British Policy Of Appeasement At World War II

England and France, fearing another war established a policy of appeasement to by time and rearm its forces. The European countries believed that Hitler would only retake the Sudetenland; this land was historically Germany's homeland(6). This was another mistake by France and England because with the Sudetenland he gained the famous Skoda armament factories and was ultimately a more dangerous military opponent(6). Until the remainder of Czechoslovakia was swallowed in 1939 all Hitler had done seemed reasonable(6). Until then he had only tried to obtain lands where ethnic Germans lived(6). The disregard of the Treaty of Versailles would be the main factor that allowed Germany to regain their power and ultimately bring the world into another war.

     Britain’s policy of Appeasement (May/June 1937 – March 1939) was also a cause of World War Two. Neville Chamberlain became the British Prime Minister on May 28, 1937, and followed the policy of appeasing Germany, believing that all Hitler wanted to do was unite German-speaking people. In doing so, Hitler would break the Treaty of Versailles but Chamberlain did not believe Hitler would cause war. Churchill disagreed, citing Mein Kampf (1924) where Hitler has written that Germany must regain lands ‘in the East… by the power of the sword.’ Little did Chamberlain know that he had misinterpreted Hitler’s aims.

World War 2 Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles that officially ended world 1. World War 1 was a destruction to human life. World War 1 was viewed as pointless because there was nothing solved and they end the same place they started at. Due to the death toll the United States changed the Foreign Policy to Intervene to Isolation which means that the United States does not get involved with foreign country affairs.

Britain still hoped to avoid the war at this time and offered an appeasement to Germany stating that they would willing give Sudetenland to them if they left the rest of

Eubank also stated the French “feared a repetition of the bloody sacrifices of 1914-1918.” and the British wanted to appease Hitler. Not many countries had agreed with the Munich Agreement.

Appeasement was arguably the only realistic option for British policy towards Germany between 1936 and 1938 when considering the fact that appeasement permitted Britain to rearm, thus preparing her more effectively for war, whilst also giving her the moral high ground. Nevertheless, for some “appeasement has become a dirty word, synonymous with weakness and defeatism in the face of naked aggression” since Britain’s policy of appeasement succumbed to Nazi aggression and failed to actually prevent war. Subsequently many historians argue that alternatives including a ‘Grand Alliance’ and military intervention in the Rhineland (1936) and Czechoslovakia (1938) would have been better options. However, when considering the several hindrances to these alternatives including political and public stance, financial difficulties and the depth of pacifist objection, it appears that appeasement was the only realistic option.

As tensions grew in Europe Hitler realised that Germany must be restored to it's former greatness and this meant the reoccupation of territory that had been lost in the Sudetenland, the Rhineland and an Anschluss with Austria. Hitler wanted to bring all German speaking populations under one Reich and conquer living space for the Aryan Germans. In 1936 Hitler made his first claims on territory, ordering 22,000 foot soldiers into the Rhineland in direct defiance of

Moreover, while Jews in Germany were being tormented and war was approaching, Great Britain did not want to take part. Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of the British from 1937-1940, decided to sign an appeasement “a peace treaty” with Hitler stating that the British only wanted peace (Neufeldt, 109). However, Hitler already had his plans, and the

Appeasement, a foreign policy particularly prevalent in the period of time leading up until the outbreak of World War Two, undoubtedly played a role in the ignition of the second world war, however the extent if this role and the impact it had a cause for the war is debatable. Appeasement was a policy employed as a preventative measure to stop the outbreak of war, at a time when the horrors of the First World War were still affecting European society, and involved making concessions to the opposition, in this case Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Whilst it is clear that Appeasement was a failure as it did not manage to prevent the outbreak of another war, some historians argue that it in fact was one of the causes of the war. This aspect of the debate was ignited in 1961 by notable historian A.J.P. Taylor, when he asserted1 that the outbreak of War in Europe in 1939 was as much the fault of the politicians of Europe and their persistence with Appeasement, which gradually allowed Hitler and Nazi Germany more freedom then the terms dictated in the Treaty of Versailles and eventually paved the way for militarization and the outbreak of war, as it was in fact Nazi Germany’s. The most commonly accepted views of Appeasement are that of Historians such as Norman Rich who asserted2 that Nazi ideology and Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy made the outbreak of war unavoidable. However, to form a conclusion about these debates, we must first understand the policy of Appeasement and its

For the decision-makers like Chamberlain became more critical to create favourable links with Germany. There were few reasons for that such as improving diplomatic ties with Germany, for instance, preserving peace in Europe, avoiding of any future dispute with Germany or even having potential partner against the Soviet Union, which was less desirable ally for Britain than Germany was. Overall, it seemed that British appeasing was more advantageous that time, because the war itself would have brought too many risks. The 1930s was a demanding period of the time and the British Empire became facing the emerging rivals. To solve some threats, there was need to find some compromise or at least to choose lesser

Many Jews in the 1930s-1940s experienced a time of despair and mistreatment due to numerous factors in the Holocaust and World War 2. This time of despair and mistreatment resulted in the death of millions of Jews, as well as homosexuals and people with disabilities. The rise of Adolf Hitler and Fascism was the main contributor in the fate that fell on millions of Jews. Hitler believed the Aryan race was the supreme race and all others were sub-standard and threatening to his country. The Holocaust is a widely debated topic. Researchers argue that the Allied Forces intervened in the conflict too late, which resulted in mishap for millions of people. The main two Allied forces in this case were the United States of America and Britain. Britain’s

Hitler was openly accepting that his actions could have caused war with Britain and France, but they remained proactive in their dealings with Hitler, instead trying to reason with the German leader and make compromises in return for peace. France and Germany avoided any military action at this point in time as The Great Depression had hindered their military rearming production and war would be costly and in particular France, public opinion opposed any conflict with Hitler’s German forces.[7]

These initial aims were not clearly outlined and matched by all of the countries involved in the Munich Pact and led to Hitler gaining more power, ignoring the agreement and invading the whole of Czechoslovakia. When negotiating one has to constantly look at possible short term and long term outcomes, which did not seem to happen in

The British prime minister Neville Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler in the meeting of some countries in Munich countries such as Italy, Britain, France, and Germany in 1938. Neville Chamberlain thought that the problem that Hitler made can be solved with communicant and discussion. So Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler discussed things about Adolf Hitler taking over Czechoslovakia and they finally agreed that Adolf Hitler will take only some parts of Czechoslovakia and he will not take it all.

Britain had to appease 2 of their 3 rivals (Germany, Italy, and Japan), because they could not afford to hold a war with 2 of them. So in an effort to keep Mussolini 'on-side' over Abyssinia, Chamberlain gave into him and let him have it. After the Munich Conference, When Chamberlain went to the Munich Conference in September 1938; he knew that the Royal Air Force needed another year to finish producing the new air defences, and the squadrons of Hurricanes. During the 1930's Britain was mainly concerned with recovering from the Great Depression so rearmament and war was not a priority. Chamberlain was not in a position to oppose the Germans or to start another war.