But at the same time, Hitler was also able to re-arm. [citation needed], Appeasement was accepted by most of those responsible for British foreign policy in the 1930s; by leading journalists and academics; and by members of the British royal family such as King Edward VIII and his successor, George VI. "[89] Some conservatives even compared Reagan to Chamberlain after his withdrawal of the Multinational Force in Lebanon because of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. [34] Chamberlain died on 9 November the same year. Germany for this case was seen as an ally. However, it favoured appeasement because it did not want to commit a large fraction of its naval power to the Mediterranean Sea, which would weaken its positions against Germany and Japan. At the same time, it gave Germany time to build their army even more and giving sudetenland to Hitler was practically giving Hitler what he wanted. An example is the surrender of Sudetenland (and eventually Czechoslovakia) to Germany, and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. Yes. However, I'm fairly sure that if they bluffed they could gain the same amount of time, if not more, to rearm. On 29 September 1938, Hitler, Chamberlain, French Prime Minister douard Daladier and Mussolini met in Munich. Chamberlain did not know the true intentions of Hitler at that time, and after the Sudetenland incident, Hitler promised that it was the last request for territory expansion. I would seek to expound on this concept further below. In document B, they claim that Hitler was given everything and didn't have to work for his position, which ultimately gave Hitler more power than originally intended. Please make reference to at least three of the primary source documents in your essay. If he saw someone's weakness or something suffer, it would only encourage him. Even though Britain could have had a more forceful stand, but they would not be able to predict that appeasement would cause WWII. This resulted in weak western governments and this allowed Hitler and other countries to take advantage and cause war. They had to wait till Germany was so strong and had an non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union before they made any action, but by then it was too late. It was hastily written and has few claims to historical scholarship,[72] but Guilty Men shaped subsequent thinking about appeasement, and it is said[73][74] that it contributed to the defeat of the Conservatives in the 1945 general election. Some Conservatives abstained in the vote, but the only MP to advocate war was the Conservative Duff Cooper, who had resigned from the government to protest the agreement. Britain and France was able to have time to rearm. Later in the day, Hitler resiled by saying that he was willing to accept the cession of the Sudetenland by 1 October. In conclusion, Britain's choice to adopt a policy of appeasement during the 1930s was a wise decision, as it delayed war, prolonged the amount of time the country had to build up arms, and pleased the public.. Was the policy of appeasement a mistake? The people of Britain and France would also be very unhappy had their government dare to oppose Hitler (which would increase to possibility of a war). His officers had orders to withdraw if they met French resistance. [58], British public opinion had been strongly opposed to war and rearmament in the early 1930s, but that began to shift by mid-decade. The League persuaded both sides to seek a settlement under the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928, but Italy continued troop movements, and Abyssinia appealed to the League again. This would have put them in a better position, rather than just sitting around and doing nothing. What was the result of the policy of appeasement? He wrote in Mein Kampf (1924) that he would attempt a union of his birth country Austria with Germany by any means possible and by force if necessary. [38] As Antony Beevor writes, "The policy of appeasement was not Neville Chamberlin's invention. Britain's army was too small and too weak. At a debate at the Oxford Union Society in 1933, a group of undergraduates passed a motion saying that they would not fight for King and country, which persuaded some in Germany that Britain would never go to war. They need not go to war, they need only make their presence more evident. He seems "to have been convinced by the Sudeten German leader, Henlein, in the spring of 1938, that a satisfactory settlement could be reached if Britain managed to persuade the Czech government to make concessions to the German minority". This would cost them time as rearmament is fairly expensive, which is why they needed to buy more time with appeasement. Also, if the British had not adopted a policy of appeasement, Hitler would either have backed down or begun the war with much less support from his people. Taylor said that appeasement ought to be seen as a rational response to an unpredictable leader that both diplomatically and politically appropriate to the time. Just like how there was no confirmation that Hitler would side against the Western European powers, there was no guarantee that Hitler would side against the Soviets either. The Polish city of Wielu after German bombing September 1, Chamberlains policy of appeasement was controversial at the time and has been debated by historians, and policymakers ever since the Munich Agreement. On September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Pact, which gave the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany. If this is your first time checking out a debate, here are some quick tips to help get you started: Jeremy Matthew [NO] - I think Appeasement policy was not the right policy that Britain had taken in 1938. Historians such as Richard