(i) After the Napoleonic wars had ended, thousands of soldiers returned to
their villages. They needed alternative jobs to survive.
(ii) But this was time when grain from Europe began flowing into England,
prices declined and an Agricultural Depression set in.
(iii) Anxious landowners began reducing the area they cultivated and
demanded that the imports of crops be stopped.
(iv) They tried to cut wages and reduce the number of workmen they
employed.
(v) The unemployed poor tramped from village to village, and those with
uncertain jobs lived in fear of a loss of their livelihood.