Reasons For and Against Appeasement - Conflict and Tension

Question 1

arguments for appeasement:

Answer 1

• war costs lives and should be avoided
• many in government still saw Germany as a buffer to stop the spread of Communism from the east
• many British people felt Germany was mistreated at Versailles and most of Hitler’s demands were reasonable
• the government was also aware of the strength of feeling in Britain against taking military action
• French instability was a concern - there had been 24 governments in 10 years
• the USA was following an isolationist policy
• Italy had joined the Axis Alliance and could not help against Germany
• British politicians did not trust the Communist government of the Soviet Union to help them
• Britain and France’s armies were not strong enough for war in 1938
• Hitler said he would be peaceful
• up to this point, Hitler’s foreign policy gains had been done relatively peacefully
• the Labour Party advocated appeasement in the 1930s
• the construction of the Maginot Line meant French military was now mainly defensive and was not ready to take action
• there was no support for war in Britain - ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ had been reprinted 30 times between 1929 and 1933
• in 1934, 11 million people voted against fighting in the Peace Ballot
• there was a strong pacifist movement in the 1930s and many thought war was wasteful
• it could be argued that appeasement gave Britain and France time to rearm

Question 2

arguments against appeasement:

Answer 2

• Hitler had threatened violent actions in foreign policy in the past
  Hitler had used violence within Germany
• appeasement was morally wrong - if Hitler used bullying tactics it was up to Britain to oppose him
• by following appeasement Britain betrayed the Austrians and the Czechs
• appeasement made Britain look weak and gave Hitler the confidence to step up his demands
• appeasement did not work because Hitler could not be trusted to keep his word and Chamberlain misjudged Hitler
• he didn’t realise until it was too late that appeasement just encouraged Hitler to go further
• Czechoslovakia was strong and modern and could have made a stand against Hitler
• in 1938, the policy appeared to be working but by the end of 1939 it had been shown to be successful