Why Appeasement Was Justified

     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.

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to Keith Eubank, had they “retaliated against the remilitarisation with force, the German military units would have withdrawn and perhaps Hitler would have been overthrown; the drift to war would have been halted and World War II averted”.

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

In 1939, there was a Second World War. The Munich Agreement caused many disagreements between countries. It was performed so that it would satisfy Hitler’s passion, and soon bring security for Europe. However, all of that was unnecessary and Hitler kept moving forward (Doc 7). In (Document 3), Hitler promised to end the Treaty of Versailles. He also

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 the most controversial documents of World War 2 was the appeasement signed on September 30, 1938 in Munich, Germany. The document known as the Munich Pact gave Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to Adolf Hitler in hopes he would not seek additional territory. Before the appeasement was signed, Nazi Germany had previously taken multiple aggressive actions. In 1937, it had attacked a small city in Spain and in 1938 (before the appeasement was signed) it had invaded Austria. The Prime Minister of Britain began negotiations with Hitler in pursuit of achieving another war, which resulted in appeasement. This appeasement encouraged Hitler’s aggression as he gained confidence to attack and attempt to gain more territory. Ultimately, this was the wrong policy for England to pursue in 1938. The Munich Pact, as it was known, was unnecessary, gave Germany time to rearm, and 7f.

Hitler, A Tyrannical dictator, A murderer, But also an outlandish Military Leader. An Austrian Man who ruled the Weimar Republic from 1933 to 1945. But to wonder, How well did Adolf Hitler dictate The Weimar Republic to the extent where the German people supported his motives and Ideas. Though he was convincing he was a brutal man when it came to threatening other Nations, And that’s how Adolf Hitler used Appeasement to his advantage. But yet, Adolf Hitler was a well spoken man, He himself was able to convince multiple Germans In ether beer halls to Entire crowds of people watching and being converted to Hitler’s Vocabulary of Loathlyness.

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.

Nazi-Soviet Pact and Appeasement The Nazi-Soviet was a non-aggression pact signed by the foreign ministers of Germany and Russia on 23 August 1939. When Germany and Russia reached this promise not to fight each other, they made a secret pact to invade and divide Polandand give the Baltic States to Russia. By signing the Pact, Germany was able to invade Poland from the west and the Soviet Union gained the eastern half of Poland as well as the Baltic States as well as gaining time to prepare for war against Germany.

However, Germany was not allowed to join yet. The second group is territorial in which Germany had to give up a good chunk of her land and had to give back the land that was over taken by Germany. The third group is categorized as military in which Germany took a huge blow to their army. According to avalon.law.yale.edu, “By a date which must not be later than March 31, 1920, the German Army must not comprise more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of cavalry. After that date the total number of effectives in the Army of the States constituting Germany must not exceed one hundred thousand men, including officers and establishments of depots. 6 battleships of the Deutschland or Lothringen type, 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, or an equal number of ships constructed to replace them. No submarines are to be include.” Also Germany was not allowed to have an air force either. The last group is financial and economic in which Germany had to accept full responsibility for causing all the loss and damage caused by the war. “The sum was initially set at 269 billion gold marks, around 96,000 tons of gold, before being reduced to 112 billion gold marks by 1929, payable over a period of 59 years” (Crossland, David). On May 7, 1919 the Versailles Treaty was handed over to Germany and were given three weeks to sign

A treaty that was designed to end all wars actually ended up setting the stage for the worst one that the world has ever seen. The newly formed German democratic government saw the Versailles Treaty as a “dictated peace” (Diktat). The peace treaty did not ultimately help to settle the international disputes which had initiated World War I; on the contrary, the treaty exposed the underlying issues which had caused the war in the first place. Hitler was able to gain a foothold in German society and government in being able to capitalize on the resentment and frustration that the Treaty instilled in the German people. Hitler willingly became the outlet for the German people through which they could voice their discontent, so much of it at the

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

He was not sure if England would go for this, and if they did not, he knew that the time had come to force them to do so. He could not shake Churchill, no matter how many other leaders crumbled. Hitler's generals wanted to use force, but Hitler remained reluctant. The author effectively exhibits Hitler's hesitance. He makes the evil man seem human saying that Hitler ''wanted to make a peace proposal on a great and generous scale.''(159). However, it

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.