Preview

Explain Why Great Britain Followed a Policy of Appeasement Toward Germany in the 1930s?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
611 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Explain Why Great Britain Followed a Policy of Appeasement Toward Germany in the 1930s?
Explain why Great Britain followed a policy of appeasement toward Germany in the 1930s?

The appeasement policy, which can be defined as a diplomatic policy that hopes of preventing war by making concessions to an aggressor, was displayed by Great Britain towards Germany in the preface to World War II. However, it proved to be a spectacular failure, because leaders of the countries that were being appeased were taking advantages of these policies and were building up their own power since other world leaders would not take any decisive action. Numerous factors consisting social, economical and political aspects formed the basis for the pursuing appeasement in the aftermath of World War I.
At the Paris Peace Conferences, Britain, under the leadership of George Wilson had a hidden agenda. Britain have felt that the Treaty of Versailles had been too harsh on the Germans, and considered appeasement as a method of correcting the wrongs that German had been dealt in the aftermath of World War I. Wilson did not want full-scale reparations imposed on Germany, because they were still valued as a significant trading partner. Such views continued until the end of Chamberlain’s rule in office. As many countries were trying to recover from the depression, Britain saw Germany as a valuable trading partner to get the economy going.
When examining the policy of appeasement, one has to understand the conditions and pressures of which the allied powers faced in the inter-war period. At the time, Russia was under the rule and authority of Communism. As a result, it was undergoing a complete re-vamp of its industrial sector and economy. Because of such rigorous change, the allies feared that communism would eventually grow and spread into their various spheres of influence. The allied powers thought that Germany would serve as a good buffer zone. The reasoning behind that was that it was better to have a fascist Germany act as a divider between them and Russia than to have a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I think the most effective response is with out a doubt collective security. (Doc 4) In 1938 Britain, France, and Italy met with Hitler to discuss his demand for the Sudetenland. Hitler got what he wanted from this meeting because of appeasement. Europe was happy from this because it avoided war. This did not benefit the Czechs at all though. For some reason Neville Chamberlain favored appeasement. (Doc 5) He thinks appeasement is the best way because he believes war is a "fearful thing." He thinks that appeasement will benefit Europe. Winston Churchill disagreed with Chamberlain's policy of appeasement. (Doc 6) He believed that keeping peace depends on holding back the aggressor. He also thinks we lost many opportunities in the quest for peace. He believes it was the people in control of our political affairs fault. Another view on appeasement was also put out there by A.J.P. Taylor. It stated that since the majority of German people put Hitler into power they were the only ones that could turn him out. Also he said some "appeasers" feared that the defeat of Germany would be followed by Russian domination over most of Europe. In another excerpt an author named Keith Eubank states that stopping Hitler prior to 1939 was not an issue. (Doc 9) He says that Hitler had too massive of a force and that nothing he had done had been considered that dangerous at that point in time. All this options but still if the rest of the country didn't do something besides just keeping appeasement Hitler was going to just keep demanding more and more. This would have left Europe ten times worse off. They made the right choice on going into Collective Security. They should have done this from the beginning instead of wasting so much time and losing so much, to just end up going into war anyways, just later in time. Collective Security…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    WWII DBQ

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages

    During the early 1920s, World War I had just ended, and many countries were not happy with the outcome. The Treaty of Versailles was a poor settlement to World War I, and left three particular countries unhappy; Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Treaty of Versailles left many limitations on Germany, and failed to give Italy and Japan the recognition they deserved. During the 1930s, these countries decided to take action, and fight for what they wanted. Though both appeasement and collective security were taken in response, collective security proved to be the more effective response to the aggression.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    World War Ii and Hitler

    • 8150 Words
    • 33 Pages

    - Appeasement Wordsearch - Appeasement Acrosstick - Appeasement Acrosstick (differentiated) Section 5 Failure of the League of Nations Page 31,32 Page 33,34 Page 35 Page 36,37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 - Information Pages…

    • 8150 Words
    • 33 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chamberlain suggested appeasement in hopes of keeping peace and avoiding war. He wanted to avoid war for as long as possible and keep the Europe out of war unless a bigger reason arose.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    DBQ world war 2

    • 2303 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Prime Minister Chamberlain suggested the best way to deal with Hitler was a policy of appeasement.…

    • 2303 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Assess the view that appeasement was the only realistic option for British policy towards Germany between 1936 and 1938…

