Appeasement
For:
• Hitler was a buffer against the threat of communism (he hated communism)
• The British empire may have not certainly helped in a war against Germany
• Both Britain and France had witnesses the horrific experiences of the first world war and did not want another war
• Britain were still not ready for war. Weapons and ammunition was out of date
• Britain and France were both suffering from large debts and unemployment.
• The TOV was seen as unfair by many in Britain. People assumed that Germany would become a peaceful nation after the TOV was reversed
• The USA may have not supported if a war against Hitler started. America was determined to not be dragged into another war and Britain and their allies may not be powerful enough.
Against:
• It encouraged Hitler to be aggressive. His confidence keeps increasing.
• Allowed Germany to grow too strong. Which can be seen by the fact that their army was becoming more powerful than both Britain and France’s
• Appeasement was based on the mistaken idea that Hitler was trustworthy. He tended to go back on his promises
• It scared the USSR. It was clear that Hitler intended to expand eastwards. Appeasement gave the idea to USSR that Britain and France would not stand in Hitler’s way
Sudetenland (1938)
Edward Benes, leader of Czechoslovakia knew that that they were next after Hitler’s Anschluss with Austria. Britain and France had both committed to defending Czechoslovakia if invaded. France was bound with a treaty and Britain felt obliged to support the French. USSR had also promised to support. Chamberlain asked Hitler if he had designs on Czech and Hitler promised not even though he did.
Czech was a state made in TOV and included a large number of Germans in the Sudetenland area. Heinlin (Nazi leader in the Sudetenland) stirred up trouble among the Germans of Sudetenland and they demanded to be part of Germany. May 1938, Hitler threatened to fight Czechoslovakia if necessary. Many countries (mentioned above) had promised to support Czech and they themselves had a modern army, it was unclear whether Hitler’s army was strong enough to fight against them. Benes was also ready to fight as Czech would be defenceless without the Sudetenland’s forts, railways and industries. People were worried that a war would bring heavy bombing on civilians (similar to Spanish civil war). Cities around Britain started digging air raid shelters and magazines carried ads for air-raid protection and gas masks.
Chamberlain met Hitler on the 15th September to try and avoid war. Hitler stated that he was only interested in parts of the Sudetenland and even then only if a plebiscite showed that Sudeten Germans wanted to join Germany. Chamberlain found this reasonable as it was another thing wrong in TOV and also Hitler may be satisfied after he gets what he wants.
On 19th September France and Britain proposed their plans to the Czechs about giving Hitler the parts of the Sudetenland which he wanted. Three days later, at a second meeting, Hitler demanded the whole of the Sudetenland.
He justified this by claiming that the Czech government were mistreating the Germans there, and he intended to rescue them by the 1st October. Chamberlain told Hitler that his demands were unreasonable and the British Navy was mobilised.
29th September Britain, Germany, France and Italy decided to give Hitler what he wanted (Munich agreement). Neither the Czechs or USSR were consulted.
1st October, German troops march into Sudetenland . Hungary and Poland help them selves to territory where Hungarians and Poles were living.
The outcome was good as it prevented the outbreak of war however it made it clear that Appeasement would not stop Hitler. Chamberlain approved a massive increase in arms spending in preparation for war.
On 15th March 1939, with Czechoslovakia in crisis, German troops took over the entire country with no resistance from the Czechs. The Czechs were not separated from their homeland by TOV which shows that Hitler was going beyond reversing TOV. Next target was likely to be Poland.
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Stalin was worried of Germany’s threat to the Soviet Union as he had clearly stated his intentions of conquering Russian land. He had also imprisoned and killed communists in Germany.
Stalin had joined the LON in 1934 hoping that they would protect him from Hitler however it was clear that they were powerless. Stalin also realised that Britain and France were allowing a stronger Germany in order to stop the spread of communism.
In 1935 Stalin signed a treaty with France, saying that France would help the USSR if Germany invaded. Stalin did not believe that France would stick to this considering they failed to stop Hitler at their own border (Rhineland).
Munich agreement made him even more worried, especially considering he was not consulted in the decision.
Britain, France and USSR met in March 1939 to talk about an alliance against Hitler. Chamberlain was reluctant to commit Britain. France and Britain had made things worse by promising to protect Poland if invaded. This was seen as Chamberlain supporting one of USSR’s potential enemies.
24th August 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact. It agreed to not attack one another. They also decided to divide Poland between them. Main reasons for his decision included
• Britain and France were not strong or reliable enough as allies against Hitler
• Stalin had designs on large sections of eastern Europe and wanted to take over Baltic states (Part of Russia in the Tsars day)
On 1st September 1939, German army invaded Poland from the west while Soviets invaded Poland from the east (17th September). On 3rd September, war was declared on Germany (he did not see that coming).
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