And it usually takes agreement among many on what the plan of action will be. Hitler invading Czechoslovakia was inevitable, but if Britain and Czechoslovakia had been aggressive, they would have been able to make Germany back down, and could also have outflanked them. This is the strategy Britain used with Hitler, ignored or satisfying demands for territory and rearmament in the hope that one day Hitler would simply stop. Churchill likened the negotiations at Berchtesgarten, Bad Godesberg and Munich to a man demanding 1, then, when it is offered, demanding 2, then when it is refused settling for 1.17s.6d. One of the first dissents to the prevailing criticism of appeasement was made by John F. Kennedy in his 1940 Harvard College thesis, Why England Slept, in which he argued that appeasement had been necessary because the United Kingdom and France were unprepared for a world war.[76][77]. Guy La Chambre, the civilian air minister, optimistically informed the government that the air force could stop the Luftwaffe. 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. [88][77], During the Cold War, the "lessons" of appeasement were cited by prominent conservative allies of Reagan, who urged him to be assertive in "rolling back" Soviet-backed regimes throughout the world. If the policy is up-to-date (i.e. 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. Even though appeasement didn't get rid of war between Britain and Germany, it was a great decision for Britain in 1938. When asked for details, he did not reply. He criticised revisionist historians for concentrating on Chamberlain's motivations, rather than how appeasement worked in practice, as a "usable policy" to deal with Hitler. "Few appeasers were really prepared to seek peace at any price; few, if any, anti-appeasers were prepared for Britain to make a stand against aggression whatever the circumstances and wherever the location in which it occurred". Was Appeasement the Right Policy for England in 1938? Use PowerPoint to establish background knowledge on appeasement and introduce What was Chamberlain's goal for the Munich Agreement? British politicians were so paranoid about war that they forgot to defend their own country's interests. question: Was appeasement the right policy for England in 1938? remilitarized the Rhineland, annexed Austria, and in September 1938, Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia give Germany the Sudetenland, a. region with a heavy ethnic-German population. In a nutshell, the appeasement policy was done with a good intention, but was poorly executed. Peter Jackson, 'La perception de la puissance arienne allemande et son influence sur la politique extrieure franaise pendant les crises internationales de 1938 1939', Teddy J. Uldricks, "Russian Historians Reevaluate the Origins of World War II,". You will develop a claim, using evidence, to answer the question: Was appeasement the right policy for England in 1938? Academics, politicians.and diplomats have intensely debated the 1930s appeasement policies ever since they occurred. 1933. Schuschnigg complied and appointed Arthur Seyss-Inquart, a pro-Nazi lawyer, as interior minister. Sudetenland was basically handed over to Hitler, along with all their modern defenses. [82] Appeasement was a crisis management strategy seeking a peaceful settlement of Hitler's grievances. Chamberlain managed to avoid The League set up a commission of inquiry that condemned Japan, and the League duly adopted the report in February 1933. [67] The BBC radio producers continued to censor news of persecution of Jews even after the war broken out, as Chamberlain still held out hopes of a quick armistice and did not want to inflame the atmosphere. It could be said that he believed sincerely that the objectives of Hitler and Mussolini were limited and that the settlement of their grievances would protect the world from war since for safety, military and air power should be strengthened. 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. Unfortunately, appeasement back-fired on them and World War II started. The policy of appeasement became increasingly attractive after the overwhelming destruction of World War I. 1 See answer Advertisement Brainly User Appeasement was the right choice for Britain because it gave them more time to prepare. [51], The Labour Party opposed the fascist dictators on principle but until the late 1930s also opposed rearmament and had a significant pacifist wing. No, I do not think the appeasement was right for England because of the circumstances that followed. Albania, Austria and Hungary refused to apply sanctions, and Germany and the United States were not in the League. What impact did the appeasement policy of the United States, Britain, and France have on Germany aggression? [56], A few on the left said that Chamberlain looked forward to a war between Germany and the Soviet Union. [9] As Chamberlain left for Munich in 1938, the whole House of Commons cheered him noisily. [97], Some commentators have suggested that some NATO countries are following the policy of appeasement towards Vladimir Putin's Russia by rejecting the support of Ukrainian democracy through military operations during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[98][99][100][101]. I feel that the appeasement policy of the British was not justified in 1938 because at that time, Hitler had clear plans of expanding and it was evident that Hitler wouldn't back down and slow down his aggression towards his European neighbours. Even though Chamberlain had helped Hitler in his expansionist policy, it gave the other countries the time to rearm and expand their military capabilities. A forceful stand could also aggravate the situation and Hilter may be more willing to fight Britain, which at that time had a weak military after WWI. They betrayed a lot of countries in the process. "Chamberlain's worst error", says McDonough, "was to believe that he could march Hitler on the yellow brick road to peace when in reality Hitler was marching very firmly on the road to war". Appeasement was one of the biggest things that lead to World War II. "[40], Most Conservative MPs were also in favour, but Churchill said that their supporters were divided and in 1936 led a delegation of leading Conservative politicians to express to Baldwin their alarm about the speed of German rearmament and the fact that Britain was falling behind. Because the ultimatum was never set down in writing and did not include a formal deadline, some historians downplay its importance and describe it as a "set of demands", rather than as an ultimatum. Sign in|Recent Site Activity|Report Abuse|Print Page|Powered By Google Sites, More so, not acting with authority cost Chamberlain the chance he may have had to take Hitler down. 