Answer to Question #292984 in History for Kelsey Jand

Question

THE WORLD WARS: A RISING THREAT

Context Link: https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/475539/s01-e02-a-rising-threat?start=true

Question: What is the idea of appeasement? What is the problem in Hitler’s case?

Answer 1

Appeasement was the label given to Britain's policy in the 1930s of allowing Hitler to expand German territory unrestrained in the hopes of avoiding conflict. It is now commonly regarded as a policy of weakness, and is most closely connected with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Nonetheless, it was a popular and presumably pragmatic approach at the time. When Hitler's armies invaded the Rhineland in 1936, his expansionist goals were evident. He annexed Austria two years later, in March 1938. Neville Chamberlain appeared to have averted war at the Munich Conference that September by agreeing that Germany may occupy the Sudetenland, the German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia - the Munich Agreement.

The Munich Agreement was met with joy in the United Kingdom. Winston Churchill, who was separated from the government at the time and one of the few to resist Hitler's appeasement, called it "an utter tragedy." For a variety of reasons, appeasement was appealing. Chamberlain, like the rest of the British people, was determined to avoid another world war. Britain could not afford massive rearmament because it was overburdened policing its empire. Its principal partner, France, was severely weakened, and Commonwealth support, unlike in the First World War, was not guaranteed. Many Britons also felt sympathy for Germany, which they believed had been unfairly treated after its defeat in 1918.Despite his assurance that there would be "no more territorial claims in Europe," Hitler remained unconvinced by appeasement. He broke the Munich Agreement by seizing the whole of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Germany invaded Poland six months later, in September 1939, and Britain was at war.