Hitler with the Allies, was like someone going into a freezing cold bath, first he’d test them out see the reaction then go ‘a bit deeper’ and go in bit by bit and see what would happen.
At this point Britain had been told by Hitler that this would be their last territorial demand in Europe. And the Allies were so naive to believe Hitler, no of them wanted a repeat of World War 1 as in their eyes there was no winner because all countries lost so many men and had so many buildings destroyed that it was not worth it. They would do everything to avoid another war. This just like what was said by Churchill, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile and hopes that it eats him last”.
Hitler had given Britain the wrong impression, this is shown by the letter written by Lord Lothian, who had been the secretary of Lloyd George- the former Prime Minister- in January 1935. It says, “I am convinced that Hitler does not want war. I believe that what the Germans are after is a strong but not an excessive army which will enable them to deal with Russia…Hitler is anxious to come to terms with us and I think trusts us…of course all the wolves of hatred and fear and suspicion are clamouring to prevent understanding”.
In November, Japan and Germany then signed an Anti-Comintern Pact directed at preventing the spread of Communism. A few months later Mussolini agreed to an Anti-Communist Pact with Hitler, he said that this would be the link between Berlin and Rome. Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister, said Germany and Italy would keep Communism at bay in Europe, while Japan would do the same in the Far East. Meanwhile Hitler revealed his future plans which were that the only solution for Germany would be to get extra ‘living space’ in Europe.
In March 1938, Anschluss (Union) with Austria, again forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles, takes place. Then in August 1938, Germany started to collect their forces near the Czech border. People began to think that there might really be a war. On September 12th 1938, Hitler got German support for the Sudeten Germans and gave a speech in Nuremburg. Chamberlain then met with Hitler to try to change his mind but in the end drew up a plan concerning the Sudetenland and got the Czechs to agree. After meeting with Hitler Chamberlain wrote to his sister “I had established a certain confidence which was my aim…in spite of the hardness and ruthlessness I thought I saw in his face, I got the impression that here was a man who would be relied upon when he had given his word”. But then Hitler had new demands which the Czechs didn’t agree to. Chamberlain then, once again, appeased Germany and told Czechoslovakia that Bohemia would be overrun and nothing that any other Power can do will prevent this fate for your country. Czechoslovakia backed down despite the fact that they would have easily outnumbered the Germans.
Then in March 1939, Germany takes over part of, and declares a protectorate over the rest of, Czechoslovakia, and seizes Memel (a part of Lithuania).
In May, Hitler signed the ‘Pact of Steel’ with Germany.
In August, Hitler signed a Non Aggression Pact with the USSR.
And in September Germany invaded Poland, this started World War 2.
In my opinion, appeasement could have been the right thing to do in the short-term, as it could lure Hitler into a false sense of security and they could have allowed Germany to attack Czechoslovakia as the Czechs would have easily dealt with the Germans, but they then continually allowed Germany to get stronger and get away with the wrong things. This was not the right thing to do in the long-term but since they did not have the benefit of hindsight they would not have seen the problem with consistently appeasing Hitler.
