Policy of Appeasement: Good or Bad? - Essay

To many, this made appeasement seem unnecessary because it had nothing to slow down in terms of military advancement. Instead of appeasement, a show of great force would have “caused Hitler to either stand down, or begin war with far less support than he had a year ago” (Document C). Great Britain did the opposite of this, and eventually gave into Hitler's demands. Giving Hitler what he wanted, which was Sudetenland, would only cause “Czechoslovakia to be engulfed in the Nazi Regime” (Document B). Germany’s docile state at the time of the appeasement made created little to no necessity for

Prime Minister Chamberlain suggested the best way to deal with Hitler was a policy of appeasement.

Taylor, wrote in The Origins of the Second World War that other countries should have become involved by armed force in 1933, to overthrow Hitler when he had come to power and was supported by a large majority of the German people. Taylor thought that if more countries became involved with this issue, Czechoslovakia would have been secure. He also believed the German people were the only ones who could turn Hitler out because they were the ones that put him in power. He stated that “the ‘appeasers’ feared that the defeat of Germany would be followed by a Russian domination over much of Europe” (Document 8) which many people did not want. By using appeasement, they only allowed Hitler to become stronger and feel more powerful by giving him what he

World War II officially racked the world from 1939 to 1944, but before any one nation actually declared war, Hitler was trying to take land. To respond with appeasement or collective security was debated by many as to which would avoid damage in the most efficient manner. Document 3, Document 4, and Document 6 show how collective security was definitely a more beneficial strategy than appeasement to respond to aggression.

The role of America at the end of World War II was where the origins of policing the world originate. America had been engaged in a very costly war in terms of dollars as well as lives. But, despite the expense the United States came out of World War II better than any other nation that was involved. The Second World War was a battle between the Allied and Axis Powers. The Allied Powers consisted of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and France. This war was seen as the fight against Nazi Germany, and therefore resulted in a majority of the battles fought on German and Russian soil. The aftermath left the Soviet Union in bad shape. Close to twenty million Russians

that Hitler was a “sincere man who had no intention to provoke a war.” He too,

On February 3, 1933 during a meeting with German military leaders Hitler said his foreign policy was the conquest of Eastern Europe (Weinberg, 1970), also in 1933 Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, which should have been a warning sign that they were planning something big. This along with the increase of the Wehrmacht (German Army) to 600,000 should have thrown up some red flags to Britain and France that Hitler was up to no go. This was another of Hitler’s direct violations of the Versailles Treaty, yet no one stopped him, instead they let him continue untouched. Then in March of 1936

During the early 1940's many European, countries and the United States, were recovering from World War I and the depression. Due to the fact that no one initially could or wanted to control Hitler's dictatorial power his extreme racism got out of control and he was able to slaughter millions of Jews. Though eventually Hitler brought destruction upon himself, if other countries would have stopped him in the early stages, World War II may have never happened. Though countries might have wanted to stop Hitler in Germany; they had their own county and people to worry about. The economic troubles prevented England and other European nations from taking part in international issues, and Hitler took full advantage of their weak conditions. This

Appeasement is the policy of acceding to the demands of a potentially hostile nation in the hope of maintaining peace. This is done by giving in to demands of a leader in order to satisfy their short term goals and avoid conflict. It was a policy used by the leaders of France and Britain with Hitler in the 1930s because they hoped that if they showed understanding and gave Hitler what he asked for, there would be no reason for fighting or war to break out. Some of the things followed for appeasement that the Western Leaders did were, When Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, France did nothing, France and Britain did not oppose his rebuilding the German military. Britain, in fact, signed a treaty with Germany allowing them to exceed Treaty of Versailles

Throughout history, negotiation has been a powerful tool used by world leaders to avoid violence and solve conflict. When negotiation succeeds all parties can feel that that have achieved their goals and met their expectations, but when negotiations go awry countries and relationships can be damaged beyond repair. The Munich Agreement of 1938 is a primary example of this type of failure, which was one of the catalysts to the start World War II and Czechoslovakia’s loss of independence. The Czech people were greatly overlooked during this agreement process, which still in some instances affects the country today. The 1930s were a challenging time for Europe and the powers within it due to the aftermath of WWI and the worldwide economic

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.

If Britain and France had abandoned their policy of appeasement and retaliated against Hitler's aggression war could have been averted. Appeasement was deeply embedded into British foreign policy, even to the the extent were they would not honor their military commitments to France under the Treaty of Locarno, that if Germany were to remilitarise the Rhineland, Britain would offer them support. So, when Hitler ordered armed cars to enter the Rhineland in March 1936, France failed to retaliate. This was the ideal time to have halted Hitler as Allan Bullock quotes Hitler saying “If the French had then marched into the Rhineland we would have had to withdraw with our tails between our legs”, because Germany was still militarily weak and war would have lasted six weeks rather than six years. However, the appeasers were determined to stop any violence, that they failed to see, according to Keith Eubank, had they “retaliated against the remilitarisation with force, the German military units would have withdrawn and perhaps Hitler would have been overthrown; the drift to war would have been halted and World War II averted”.

Throughout the course of history, the United States has remained consistent with its national interest by taking many different actions in foreign policy. There have been both immediate and long term results of these actions. Foreign policy is the United States policy that defines how we deal with other countries economically and politically. It is made by congress, the president, and the people. Some of the motivations for United States foreign policy are national security, economics, and idealism. The United States entry into World War I in 1917 and the escalation of the Vietnam War in 1964 and the both had great impact on the United States.

Ultimately, Britain's policy of appeasement had encouraged war and had made Hitler think no one would dare stop him. By never standing up to him he was always prepared to go further as he demonstrated by signing the Nazi-Soviet pact and invading Poland.

After WWI, Germany fell into poverty. Everyday, lines of people were seen in the streets waiting to purchase bread. People were poor and desperate. Hitler saw this and used it. He gave people hope and the economy improved and he was announced chancellor of Germany in 1933. Government suspected he was unstable, but were convinced they could control him if necessary. Hitler secretly made a new police called the Nazis who were Hitler’s supporters and enforced the law at Hitler’s command. Quickly and unknowingly, the government was no longer in control of Hitler. Hitler had full power of Germany.