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". [22] He and a few other Conservatives who refused to vote for the Munich settlement were attacked by their local constituency parties. I agree. [39] Consciously encouraging war with Stalin is not widely accepted to be a motive of the Downing Street appeasers, but there is a historical consensus that anti-communism was central to appeasement's appeal for the conservative elite. Britain in the 1930s was struggling with the impact of the Depression, and so the country could not afford another war and heavy rearmament. In the early 1990s a new theory of appeasement, sometimes called "counter-revisionist",[80] emerged as historians argued that appeasement was probably the only choice for the British government in the 1930s but that it was poorly implemented, carried out too late and not enforced strongly enough to constrain Hitler. Shreyas Yes, Britain tried their best to prevent or at the least delay another war from happening. Not to mention reconnaissance against the British would be risky, as the Spitfire was superior to the Messerschmitt-109, and if caught could bring Britain into Hitler's plan too early for the Blitzkrieg. [23] Chamberlain ultimately ceded to all of Hitler's demands at Munich because he believed Britain and Nazi Germany were "the two pillars of European peace and buttresses against communism".[24][25]. They would not have time to rearm, But without time to rearm and immediately going to war, they have more to lose due to their weak defence and they could have lost the whole country instead of some parts of the land around them. The Western view is that the pressure was done to save Czechoslovakia from total annihilation. This can also can be shown where Hitler was also useful to them in removing communism. [9] In the Council of the League, only the Soviet Union proposed sanctions against Germany. Her book was a spirited defence of the Czech nation and a detailed criticism of British policy and confronted the need for war if necessary. A clear deadline was not given, but Lithuania was told to make a speedy decision and that any clashes or German casualties would inevitably provoke a response from the German military. On 12 March, the German Wehrmacht crossed the Austrian border. The British people were unwilling to go to war, but that could be easily changed if the media and propaganda started portraying Hitler as an aggressive person trying to take over Europe. 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. 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. "[89] Some conservatives even compared Reagan to Chamberlain after his withdrawal of the Multinational Force in Lebanon because of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. 59, No. Chamberlain used discussion here with Hitler to The lesson of Munich, in international relations, refers to the appeasement of Adolf Hitler at the Munich Conference in September 1938. The guarantees given to Poland by Britain and France marked the end of the policy of appeasement. Britain would not give it up and this caused Germany to invade Poland and start World War II, 6 months later. [92], In 2013, Obama administration officials such as Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel claimed that a failure of the United States to intervene in the Syrian Civil War after the 2003 Ghouta chemical attack would be an act of appeasement towards Bashar al-Assad. Germany for this case was seen as an ally. [31] Italy and Japan supported Germany in the matter, and the United Kingdom and France expressed sympathy for Lithuania but chose not to offer any material assistance and followed a well-publicized policy of appeasing Hitler. British Home Secretary, Samuel Hoare, said, "These five men, working together in Europe and blessed in their efforts by the President of the United States of America, might make themselves eternal benefactors of the human race". 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. Taylor argued that Hitler did not have a blueprint for war and behaved much as any other German leader might have. Of course, it gave Britain time to re-arm. Based on the information provided by this map, how did adopting the policy of appeasement at the Munich Conference in September 1938 change Europe? [9] In Parliament, the Labour Party opposed the agreement. was attempting to unite ethnic Germans in Europe. Chamberlain returned to Britain and promised "peace for our time". Answer the question above in essay form, with a minimum of 200 words. The United States reminded them of their duty under the KelloggBriand Pact to settle matters peacefully. To vote for an argument, use these icons: Debate scores, side scores and tag scores are automatically calculated by an algorithm that primarily takes argument scores into account. [42] Churchill's sustained warnings about fascism commenced only in 1938 after Francisco Franco, who was receiving aid from Italy in Germany during the Spanish Civil War, decimated the left in Spain. Although, we now know that in hindsight, it was perhaps a bad move as it egged on Hitler to persue a much more aggressive policy, at the time it was the correct choice. Hitler blatantly violated the Treaty of Versailles, had an Anschluss with Austria which clearly showed that Hitler's interests was in the expansion and strengthening of Germany and re-militarized (which was clearly a challenge to Britain's position in Europe). Even if they somehow manage to go to war with their sheer lack of resources, the low morale will be detrimental to their campaign. [39] Anti-communism was