    • 2327 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another result of appeasement was Hitler gaining the support he needed as time passed. Lastly, Germany took control of Austria. The Holocaust and many other events could have been avoided if the world leaders did not choose to give in to the demands of Hitler. Even though the world leaders thought they were doing the right thing to protect their nation by standing by and doing nothing as Hitler went forth with his plans, they were actually hurting their countries even more because by choosing to appease Hitler, they allowed him to do things that would change the world…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Appeasement was the right policy for England in 1938. This is because It was based on the idea that what Hitler wanted was reasonable and, when his reasonable demands had been satisfied, he would stop. Appeasement was the only practical action that could be held during that time. England and France were not ready to get into another war. They already had severe damages that they couldn’t afford to get into another war. This gave them time to prepare for war since it is inevitable anyways. It also gave them time to prepare for old and broken equipment. Alliances needed to be made and through this, that was all possible. Also, through this policy, they were able to get public support. Appeasement also allowed Britain time to retool factories for war. Many Britons during that time saw Hitler as a defence against Russian Communism. This all happened because they thought that Hitler would soon be satisfied after remilitarizing the Rhineland, annexation of Austria and czechoslovakia. Wanted to please Hitler this way. The empire was already overstretched and its financial resources quite limited. The U.S. was isolationist. Soviet communism was feared, France was weak. This was all done to prevent war and preventing war is something needed to be done. Their objective was for the collaboration of all nations in building up a lasting peace for Europe. The Czechs, left themselves and told they were going to get no help from the Western Powers, would have been able to make better terms than they have got. This also gave the greatest chance of securing protection for the country. Czechoslovak State would’ve not been able to be an independent entity without this. Chamberlain remembered the slaughter of the…

    • 2172 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    World War II DBQ

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the early 1920s, as World War I ended, nations looked for peace as an outlet and hope for the future. As time passed, most countries were happy that the Great War had ended, however they were upset with the outcome. Since there were many costly expenses from the war, it caused many of the hostile nations to look for strong rulers for change. This allowed many harsh dictators to rise to power. These dictators were aggressive rulers and took forceful actions. In order to combat these aggressive rulers, other nations tried to resist war and give in to their demands. This type of action was known as appeasement. Not all countries felt the same way about this response; other countries believed that a collective security would work better.…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One argument is the view that appeasement was the only realistic option because public opinion supported it and for Chamberlain to lead Britain to war would go against public favour. The First World War savaged Europe and Britain was hit very hard in terms of Human losses. Many families lost men within the family and left psychological scars nationwide. Chamberlain was therefore desperate to avoid another war on the continent at all costs. If Britain was to go to war they would have to rearm and build on their armed forces which had been neglected since world war one. However public opinion was that if Britain was rearming then they would be preparing for war, which was incredible unpopular. Evidence of this was in east Fulham by-election of 1933 the conservative who advocated rearmament turned a majority of 14,000 into a defeat by 5000 at the hands of his labour approach who supported disarmament. This illustrated the political affect that rearmament and policies that move towards War had which was a reason as to why Chamberlain saw appeasement as the only realistic option.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    World War 2 Dbq Essay

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages

    World War II is the cruel, black scar that marks the back of the Twentieth century. After World War I the seeds of World War Two were planted through the unbearable burdens put on the German people from the infamous treaty of Versailles. With the rise of the notorious dictator Hitler, the German people were hungry for a new beginning. Appeasement was one of the biggest things that lead to World War II. It basically just postponed the War from happening. Leaders arose in countries that were unsatisfied with the results of the past war, World War I. Italy, Germany and Japan took action and no one was stopping them. The Most effective response to aggression at this time was surely collective security. Using Appeasement got the countries nowhere…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. How and why was Germany allowed to annex Austria and the Sudetenland? Was there any justification for Britain and France’s policy of appeasement?…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Treaty of Versalliers

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Self -interest by other European countries also weakened Wilson’s plan. The French Prime Minister wanted punishment of Germany by insisting the German army be downsized by 100,00 soilders. The British Prime Minister insisted on a war-guilt clause in the Treaty which forced Germany to accept the responsibility for starting the war. French and Great Britian wanted to punish Germany, I belive it weakend the Treaty and angerd the Germans.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Second World War was a culmination of conflicts in Europe, which many argue resulted from the First World War itself. After the Treaty of Versailles condemned Germany to a multitude of reparations that needed to be paid, the country’s people were in need of a strong leader, which they soon found in Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. Hitler started as a mere war veteran but rose in ranks, eventually taking all power over Germany for himself. He started strengthening the army with plans to expand his empire, which he did, starting with the invasion of Czechoslovakia. If Britain and France had joined forces during this invasion, World War II would have likely still taken place. After all, its path had been set in motion by previous events and would probably have remained true to Hitler’s intentions regardless of any intervention.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    - Hitler was determined to conquer Eastern Europe - Hitler had made his plans clear - the policy of appeasement was clearly doomed from the start - Hitler just…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays