later episode, In this episode we provide a context and set out the attitude of Government.

1919. The war years were a time of harsh laws against sedition and freedom of speech and action across the British Empire. Resources needed by Britiain and their allies were taken from those countries that lived under the Britian's flag and rule. By 1919 those future nations had become further politicised and wanted independence or a better relationship with the British Government. 
However, the reaction of the British Government and their representatives in those countries was either to ignore that chngine environment or to be brutal about suppressing demands.
These reactions led to unrest (for example in Ceylon), revolt (Egypt), independence movements (such as the Sinn Fein and the declaration of Irish independence) and death (The Amritsar Massacre in the Punjab).
Those events have set a political and strategic climate that has dominated the world ever since.
This video is a precurssor to individual consideration of each of those flashpoint nations.