Up to 1933 his plans had been made clear. That year he began rearming in secret and by 1935 held a massive rally displaying to the world the new power of Germany. At Versailles at the end of the Great War Germany had been forbidden from building up a strong army or navy, yet this was what Hitler was doing. Britain justified this act by saying that it was natural for a country to re-build its forces in case of any impending attack. The following year Hitler again directly violated one of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles when he ordered troops into the Rhineland giving them strict orders for a hasty retreat where they opposed in any way. The Treaty had stated that no German troops could enter the Rhineland as it bordered France and was a threat to the French. By 1937 Hitler was testing his new weapons in the Spanish Civil War. It was a way of showing Germany’s new powers. Hitler also signed an anti-Communist pact with Japan which Italy would also sign a year later.
In 1938 Hitler was keen to expand more territory. 4 years earlier he had tried to take over Austria but now he renewed his interests. There are a few reasons why he wanted Austria. Firstly, it was the country of his birth and had strong affections for it. Secondly, it was a German-speaking country. Hitler believed that both belonged in ‘one greater Germany’. Many Austrians were pleased at the prospect of uniting with Germany as their country was economically weak. Hitler ordered the Nazi party in Germany to stage demonstrations calling for union to make it look like Austrian Chancellor Schuschnig was unable to run his own country. When he asked for British and French aid he was refused it so he had no choice but to call for a referendum calling for Austrians to vote whether or not they wanted union. In March 1938 Hitler sent his troops to ‘watch over’ the voting process. Not surprisingly, given the situation, %100 voted pro-union.
Hitler now had his eye on another country-Czechoslovakia. He wanted to take over its German-speaking population, mostly found in an area called the Sudetenland. Britain and France said that Hitler could have it so long as he did not invade any more land. Hitler gave them his word. All this happened at the Munich Conference, with Britain, France, Germany and Italy in attendance. Czechoslovakia was not invited.
But now the big gamble was yet to come. In 1939 Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in violation of the agreement. War was now coming. Britain and France had simply stepped aside and allowed Hitler to take control of wherever he liked. Was France next on the list?
The big question here is why Britain followed the policy. In truth it had a number of reasons. PM Neville Chamberlain had said in September 1938 that ‘it was peace for our time’. 6 months later WWII was about to start. What happened?
In the early ‘30s Britain was not ready to fight. It was just a few decades off the Great War, which they remembered all too well. Apart from not wanting to jeopardize the British Empire once again the country did not even have resources to fight. Neither did Hitler, although he kept up the pretense that he was ready for war. Besides, Britain had its own problems, facing high unemployment and a long economic drought. It would need the backing of the rest of the Empire and the USA. They were not sure Commonwealth countries would support another war while the US had an isolation (neutral) policy. In truth, the appeasement did nothing but encourage Hitler to take bigger risks. According to the views of some critics had Britain and France threatened Germany with war then it would’ve backed off as it was not ready to fight. The opposite pro-appeasement argument is that the Appeasement Policy was right at the time as it bought time for Britain to build up its forces in case it went to war. Also Hitler was opposing the USSR meaning that if Britain gave Hitler what he wanted then he could fight of the USSR for them. However, this was very unlikely as Germany herself was still building up its army.
In short, the Appeasement had failed as by trying to avoid war at all costs had brought on the very thing that Britain had been trying to avoid from the very start-war. A big reason was that Chamberlain and the British took Hitler to be a rational actor who would remain true to his word.