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Neville Chamberlain was scared of Hitler and did not want another
conflict on the scale of WWI. He therefore decided along with
France to appease the 3rd Reich. This backfired badly, Hitler took
whatever he wanted up until Poland. Britain had had enough they
declared War on the Nazi's soon after.
Reasons for Appeasement
• Chamberlain believed that Germany had been badly treated after
the First World War.
• Fear of war was understandable after WWI.
• The Soviet Union was as bad a threat as the German Nazi's.
• Gave Britain time to rearm.
Reasons Against Appeasement
• It was a cowardly policy.
• It didn't work. Hitler just demanded more.
• The appeasers were naive to treat Hitler like a normal politician.
They thought he would keep to the agreements made.
• The appeasers missed chances to stop Hitler earlier.
Historical Interpretations of Appeasement
Many historians had different views on appeasement:
Traditionalist 1940s thought appeasement was a really bad idea.
Cato
Revisionist 1950s thought appeasement was the best policy
in that time. AJP Taylor
Counter Revisionist 1990s thought appeasement was policy at that
time but was not carried out very well MC Doughnut
Links for further reading
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