Explain Why Britain and France Followed a Policy of Appeasement In the Autumn of 1935, Yet Declared War On Hitler One Year Later.

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Ben Musty - History Coursework - 19/09/2001

EXPLAIN WHY BRITAIN AND FRANCE FOLLOWED A POLICY OF APPEASEMENT IN THE AUTUMN OF 1935, YET DECLARED WAR ON HITLER ONE YEAR LATER.

For many reasons, both England and France decided that the best and most sensible way of dealing with Hitler's demands would be to follow a policy of appeasement.

When Hitler increased his army, navy and air force, although breaking the rules of the treaty, England and France allowed him to do so, as they did when he invaded the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia, which was also ignored.

Britain and Frances attitude to what Germany was doing was called appeasement, which meant giving Germany what they wanted, mainly in the interest of peace.

Britain and France could not afford to go to war because the large cost of repairing their cities and towns which had been damaged during the First World War. They also had a decreased economy due to the amount of money they were paying, funding their over-seas empires. From these economic reasons, Britain and France thought that it would be easier to follow a policy of appeasement, rather than spending money that they did not have to go to war.
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Due to their weak military, Britain and France were not strong enough at the time to attack Germany. This military reason, that they were still building up their army, meant it would be easier to follow a policy of appeasement rather than go to war with Germany, when they knew they had a small chance of defeating them, especially as Germany had been building up a strong military.

From the political point of view, Britain and France decided that the treaty was very harsh on Germany and so decided that it was only fair for Germany to ...

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