Was Appeasement Justified What was appeasement n n
- Slides: 5
Was Appeasement Justified?
What was appeasement? n n n The actions of the allies leading up to world war two They basically let Hitler get away with actions such as the reoccupation of the Rhineland, and the invasion of Czechoslovakia Therefore they effectively “appeased” him, in the hope that he would become satisfied and demand nothing else
Arguments FOR appeasement: n n It bought time for rearmament- Britain especially was just not ready for war in 1938, the time of the Czechoslovakian crisis. Their rearmament programme was not due to finish until 1940. Appeasement meant that when war did come, they were relatively prepared There was a lot of sympathy for Germany- due to the increasingly common belief that the Treaty of Versailles had been really harsh on Germany, people began to genuinely believe that Hitler was only taking back, through actions such as the occupation of the Rhineland Rearmament, what had been unfairly taken from Germany in the first place.
Arguments FOR appeasement continued: n n n There was a desire for peace- after WW 1 no-one wanted to repeat the same bloodshed and trauma that had been experienced by all. Therefore avoiding war was seen as a priority. The threat of communism- many people saw this as a bigger threat than Nazi Germany, and some hoped Germany and the Soviet Union would fight each other, effectively weakening both. But most did not see Germany as a more overwhelming threat. The economies of the countries involved were simply not ready for the huge cost of war so soon after WW 1
Arguments AGAINST appeasement: n n n The allies underestimated Hitler severely: they treated him as a rational politician similar to themselves, when he was really an unscrupulous dictator prepared to demand more from them It was morally wrong- basically an excuse for cowardice and weakness They missed lots of opportunities to stop Hitler in his tracksn n Hitler said id he had face opposition during the militarization of the Rhineland, he would have withdrew At Munich, 1938, Czechoslovakia was abandoned, when it was well equipped to face an German attack
