The feared Anglo-French reaction never came. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin ruled out the possibility. Germany and Italy now realised that the democracies were seeking to avoid confrontation, so both countries continued to 'test the limits'. During the Spanish Civil War, Hitler and Mussolini contravened the 'Non-Intervention Agreement', sending troops, equipment and planes to back the rebels.
Their intervention was ignored by the international community. When Chamberlain became Prime Minister in May , the pattern of appeasement had already been set. Czechoslovakia had been created under Versailles , and included a large German minority mostly living in the Sudetenland on the border with Germany. In mid-September , Hitler encouraged the leader of the Sudeten Nazis to rebel, demanding union with Germany. When the Czech government declared martial law, Hitler threatened war. On 15 September, Chamberlain met Hitler at Berchtesgaden.
Without consulting the Czech authorities, he pledged to give Germany all the areas with a German population of more than 50 per cent. France was persuaded to agree. Hitler then altered his criteria, demanding all the Sudetenland.
Chamberlain was confident that he had secured 'peace for our time'. Read more about: Colonialism The Munich agreement: 'Peace for our time'?
Appeasement was not without its critics. Churchill believed in a firm stand against Germany, and Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden resigned in February over Britain's continued acquiescence to fascist demands. Even the strongest voices against annexation, those of Fascist Italy, France, and Britain, were not backed by force.
The international reaction to the events of March 12, led Hitler to conclude that he could use even more aggressive tactics in his plan to expand the Third Reich. The Anschluss paved the way for Munich in September because it indicated the likely non-response of Britain and France to future German aggression.
The second crisis came over the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia, home to a large ethnic German minority. Under the guise of seeking self-determination for the Sudeten Germans, Hitler planned to launch a war of aggression on October 1, In an effort to defuse the looming crisis, Chamberlain followed a strategy of pressuring Prague to make concessions to the ethnic Germans while warning Berlin about the dangers of war. The problems of the tight wire act were well-summarized by the Chancellor the Exchequer Sir John Simon in a diary entry during the May Crisis of If it is reasonable we will urge the Czechs to accept and if they do, you must give assurances that you will let them alone in the future.
The purpose of the conference was to discuss the future of the Sudetenland in the face of ethnic demands made by Adolf Hitler. Sudetenland was of immense strategic importance to Czechoslovakia, as most of its border defenses and banks were situated there along with heavy industrial districts.
Even if they had wanted to fight a war it would have been unlikely that they could have afforded it. It was deemed ridiculous to spend money on a war when there were so many social problems at home, such as poverty, poor healthcare and unemployment. Britain in particular was concerned for the future of her empire. She feared that if she entered into a war it would leave her empire undefended and vulnerable. As many countries in the British Empire were already trying to gain independence it was feared that if the British troops went to war the various countries of the empire would seize that opportunity to try and gain themselves independence.
This would be likely to succeed without British troops to stop them. Therefore the first priority of both Britain and France was to protect their empires. Originally the policy of appeasement seemed like the sensible thing to follow, as various events showed Britain and France that going to war would be completely irrational. In Hitler invaded Austria, but Britain and France did not see any reason to go to war over this, they underestimated Hitler, believing he just wanted to unite German speaking people.
Britain and France also felt that they could not go to war with Germany over the breaking of the terms of the treaty of Versailles, as they had already been broken years earlier by the cutting of reparation payments. It was also felt that the treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany, so Britain and France turned a blind eye when Germany broke some of the terms, and chose to follow their policy of appeasement rather than declaring war.
In conclusion Britain and France pursued a policy of appeasement in the late s for a variety of reasons. Public opinion was very much against war, as the horror of the first one was still in living memory.
Britain and France could not afford to fight a war; they were more concerned with the social situation in their own countries, and with protecting their empires. Britain and France also felt that the might need Germany as a defence against Russian communism. As Britain and France did eventually go to war in many saw appeasement as a failure. However this was not necessarily the case. Britain was not ready for a war before She did not have the money or the forces.
By pursuing a policy of appeasement until Chamberlain bought Britain time to strengthen her forces, particularly the air force. The extra aircraft that were produced later became vital to Britain in the war, by the end of Britain had more aircraft than Germany. Britain also increased her army, which became important for fighting a European war. Therefore appeasement can be considered very successful as if Britain and France had chosen not to follow it and had gone to war earlier they may well have been a lot weaker than Germany and could easily have lost the war.
However if Britain and France had not pursued a policy of appeasement and had declared war on Germany when she invaded Czechoslovakia then they would have had an ally in the Czechs, who had a strong army and could have made a significant contribution against Germany.
Also if Britain and France had not pursued appeasement and declared war earlier they would probably have been able to ally with the Soviet Union. Therefore the Soviet Union signed the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact with Germany and did not join the war until Had Britain and France not followed the policy of appeasement and allied with the USSR and Czechoslovakia the war could have been over much more quickly.
It can be said that by following appeasement Britain and France just extended the length of an inevitable war. However Britain was concerned about whether Russia could be trusted and was therefore reluctant to ally with the USSR. After seeing Japan invade China Britain was very concerned about her empire. She knew that she could not fight a war and defend her empire, and the protection of the empire was her first priority. By pursuing a policy of appeasement Britain managed to protect her empire at a time when this was very important to her.
It was also the case that appeasement was very popular with the British and French public. By pursuing a policy of appeasement the British and French governments were doing what the people of their countries wanted.
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