Appeasement In The 1930's

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.

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 Despite large extent the policy of appeasement in the outbreak of war it is superseded by other factors such as the Treaty of Versailles.

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

Over the years 1930 through 1941 the goals of American foreign policy generally changed. In the earlier years America dealt with war and fought with other countries. America was not very smart in learning to stay out of war. Over the years, America became more neutral and attempted to stay out of war as much as possible. Throughout the years, important figures wrote documents to support America’s journey and decisions.

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

France and Britain made Germany sign The Versailles Peace Treaty but once Hitler became the leader of Germany, he wanted to change everything in Germany and make it powerful like it was once before. The League of Nations came into being after the end of World War One. The League of Nation’s task was simple to ensure that war never broke out again but eventually the League of Nations failed. As the League of Nations crumbled, politicians turned to a new way to keep the peace appeasement. This was the policy of giving Hitler what he wanted to stop him from going to war. It was based on the idea that what Hitler wanted was reasonable and, when his reasonable demands had been satisfied, he would stop. There were many reasons why Chamberlin appeased Hitler. A few of them

The Treaty of Versailles & WWII DBQ The Treaty of Versailles had the most direct impact on the general German acceptance of the Nazi Party, which in turn caused World War II to break out. While it was not the sole cause, if such harsh terms had not been imposed upon an already struggling post-war country, a war of the scale that the Second World War was might not have happened at all. David Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau both wanted to ensure a strong Germany would never return, and given the great losses from both sides this is understandable, however giving such a nationalistic country with barely a military to protect themselves will only produce one thing: rebellion. While the Treaty of Versailles ended World War One, since it took land, restricted military, needed large reparations, and demanded an admittance of guilt from Germany, it set the stage for a bigger war and was one of the

Britain, France and Italy believed that Hitler would keep his word after this appeasement and wouldn’t try to take over any other land. Their continuous appeasement did not solve anything, and Hitler’s Nazi Party kept accumulating more and more lands, creating more problems. William Shirer stated, “His waiting ten short days has saved Europe from a world war,” (Doc. 4), but this is not true, since this appeasement only postponed the war, and let the Nazi Party gain more power. This is a simple example of how appeasement was not

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.

One of those restrictions that provoked the Germans was on there military. Germany’s army had been reduced substantially, which created a major impact on the Germans, “Germany was not allowed to have submarines or an air force. It could have an army of only 100,000 men and a navy of only 6 ships, and it was not allowed to place any troops in the Rhineland” (Doc B). Germany, at one point being the most feared military in the world with around 3,000,000 soldiers,was left with nothing. At this point in time, Germany had felt weak compared to its surrounding countries. On top of Germany’s army being decreased, according to History.edu, “it was Forbidden to use tank or heavy artillery.” This especially was important because the two items is what helped made Germany so powerful. Now that the Germans are filled with anger, Adolf Hitler tops it off with his speech about the Treaty of Versailles, “...Today they are the foes of the Republic...because this Republic was founded at the moment when Germany was humiliated, because it so discredited the new flag that men's eyes must turn regretfully toward the old flag… So long as this Treaty stands there can be no resurrection of the German people; no social reform of any kind is possible! The Treaty was made in order to bring 20 million Germans to their deaths and to ruin the German nation. But those

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

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.

World War 1, fought from 1914 to 1918, ended with Germany on the losing side, and Britain, France, the U.S., and Russia on the winning side. Many countries were unhappy due to the fact they had lost so much money and resources from the war, and vowed never to go through the terribleness of a world war again. Little did they know around 20 years later the second world war would begin. So France, England, and the U.S. Presidents met in Versailles, France to figure out how to gain peace. France was angry they had suffered so much from the war, and proposed Germany pay big sums of gold, land, resources, and reduce their military. This was agreed upon, and became known as the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was a factor that helped cause WW2 due to crestfallen Germany’s loss of money, land and military.

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]

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