Appeasement

Only twenty years after “The war to end all wars”, the world plunged back into the nightmare of total war, when on September 1^st, 1939 Germany invaded Poland. There were several steps along the way.

In the 1930’s appeasement became the dominant French and British international policy toward Germany and other aggressive nations. Appeasement means the policy of settling international disputes by compromise, thereby avoiding the resort to an armed conflict which would be expensive, bloody, and possibly dangerous.

The League of Nations had been created to peacefully resolve international disputes. However, without the United States as a member or any military force, it was ineffective at preventing belligerent nations from violating agreements. British Prime Minister explained the reason for the policy of appeasement, “When I think of those four terrible years and I think of the 7 million young men who were killed, the 13 million who were maimed and mutilated... I have said before, and what I say now to all the world – in war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers. It is those thoughts which have made me feel that it was my prime duty to strain every nerve to avoid a repetition of the Great War in Europe.”

When Italy invaded Ethiopia and Japan invaded Manchuria and China, the League could no nothing but impose economic sanctions. Adolf Hitler realized that democracies sought to avoid a confrontation and began to test their limits to achieve his goals. World War II in Europe had its beginnings in the ideas of Adolf Hitler. Hitler became Chancellor on January 30, 1933. Posed as a man of peace in his public speeches, emphasizing that he only wished to revise the Treaty of Versailles to allow Germany regain its place among European states. Germany after all, had no say in the creation of the Treaty of Versailles. It was largely written by the “Big Three”- the United States, France, and Great Britain, was incredibly harsh towards Germany. Hitler wanted to rebuild a Third Reich and restore the greatness of the German empire. To reach his goal he needed “lebensraum” or living space around his country for the Aryan nation.

The Treaty of Versailles was the treaty forced upon Germany at the end of World War One, as punishment for its role in the war. The treaty included the following terms:

The “war guilt clause”, which stated that Germany accepted sole responsibility for the war and was responsible for all damage caused by the war.
Germany was to make reparation payments to the amount of $33 Billion. (inflation chart to the right)
Germany must demilitarize the Rhineland, which was the area of Germany that bordered France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Germany lost territory within Europe like Alsace-Lorraine, the “Polish Corridor” of Danzig, the Saar coalfields, and its overseas colonies.
The German army was to be limited to no more than 100,000 troops.
The manufacture, import and export of weapons including tanks, submarines, aircraft, and artillery were prohibited.

Many Germans, including Hitler, found the Treaty of Versailles to be humiliating. The reparation payments required as part of the treaty led to economic turmoil in Germany and caused many to want it to be changed.

Upon becoming Chancellor, Hitler immediately worked to restore the German armed forces. In 1935 Hitler announced the expansion of the Wehrmacht to 600,000 members - 6 times the number permitted by the Treaty of Versailles. The Wehrmacht was Germany’s armed forces from 1935 to 1946. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force). Following Germany’s defeat in the First World War, the country was relegated by the Versailles treaty to a limited army of only 100,000 for national defense. France and Britain condemned these actions but did nothing to stop Hitler.

Hitler restored the army.

Hitler built up the Luftwaffe

On March 7, 1936 confident that the Western democracies would not use force to ensure the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler claimed Germany felt threatened and sent German troops into the demilitarized zone known as the Rhineland. France was angered by the militarization of the region, but would not act without British support. Britain had nothing against German troops in German territory. Britain, under Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, was following a policy of appeasement in regards to German aggression. So the Allies did nothing. Appeasement is the policy of settling international disputes by compromise, thereby avoiding the resort to an armed conflict which would be expensive, bloody, and possibly dangerous.

Hitler begins to undo the Treaty of Versailles by sending troops to the Rhineland.

By the end of 1936, Hitler had virtually scrapped the Treaty of Versailles, and Germany was once more a “World Power”. Convinced of German power, Hitler to decided to move on Austria in 1938. Hitler wanted a union with Austria. The Anschluss was the Nazi’s propaganda term for the forced annexation of Austria. Hitler was born in Austria and described in his book Mein Kampf his plan to reunite all ethnic Germans into an “all-German Reich” and German Motherland. Hitler threatened an Austrian invasion, which coerced the Austrian Chancellor into putting Austrian Nazi’s in charge of the government. The new government promptly invited German troops into Austria to “maintain” order. One day later on March 13, 1938 Hitler annexed Austria to Germany. Britain’s acknowledgment of Hitler’s action only increased his contempt for Western weakness. Again, Britain and France did nothing to stop Hitler’s aggression.

Invasion of Austria.mp4

Hitler’s next goal was to take Czechoslovakia. He did not believe the Western powers would use force to defend it. On September 15, 1938 Hitler demanded and annexed the Sudetenland to Germany. He claimed this would be his last territorial demand. The Sudetenland was a part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived. However, it was also home to 66% of Czechoslovakia's coal, 70% of its iron and steel, and 70% of its electrical power. Without these resources the Czech nation would be vulnerable to complete German domination. Scared of another major conflict, the European powers met at the Munich Conference. The meeting included leaders of France, England, and Italy. Czechoslovakia’s leaders were not permitted to attend. The conference was to discuss the status of the Sudetenland. Hitler promised he would discontinue his aggression if he could just have the Sudetenland and the European powers essentially met all of Hitler’s demands.

Leaders at the Munich Conference

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned with a signed agreement from Hitler to which Hitler had no plans of keeping. He boasted that they had preserved “Peace in our time”. A vocal critic of Chamberlain’s policy was Winston Churchill stated that “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last”.

The Munich Conference confirmed Hitler’s perception that the Western democracies were weak and would not fight. March 1939, Hitler occupied all of Czechoslovakia. When Germany seized the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, it was clear that appeasement had failed.

Chamberlain resigned and Churchill became the new Prime Minister of Great Britain. At last, the Western democracies realized that Hitler’s aggression could not be contained. When Hitler began to demand the return of Danzig that was given to Poland in the Treaty of Versailles, Britain and France recognized that only the Soviet Union would be able to help contain Nazi German aggression and began political and military negotiations. Meanwhile, Hitler pressed on in the belief that Britain and France would not fight. Hitler, who wanted to prevent fighting a war on two fronts, negotiated his own non-aggression pact with Stalin. Hitler offered Stalin half of Poland if he supported a Nazi invasion of Poland. Stalin agreed. On September 1^st,1939 Germany invaded Poland. Stalin moved the Soviets in from the east and controlled the eastern half of Poland. France and Britain declared war on Germany. Europe was again at war!

Hitler propaganda about the Sudetenland rightfully belonging to Germany

Ethnic Germans in the city of Cheb greeting Hitler with the Nazi salute after he crossed the border into the formerly Czechoslovak Sudetenland in 1938

Leaders at the Munich Conference

Neville Chamberlain thought appeasement preserved "Peace in our time".

Winston Churchill was a critic of appeasement

German aggression - notice Poland divided between Germany & the Soviet Union

Invasion of Poland.mp4