How Did Hitler Want To Take The Munich Alliance

     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.

The policy of appeasement was widely pursued by Britain and France in the 1930s, when it referred to attempting to satisfy Germany's demands by negotiation and compromise, which would avoid war. However due to its failure the policy of appeasement, to a large extent was responsible for the outbreak of war in 1939. It is clear that if the Western Powers had retaliated against Hitler, war could have been avoided, it encouraged Hitler, Hitler could never be appeased, and that it prompted the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Despite large extent the policy of appeasement in the outbreak of war it is superseded by other factors such as the Treaty of Versailles.

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

Appeasement was a less effective response to aggression because fewer countries agreed with the Munich Agreement. Some of Adolf Hitler’s ideas were stated in Document 1 such as needing colonies in order to enter colonial politics and that oppressed territories were not demoted to nothing by protests but by countries with stronger military forces. Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia, asked the League of Nations fro help in stopping the invasion after Italy attacked Ethiopia. When the League of Nations’ response was ineffective, Selassie stated “God and history will remember your judgment. It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.” (Doc.2). This statement is like karma; because the League of Nations didn’t help Ethiopia, it would be attacked and get no help. This statement is in the point of view of Ethiopian people, but also for other European countries because when countries are without help, the country it asks will later be without help also. They will be in the same situation as the country asking for its help; “It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.” Document 5 is in the point of view of the British. Document 5

What action did Hitler take in defiance of the Versailles Treaty? How does he explain his action?

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during WWII, stated, “I asked that Britain, together with France and other powers, guarantee the Security of Czechoslovakia. If that course had been followed, events would not have fallen into this disastrous state…” (Doc. 6). Here, Churchill blatantly proposed collective security to the Parliament, against Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement. His plan to join with France and other powers would be collective security because they would work together to protect their nations. As Churchill said, the intensity and horrible state of the war would not have been there in the first place if collective security was adopted earlier. Collective security could have helped problems earlier along, but appeasement just made the conditions worse.

Appeasement was not the right policy for Britain in 1938 because without this policy, Britain and France could have stopped Hitler and World War 2 from occuring.

In my opinion, appeasement was a huge mistake on the part of the Allied nations. It allowed Nazi Germany to gain an enormous amount of power, consequently posing a threat to all of Europe. Appeasement encouraged Hitler’s aggression as he gained increased confidence after capturing each new piece of land without any intervention by the League of Nations. The policy of appeasement is what allowed Hitler to successfully transfer troops to the Rhineland in 1936 which led to further military actions (e.g. the annexation of Austria). The occupation of new lands by Germany also contributed to the increase in German strength. For example, the Rhineland provided Germany with stronger defense of its borders against France and Belgium. Austria provided

However, British and French military intervention in the Rhineland incident, 1936 could have been an alternative to appeasement. Their reluctance to take action permitted Germany to increase her power (within 18 months Germany’s rate of rearmament surpassed that of Britain and France), whilst also contributing to the burgeoning belief that the League of Nations was ineffective. Hitler himself stated that "If France had then marched into the Rhineland; we would have had to withdraw with our tails between our legs." Indeed, many historians concur as invading the

This pact prevented Hitler, “From seeking the goal of German foreign policy in the one and only place possible: space in the east.” Gaining Lebensraum for Germany’s surplus population was one motive for Hitler’s attack into the Soviet Union in 1941, but there were also other reasons behind the attack.

Much like the policy of appeasement, the failure of the League of Nations gave the axis powers the idea that little to no action would be taken

From the time the Treaty of Versailles was completely ignored by Hitler, Germany was well underway causing a large riff between themselves and Britain and France.

Germany and its allies had captured almost all of mainland Europe with the exception of four neutral countries. The Soviet Union had been fighting Germany since nearly the beginning of the war and wasn’t making much progress. The Soviet Union had been urging its allies to start a new rush on the eastern front of the war. At this time America hadn’t expanded their army to as big of a size as they would need and Britain had recently lost at Dunkirk which gave Germany the ability to take control of France. Little progress had been made against Germany itself, however it’s allies, Japan and Italy, were being weakened and it was time to start wearing down Germany. It was decided that to do this they would have to go through the eastern front.

Three factors include Germany’s chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, the Marshall Plan as well as the belief of anti-fascism by the British and the United States.

Rearmament was a popular move in Germany. It boosted Nazi support. Hitler also knew that Britain had some sympathy for Germany on this issue, as Britain believed that the limits put on Germany’s armed forces by the Treaty of Versailles were too strict. It was clear that the permitted forces were not enough to defend Germany from attack. Also, Britain thought that Germany would be a good buffer against Communism.