J.B. Priestley set his play in 1912, before the outbreak of World War 1. You need to be aware of what Birling is saying, supposedly in 1912, and how it proved to be IRONIC in the light of what happened afterwards.
"Just because the Kaiser makes a speech or two... Nobody wants war except some half-civilized folks in the Balkans."
Look at the events leading up to World War One and the destruction that conflict caused:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/ (Look for the timeline)
or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I
"Last month, just because the miners came out on strike, there's a lot of wild talk about possible labour trouble in the future."
Find out about the General Strike http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_United_Kingdom_general_strike
"Every luxury... and unsinkable." What happened to the Titanic? What did it symbolise?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic
"Except of course Russia, which will always be behindhand naturally." Russia became the Soviet Union or USSR. It was not without its difficulties, but was Birling right in his characterisation of what it became?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USSR
Of Mice & Men Lesson Notes
15 years ago
