“Vengeance! German nation! Today at the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles a disgraceful treaty is being signed. Never forget it… There will be vengeance for the shame of 1919.” – From a German newspaper, 1919.
The above source shows that Germany was obviously disgusted by the Treaty, and was planning to get revenge for it. A future war was a probability, and the below source from the 1919 May issue of the Daily Herald shows:
The child on the source’s left hand side is crying because it knows that the treaty will eventually lead to war due to the treaty’s points being too harsh. The child is from the 1940 class, and will end up having to fight in the war, which also helps to explain why they are crying. Eventually, the people who had signed the Treaty of Versailles, later on decided that it was in fact too harsh. In 1929, the Young Plan was created. This decided that Germany only owed 2,000 million marks in reparations, to be paid over 59 years. This pleased Germany slightly, but they were still angry and wanted vengeance for the Treaty’s other terms.
Another point that saw Chamberlain as a peacemaker was the League of Nations. This was an organisation based on the idea of collective security. The idea was that if a country acted aggressively towards another, all the members of the League of Nations would sanction the aggressor and defend the country being attacked. The British put so much faith in this idea, as they thought it would be flawless. Unfortunately, the league never really worked properly. America never even joined the league this was a vital point in it as America, at this time, was the most important country in the world. Because the members of the league didn’t feel the need for military action (as they thought other countries would fear the league), other countries, like Japan, could just go fully against the league, and they were powerless to do anything about it. This was a big weakness in the league and was a major point in its failure. Only Britain and France were in the league, throughout its small life span. Countries like Germany and Japan pulled out of the league in 1935 and this made the league weaker, and have more enemies. Chamberlain was almost stupid to put so much faith in the league, as it was obvious it was a failure from the start. But because he was determined for it work, this shows he was a peacemaker as he was desperate to avoid war, and would take any other option offered to him.
A major policy followed mainly by Britain, but also France eventually, was appeasement. The idea of it was to give in to reasonable demands of aggressive countries, so as to stop them attacking other countries. The advantages of appeasement were:
- Britain was in an economic depression, and couldn’t afford to rearm at this time.
- The British people obviously did not want war at all.
- Much of Britain and Europe felt that the real threat was Russia, and that Germany would be a good powerful country to defend them from Russia’s rising power.
- The people of Europe had realised that the Treaty of Versailles was in fact too harsh, and felt it was only right to allow Germany back some of what was originally hers.
- Britain admired Hitler, as he had given the Germans hope, created jobs and managed to rebuild Germany somewhat.
- There was currently no power to help Britain in future wars, America hadn’t joined the League of Nations, France had become divided, therefore making her weak and unable to be powerful in a war, Italy and Germany were becoming very close and powerful allies, and Russia was communist.
These were the main reasons that Chamberlain had used appeasement so much. He and Britain weren’t ready for a war, and appeasement seemed to be the only current way to avoid a war. Previous Prime Ministers had followed the policy of appeasement, and they had become successful politicians. When Hitler marched troops into the Rhineland in 1936, no one tried to stop Germany at all, as they all felt that Germany should have the Rhineland, as it had been theirs originally. This proves how desperate Britain was to avoid war, and that they would go to huge lengths to stop war. This was obviously the route Chamberlain was meant to take.
The activities that took place in the Sudetenland in 1938 proved that Chamberlain was serious about his policy of appeasement. When Hitler demanded the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain soon agreed to this idea. He felt that if Germany were given the Sudetenland, they wouldn’t make any more aggressive moves, and therefore not want to start a war. Chamberlain flew to Germany and met up with Hitler on three separate occasions, once in Berchtesgaden (15th September 1938), once in Godesberga (22nd September 1938) and finally in Munich (28th – 30th September 1938). Hitler made the point that the Sudetenland had three million German speaking people in it, who would much rather be part of Germany than Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain agreed, and gave the Sudetenland to Germany. On the 30th of September, Chamberlain and Hitler signed the ‘scrap of paper’, which stated that Britain and Germany would never go to war with each other.
Chamberlain is a peacemaker here because he is giving land to countries that are demanding it. He seemed to desperately avoid war, as he thought another war would surely destroy Europe, due to the advancement in weaponry and military points.
Due to having lost the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia lost 70% of her heavy industry, and almost all of her fortifications against Germany. In March 1939, Hitler ordered German troops to invade the rest of Czechoslovakia. Britain and France, though against the movement, took no action, as Chamberlain said technically the Germans had been invited in. Chamberlain wanted peace so much, that he was more than willing to risk the lives of the Czechoslovakians, as they were not close enough to Britain to have an effect on them. Chamberlain should not have given up Czechoslovakia so easily. He was now just giving in to every demand Germany had, and therefore, simply allowing Germany to become so powerful. But Chamberlain reacted the way he did because he was determined to avoid war at all costs, even if it meant ‘sacrificing’ a country, or two.
