Was the policy of appeasement justified?

There are two opinions that histories have, when dealing with this question. Some historians say that the appeasement wasn’t justified and that Chamberlain was a weak person while of the other hand some say that Chamberlain didn’t have any other chose. There are a number of reasons that support both of the sides.

Appeasement was justified in a few ways, sympathy for Germany, the desire for peace, the threat of communism and the time to rearm. All of these factors explain how the appeasement was justified.

Sympathy for Germany, was an accept that mainly concerned the British. As a matter of fact the British thought that the treaty of Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany. In addition Briton had an opinion that Germany should be treated more fairly. And as a consequence the British gave away on many things that Hitler desired, even when going against treaty of Versailles. For example the British signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in 1935. Which allowed Germany to have a navy. Further more The British didn’t take any actions when Hitler invaded Rhineland. Subsequently, nothing was done to stop Germany from joining with Austria. The British hoped that Hitler would get satisfied and stop his demands.

The desire for peace is the second important factory which makes the appeasement justified. Remembering the First World War, Britain and France didn’t want something like this to repeat again. They wanted to keep the world in peace. People from these countries didn’t want another war and hoped that the League of Nations would have the power to settle quarrels between countries. Furthermore there was the Great Depression that put many countries into a position, where they simply couldn’t afford a war.

The Threat of communism, also explains why the appeasement was justified. The biggest problem was the Briton and France couldn’t protect many of the countries from Hitler. For example Czechoslovakia and Poland are two good examples of counties that were Germany’s target and could not be protected by Briton and France because they were to far a way. The only county, which could protect these two countries, was the Soviet Union. But, France and Briton feared the spread of communism as much as they feared Hitler. Therefore, to them it seemed that the best solution was to keep the peace lasting as long a possible.

Time to rearm, was also a very important problem and which makes the appeasement justified. Germany or in other words Hitler had started to rearm long before and was ready for a war, on the other hand, Britain and France were not ready. When the Sudeten crisis occurred in 1938, Britain noticed that they needed time to build up their armed forces. By giving Sudetenland to Hitler at Munich this helped to put off the war for one more year giving a chance to Britain and France to rearm.

On the other hand the appeasement was not justified. The main factors that explain this are the following ones: The appeasers misjudged Hitler, appeasement was morally wrong and the appeasers missed chances to stop Hitler.

The appeasers misjudged Hitler, is a very important point that makes the appeasement unjustified. It seemed to many people that didn’t believe in the appeasement that Chamberlain trusted Hitler too much. Furthermore the opposition of the appeasement sad that people that believe in the appeasement didn’t realize that Hitler was a tyrant. By this they mean that he would do anything to get his way.

Furthermore, the fact the appeasement seemed morally wrong was an important factor as well. Many people believed that the appeasement basically showed that the appeasers were weaklings and cowards. And, in addition people believed that giving Czechoslovakia to Hitler was wrong. Britain and France were so afraid of another war that they gave in to Hitler on almost anything. Some people, like Winston Churchill, said that Britain should have stood up to Hitler and not given in.

Than, the final point, which makes the appeasement unjustified, is that the appeasers missed chances to stop Hitler. Britain and France had many chances were they could have stopped Hitler but they didn’t. For example, when Hitler had send troops into Rhineland in 1936, Britain and France didn’t take any actions. Later historians have found out that Hitler said to his generals, to retreat if they were opposed. Further more in 1938, Britain and France gave up Czechoslovakia to Hitler, where as, Czechoslovakia had a modern army and had a chance to resist Germany.

As a conclusion there are a number of reasons that support both sides of the argument. But for my point of view, the appeasement was not justified. I believe this due to the fact that if Britain and France took a more severe action against Germany, there would have been a chance that world war two hadn’t occurred.