Chamberlain’s Policy Of Appeasement

The Policy of appeasement which Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of Britain from 1937-1939, stood by has been criticized by Churchill, prime minister of Britain 1040-1945, as we well as other historians. Appeasement refers to the act of complying to the demands of another in order to prevent war. Historians argue whether this policy was effective. There are two sides to the argument, while some historians argue that if Chamberlain had abandoned the appeasement policy and instead adopted a more aggressive policy towards Hitler’s moves the Second World War could have been averted. Others disagree saying that if not for chamberlain’s policy, the Second World War would have happened sooner and Britain would have been pulled in before they were ready for the war. However these are just speculations. We cannot truly know whether the outcome would have been any better or worse if chamberlain or rather Britain and France had taken a firmer stance against Hitler.
By 1935, two years after he came to power, Hitler had announced that he intended to increase the number of his army five times of what the treaty dictated and neither France nor Britain took any decisive action apart from making a formal protest (Philip M.H Bell, Was The Appeasement Of Hitler by Britain and France sensible and logical or foolish and counter-productive?).In addition he sent his troops into the demilitarized Rhineland further violating the treaty and still there was no reaction from either of the powers. If Britain and France were to have taken action against Hitler for his violation of the treaty prior to the appointment of Chamberlain, then Hitler may not have been as encouraged as he was about Britain and France idly standing by as he made his moves.
Appeasem...

... middle of paper ...

...ations could be made Germany claimed to be attacked by poles near the border. Britain still sought to make some form of negotiation and sent an ultimatum to Germany with a set deadline but Germany failed to respond. It then became clear to chamberlain and France that negotiation would not work in this situation. On 3rd September 1939 both Britain and France declared war on Germany.

In conclusion, appeasement although having failed in the end had managed to delay a war to a time when Britain and France were fairly well prepared for it. We may consider that had Britain and France opposed Germany from the start and used brute force against Hitler, the war may have been avoided. Yes it may have been avoided but that also true for the opposite. The Second World War may have occurred sooner than 1939 and the results may have been more dire than the actual outcome.