Failed policy of Hitler Appeasement
Appeasement in an international context is a diplomatic policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid conflict. The term is most often applied to the foreign policy of the UK governments of Prime Ministers Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and (most notably) Neville Chamberlain towards Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1939.
Britain’s policy of appeasement
The 1930s are indelibly associated with the failed policy of appeasement. It was an indicator of Britain’s decline that Neville Chamberlain’s government felt unable to offer a more robust response to Hitler’s policy of aggrandisement in Europe.
Interwar cuts in defence spending meant that Britain needed time to rearm if it was to seriously challenge Nazi aggression. In addition, the horrific losses of the First World War, in which over a million British and empire troops died, were fresh in the memory, and many hoped to avoid a similar second conflict with Germany.
Yet, Adolf Hitler was not Neville Chamberlain’s only foe during the Munich crisis of 1938. With Winston Churchill raging, confident in the power of the military alliance of Britain with France, Lord Halifax covering his own back and staying in London, and protesters on the streets, the quest for ‘peace for our time’ almost brought down the British government, wrote Robert Crowcroft.
On the 30th September 1938, the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain climbed out of an aeroplane at Heston aerodrome in London. Waiting for him on the tarmac were journalists and photographers. Chamberlain had just returned from a summit with Adolf Hitler in Munich, and his mood was one of triumph. The prime minister believed he had pulled off a diplomatic coup that would prevent a devastating European war. He brandished a piece of paper bearing Hitler’s signature, an image captured by the photographers and destined to become one of the iconic visual records of the century. Later, in Downing Street, Chamberlain boasted that the settlement he negotiated represented nothing less than “peace for our time”.
Interwar cuts in defence spending meant that Britain needed time to rearm if it was to seriously challenge Nazi aggression. In addition, the horrific losses of the First World War, in which over a million British and empire troops died, were fresh in the memory, and many hoped to avoid a similar second conflict with Germany.
Yet, Adolf Hitler was not Neville Chamberlain’s only foe during the Munich crisis of 1938. With Winston Churchill raging, confident in the power of the military alliance of Britain with France, Lord Halifax covering his own back and staying in London, and protesters on the streets, the quest for ‘peace for our time’ almost brought down the British government, wrote Robert Crowcroft.
On the 30th September 1938, the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain climbed out of an aeroplane at Heston aerodrome in London. Waiting for him on the tarmac were journalists and photographers. Chamberlain had just returned from a summit with Adolf Hitler in Munich, and his mood was one of triumph. The prime minister believed he had pulled off a diplomatic coup that would prevent a devastating European war. He brandished a piece of paper bearing Hitler’s signature, an image captured by the photographers and destined to become one of the iconic visual records of the century. Later, in Downing Street, Chamberlain boasted that the settlement he negotiated represented nothing less than “peace for our time”.
This morning, I had another talk with the German Chancellor Herr Hitler. And here is the paper which bears his name upon it, as well as mine. Some of you have perhaps already heard what it contains. But I would like to just read it to you.
"We, the German Fuhrer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today, and are agreed in recognising that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for the two countries and for Europe. We regard the agreement signed last night, and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again."
— Neville Chamberlain, after having signed the Munich Agreement
People demonstrating against British concessions to Hitler, Whitehall, 22 September 1938.
The Munich Agreement was reached in response to Nazi Germany’s demand to annex those border regions of neighbouring Czechoslovakia home to 3 million ethnic Germans. Hitler threatened to simply march his forces across the frontier and seize the disputed territory, the Sudetenland. It seemed likely that Britain, France and the Soviet Union would all be dragged in should conflict erupt.
Throughout September, Chamberlain engaged in frantic diplomacy, travelling to Germany three times to broker a peaceful solution. At Munich on 29 September he agreed to the incorporation of the Sudetenland into the Reich while securing Hitler’s recognition of the independence of the rest of the Czech state. The prime minister hoped this would mark the dawn of a new era of European stability.
Yet Munich rapidly became symbolic of the dangers of appeasing aggressive governments. The agreement unravelled and Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, a crucial stage on the road to the Second World War. Nowadays Munich occupies a place in the popular imagination as the moment when a chance to marshal resistance to Hitler was lost, and an example of the folly of trusting the unscrupulous.
What is perhaps less familiar is the deep political crisis in Britain provoked by Hitler’s designs on the Sudetenland. Chamberlain’s diplomacy sparked a revolt in the ruling Conservative party – and even inside his own cabinet. Westminster was gripped by intrigue, and there seemed a real possibility that the prime minister could fall. Despite the likelihood of a European war, politicians still usually perceived matters through the lens of their own interests and prospects. And this political struggle had an important effect on British diplomacy, as well.
Throughout September, Chamberlain engaged in frantic diplomacy, travelling to Germany three times to broker a peaceful solution. At Munich on 29 September he agreed to the incorporation of the Sudetenland into the Reich while securing Hitler’s recognition of the independence of the rest of the Czech state. The prime minister hoped this would mark the dawn of a new era of European stability.
Yet Munich rapidly became symbolic of the dangers of appeasing aggressive governments. The agreement unravelled and Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, a crucial stage on the road to the Second World War. Nowadays Munich occupies a place in the popular imagination as the moment when a chance to marshal resistance to Hitler was lost, and an example of the folly of trusting the unscrupulous.
What is perhaps less familiar is the deep political crisis in Britain provoked by Hitler’s designs on the Sudetenland. Chamberlain’s diplomacy sparked a revolt in the ruling Conservative party – and even inside his own cabinet. Westminster was gripped by intrigue, and there seemed a real possibility that the prime minister could fall. Despite the likelihood of a European war, politicians still usually perceived matters through the lens of their own interests and prospects. And this political struggle had an important effect on British diplomacy, as well.
Exercises:
1. Re-read the text, make up a list of necessary vocabulary and answer the following questions:
1) What Prime Minister was the policy of appeasement mostly associated with?
2) Why was Britain so reluctant to fight the Nazi Germany?
3) What was the reaction of the people back at home to the Munich agreement?
4) Did Britain remain at peace with Hitler after that?
2. Find in the text the following words and word combinations, find a Russian equivalent for them and add them to your working vocabulary:
policy of appeasement; robust; interwar; quest; frantic diplomacy; unravelled; to marshal resistance.
3. Use the words from the Exercise 2 in your own sentences.
4. Write your summary of the text, emphasising in it:
a) its subject matter,
b) the facts discussed,
c) the author's point of view on these facts.
1) What Prime Minister was the policy of appeasement mostly associated with?
2) Why was Britain so reluctant to fight the Nazi Germany?
3) What was the reaction of the people back at home to the Munich agreement?
4) Did Britain remain at peace with Hitler after that?
2. Find in the text the following words and word combinations, find a Russian equivalent for them and add them to your working vocabulary:
policy of appeasement; robust; interwar; quest; frantic diplomacy; unravelled; to marshal resistance.
3. Use the words from the Exercise 2 in your own sentences.
4. Write your summary of the text, emphasising in it:
a) its subject matter,
b) the facts discussed,
c) the author's point of view on these facts.