a motiv of a close ally of Chamberlain, Lord Halifax, who said after he had visited Gring and met Hitler in Germany in 1936 and 1937: "Nationalism and Racialism is a powerful force but I can't feel that it's either unnatural or immoral! However, appeasement was not largely justified because there were many opportunities to hinder Hitlers plans, such as not allowing the remilitarization of the Rhineland which led up to Hitlers increase of aggressiveness, more time for Germany to prepare for war, the betrayal of Czechoslovakia, losing the allies . Review Guiding Questions and read excerpts. Develop Hypothesis #1, drawing from Documents A and B. During the Spanish civil war, the British realised that Germany had a far superior army than theirs. Appeasement was the right policy for Britain in 1938. U.S. President Harry S. Truman thus explained his decision to enter the Korean War in 1950, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden in his confrontation of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the Suez Crisis of 1956, U.S. President John F. Kennedy his "quarantine" of Cuba in 1962, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson in his resistance to communism in Indochina in the 1960s, U.S. President Ronald Reagan in his his air strike on Libya in 1986, and U.S. President Donald Trump in the drone strike that led to the assassination of Qasem Soleimani in 2020. [22] Baldwin told the House of Commons that in 1933, he had been unable to pursue a policy of rearmament because of the strong pacifist sentiment in the country. 2) There is always a mix of rhetoric on both sides and many differing voices on what to do. Answers. This resulted in weak western governments and this allowed Hitler and other countries to take advantage and cause war. war over the Sudetenland using appeasement between September - In my opinion, appeasement was the right policy for Britain in 1938. The geography of Europe was such that Britain and France could forcibly prevent the German occupation of the Sudetenland only by the invasion of Germany. ", Record, Jeffrey. Many people also admired how Hitler wanted to make Germany stronger and Chamberlain thought that a strong Germany can serve as a barrier against expansion from communist Russia. [96], Tibetan separatists consider the policy of the West towards China with regard to Tibet as appeasement. By signing the appeasement, not only they can buy more time to rearm, it will also gain support from the masses. Hitler's occupation of the Rhineland had persuaded him that the international community would not resist him, and it put Germany in a powerful strategic position. Yes, indeed Hitler did have plans to go expand. Members of the League were entitled to the assistance of other members if they came under attack. However, it is a self-guided tour of the country that will help you understand, that will allow you to see it from the inside and see not only popular tourist sites, but also other interesting sights. Appeasement was not the right policy for England in 1938. At a Nazi party rally in Nuremberg on 12 September, Hitler made a speech attacking Czechoslovakia[16] and there was an increase of violence by Sudeten Nazis against Czechoslovak and Jewish targets. Instituted in the hope of avoiding war, appeasement was the name given to Britain's policy in the 1930s of allowing Hitler to expand German territory unchecked. Germany escalated the dispute, with the country's press carrying stories of alleged atrocities against Sudeten Germans, and Hitler ordering 750,000 troops to the Czechoslovak border. In this circumstance, if the British had also put in more effort to convince the French to resist the Nazi regime, Hitler would not have prevailed. No personalities. However, the U.S. issued the Stimson Doctrine and refused to recognize Japan's conquest, which played a role in shifting U.S. policy to favour China over Japan during the late 1930s. The invasion was the first major test of the Wehrmacht's machinery. In April 1938, the Sudeten German Party, led by Konrad Henlein, agitated for autonomy and then threatened, in Henlein's words, "direct action to bring the Sudeten Germans within the frontiers of the Reich". On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. They were not blameless. His view has been shared by other historians. [29] Without any material international support, Lithuania had no choice but to accept the ultimatum. It is true that the appeasement did not prevent the war from breaking out, however the appeasement did allow them to buy more time to rearm and have a stronger opposing army to oppose Germany. Scott Ramsay. (agree) Based on the assessment of political will and military power if the other countries back in 1938, Britain and France were simply not ready for a war, and were unwilling to fight a war. [28] On 20 March, just five days after the German occupation of Prague, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop agreed to meet Urbys but not the Lithuanian Ambassador to Berlin, Kazys kirpa, who was asked to wait in another room. 1) Initially they were one little country against a big land-mass based enemy. Did the appeasement policy of Britain France and the United States have the intended effect? Therefore this shows that appeasement was not the right policy for Britain in 1938. thank you Advertisement Advertisement The overall effect of the appeasement policy would be that they would fare better in the war. In September, the British received assurance that the General Staff's offer to launch the coup still stood with key private sector police and army support, even though Beck had resigned his post. [58], British public opinion had been strongly opposed to war and rearmament in the early 1930s, but that began to shift by mid-decade. In the British House of Commons, Chamberlain said, "The hard fact is that nothing could have arrested what has actually happened [in Austria] unless this country and other countries had been prepared to use force". [4], As alarm grew about the rise of fascism in Europe, Chamberlain resorted to attempts at news censorship to control public opinion. 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