Cockett, William Shirer and Frank McDonough have confirmed the claim[62][63] and have also noted the links between The Observer The results of an October 1938 Gallup poll, which showed 86% of the public believed Hitler was lying about his future territorial ambitions, was censored from the News Chronicle at the last minute by the publisher, who was loyal to Chamberlain. The Republic of China appealed to the League of Nations and to the United States for assistance. I'd be giving a big fat reward to aggression". The German correspondent for the Times of London, Norman Ebbutt, charged that his persistent reports about Nazi militarism had been suppressed by his editor, Geoffrey Dawson. "Introduction: Appeasement: Rethinking the Policy and the Policy-Makers. However the appeasement directly led to the start of WW2, appeasement was unnecessary because at that point in time the Germans were unable to retaliate against any attack. Appeasement was a policy, that first started developing in the 1920s, coined by Britain and later used by France of avoiding war with aggressive powers such as Japan, Italy, and Germany, by giving way to their demands (unless they were too unreasonable) However, appeasement was not mainly justified because of the . In the early 1930s, it was not so clear what Hitler as the leader of Nazi Germany would do, so maybe pursuing a foreign policy of appeasement was still justifiable, but by 1938, it was clear that it was no longer the case. I agree. He was startled by the response of Hitler that the cession of the Sudetenland was not enough and that Czechoslovakia, which Hitler had described as a "fraudulent state", must be broken up completely. In conclusion, Britains choice to adopt a policy of appeasement during the 1930s was a wise decision, as it delayed war, prolonged the amount of time the country had to build up arms, and pleased the public. The conversation lasted for about 40 minutes. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The BBC and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)". Under the Versailles Settlement, the Rhineland was demilitarised. France was anxious to placate Mussolini to keep him away from an alliance with Germany. Another justification was because Britain did not have the Financial Resources to launch another war. Czechoslovakia had a modern well-prepared military, and Hitler, on entering Prague, conceded that a war would have cost Germany much blood[26][22] but the decision by France and Britain not to defend Czechoslovakia in the event of war and the exclusion from the equation of the Soviet Union, which Chamberlain distrusted, meant that the outcome would have been uncertain. A credible network of alliances might have ensured a cheaper and quicker victory over Hitler, had war come. would receive the Sudetenland, and promised Germany would no, Few geo-political events have resonated through, the past 70 years like Neville Chamberlains, decision to pursue the policy of appeasement in, reaction to German aggression leading up to the, Second World War. A common upper-class slogan was "better Hitlerism than Communism". The British treated the issue in the same way as the earlier Sudeten Crisis and made no plans to assist Lithuania or the other Baltic States if they were attacked by Germany. "The romance of decline: The historiography of appeasement and British national identity. The League considered closing off the Suez Canal, which would have stopped arms to Abyssinia, but, thinking that would be too harsh a measure, failed to do so.[9]. October 1938. Scott Ramsay (2019) instead argues that Britain demonstrated "benevolent neutrality" and was simply hedging its bets by avoiding the favouring of one side or the other. On 15 March 1939, the German Wehrmacht moved into the remainder of Czechoslovakia, and from Prague Castle, Hitler proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia to be the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, completing the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. Answer Guiding Questions. The Western view is that the pressure was done to save Czechoslovakia from total annihilation. It was the right policy as at that point of time, Britain was still reeling from the Great Depression. Neville Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler twice in 1938 to discuss Germanys. I don't think it was the best decision, not to mention immoral, but it was the best they could do. Did the appeasement policy of Britain France and the United States have the intended effect? Hitler, who was invited to negotiate, proposed a non-aggression pact with the Western powers. Eventually they led Hitler to be more aggressive and start world war 2 by invading poland, thinking britian would give them poland. ", Van Tol, David. Since Germany did not have total control of Czechoslovakia, and Hitler had not yet confirmed his non-aggression pact with Russia, it would be easy for the allies to take down Hitler while they had the chance, instead of waiting and watching Germany's mass grow. Beck, R.J., "Munich's Lessons Reconsidered". By showing that appeasement was a popular policy and that there was a continuity in British foreign policy after 1933, he shattered the common view of the appeasers as a small degenerate clique that had mysteriously hijacked the British government sometime in the 1930s that had carried out their policies in the face of massive public resistance. , proposed a non-aggression Pact with the Western powers Czechoslovakia from total.. ) to Germany over Hitler, had war come same year have time to.. 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Nations and to the League of Nations and to the United States have the Financial Resources to launch another..
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