Appeasement Flashcards
What was appeasement?
In the wake of the First World War, spectacular human cost, and the lack of political gain, had turned most of the public against an aggressive foreign policy. Spanish Civil War: Italy and Germany bomb the town of Guernica, destroying a quarter of the town itself. This makes it clear for the first time how involved the civilian population will be in any future war. British estimates placed the casualty count of any war that would begin now, as in the hundreds of thousands within the first few months. Opinion was against the ToV. Not as concerned with Hitler’s fascism, as they were with Communism.
Why was Hitler seen as a threat by Churchill?
- He signed the Rome-Berlin Axis in 1936 which made Italy a comrade of Hitler, capable of threatening British interests in the Middle East which put India at risk.
- He introduced conscription in 1935 and started building the Luftwaffe
- He remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936, a clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles
What were Churchill’s plans for Rearmament?
Building a superior air force
A Grand Alliance
Italy
Building a superior air force
he saw that the Luftwaffe was developing rapidly, and that Britain needed to develop advanced aircrafts like the Spitfire. However, simply relying on the RAF to protect Britain was insufficient as Britain needed a good expeditionary force too.
A Grand Alliance
he believed that the key to deterring Hitler would be by building an alliance with France, the USA, USSR and by countries supporting the League of Nations. However, the USA was isolationist and didn’t want war, the USSR had its own problems and mistrusted Churchill due to his previous crusade against Communism, France was in economic decline and dealing with internal economic problems and was content in their Maginot defences. Furthermore, the League of Nations was incapable of deterring Japan in 1931 and Italy in 1935, it had no military power of its own and the USA didn’t even join it.
Italy
Churchill liked Mussolini and wanted him as an ally against Hitler as they had been in 1914. He favoured the Hoare-Laval (Pact of 1935 which justified Abyssinia’s invasion) but he misjudged as Italy signed a pact with Germany in 1936.
Problems with Churchill’s appeasement plan?
He focused too much on the threat of Hitler and ignored Japan and Italy in endangering the Suez Canal and the British Empire in the Far East.
Economic decline- stemming from the Gold Standard in 1925, Britain was in serious economic decline and was incapable of rearming itself to take Germany head on.
The public- they didn’t want war and the Dominions sided with Chamberlain’s policy to appease Hitler
The Anschluss (connecting Austria with Germany) of March 1938
Churchill saw the Anschluss as an act for preparing for war but didn’t advocate military intervention. Similar to how France and Britain didn’t challenge Germany when she remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936. Similarly, Churchill praised Chamberlain’s policy of non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) even though Germany aided the Nationalists. Churchill was ambiguous in his campaign against Hitler. He had supported Heinlein’s advocacy that Hitler wanted peace in a visit in April 1938.
Churchill and the Munich Settlement
Czechoslovakia was allied to France but had a large population in the Sudetenland of German-speaking people (3 million people.)
Chamberlain had to give in to Hitler’s demand for the Sudetenland as an invasion of Czechoslovakia would’ve likely included Britain. He attempted to resolve conflict via the Runciman Mission but it failed in placating Hitler. This was a prime example of appeasement.
Churchill opposed the Munich Settlement that was signed in 30 September 1938 seeing it as a betrayal to the Czechs and for allowing Hitler to continue expanding. Churchill’s fear was confirmed when Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939.
Churchill approved of Chamberlain’s promise to protect Poland if it were to be invaded and when it did, on the 1st of September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany on the 3rd. On the same day, Churchill became FLOTA, a position held way back in 1911. However, the threat worsened when Germany and Russia became friends in August 1939 via the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