Germany was angry that the Treaty of Versailles had caused them to lose Danzig and the Polish Corridor to Poland therefore Poland was Germany’s next target. At the end of March 1939, Chamberlain wrote a letter to Poland explaining that if Germany threatened them, France and Britain would lend them their support at once. Soon after, in April, Hitler demanded Danzig and a railway across the Polish Corridor. The current Polish Prime Minister, Beck, turned down Germany’s idea. As Chamberlain was convinced this would surely infuriate Germany, he urged Beck to forfeit Danzig, but to no avail. This proves how much Chamberlain was desperate to avoid a second war. He wanted control on every action, and now that Beck was standing up to Germany, Chamberlain was becoming anxious as to the outcome of the event in hand. Chamberlain thought that the only way Germany wouldn’t start a war was if most of their demands were given into.
After having discussed why some contemporaries thought Chamberlain was a peacemaker, I will now examine the reasons why Chamberlain was not in fact a true peacemaker, and did actually hidden objectives when using the policy of appeasement.
Chamberlain made sure Britain joined the League of Nations as soon as it was created, and along with France, were the only two countries to stay with the league until it stopped. Chamberlain put too much faith in the league. He was convinced that it was sure to work, but it obviously wasn’t going to last as soon as America decided not to join. This meant that the league was unstable and weak right from the start. Then, Germany and Japan both pulled out of the league in 1935, making it weaker still. Because the league thought no country would stand up to it, it had a very small military. This meant that strong countries (e.g. Japan) easily went against the league, leaving it powerless. Though Chamberlain was simply trying to avoid war, it was wrong of him to put everything on the league, as it was obviously not going to work as soon as America turned their back on it.
In 1939, when Chamberlain gave the Sudetenland to Germany, this was a wrong move, as it simply encouraged Hitler to take more countries. It made Hitler feel that he could have anything, because he knew Chamberlain would let him have almost any country so as to avoid war. Hitler took advantage of this situation and kept demanding districts and areas, including Danzig. Chamberlain seemed to just be afraid of Germany too much, he seemed to think that Germany could overpower the rest of Europe and America combined. So to avoid this, he sacrificed many areas, and therefore encouraged Hitler to declare war.
In Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain added to the prospect even more. He used the poor reason that Czechoslovakia had invited in Germany, to hide the fact that he was just being a coward. He seemed to also have control over France in this situation too, as they also made no attempt to help the Czechs from the Germans. The historian C. Culpin wrote in his book “Making History” – “Chamberlain was prepared to allow the destruction of Czechoslovakia in order to preserve peace. Britain put its world empire before a “far off country” and “people of whom we know nothing” – the unfortunate Czechs.” It was unfair of Chamberlain to simply ‘forget’ about the Czechs and their opinion, because he didn’t know anything about them. Chamberlain was just being a coward, and should have retaliated against Germany, to help prevent war and also to help Czechoslovakia. It wasn’t until after Hitler had invaded Czechoslovakia that Chamberlain decided this was going too far, and eventually decided to stop Germany from having too much more land. He decided to stand up to Hitler; this would surely cause conflicts and of course, lead to war.
When Hitler was attempting to take back Danzig and the Polish Corridor from Poland, Britain and France said that they would help Poland. Hitler took this as a bluff, and carried on regardless. But as the Poles continued to refuse negotiating Germany invaded Poland. Chamberlain instantly tried to use ‘appeasement’ again, but to no avail, as Germany didn’t respond to the proposal of withdrawing and having a conference. Chamberlain sent an ultimatum to Germany, which expired at 11am on September 3rd. Britain, declared war on Germany. This is definitely not something a peacemaker would have done.
Some people think there were other motives to Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement, other than to simply avoid war. A modern History textbook states that “Today, however, many historians tend to sympathise with Chamberlain for the failure of a policy which he did not invent, but inherited from prime ministers before him…” This shows that Chamberlain wasn’t originally on intending to be a peacemaker; previous prime ministers, and the public who wanted nothing to do with war forced it onto him. Another opinion on Chamberlain’s appeasement policy was that he was rearming, and was using appeasement to buy time. Another modern history text says: “Chamberlain pressed on with rearmament and by 1939 nearly 20% of government expenditure went on arms and the armed forces.” This proves that Chamberlain was rearming so as to be a threat to countries like Germany, but his appeasing made Germany much more powerful than he had imagined, and then led to a larger war.
The above source shows the military spending as a percentage of the government spending. It clearly shows that Chamberlain is rearming. Even though Germany is rearming at a much larger rate, Britain is still preparing for a war, which it knows is going to happen. If Chamberlain knew that war would occur, why did he keep giving Germany land, which still led to war? It was because he was a coward who thought he could buy himself and Britain out of any situation. Unfortunately, his plan backfired and he ended up giving Germany much land, sacrificing countries, and having many innocents killed, just so that World War 2 would start later rather than sooner. This is not the action of a peacemaker.
After having looked at and analysing the information given to me, I have decided that Chamberlain was a peacemaker, up to a certain point when he just gave in to anything. He was genuinely trying to stop war as he had been in the First World War and had seen its horrors. The British people also did not want war, and so were pressurising Chamberlain to avoid it. And at this time, Britain was unable to afford to rearm due to economic pressure. But the majority of these reasons are hardly to do with Chamberlain personally, as they had been forced upon him. In 1939 Chamberlain had given the Sudetenland to Hitler, this gave Hitler more confidence to attack more countries and to spread out further. When Hitler took Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain used the excuse that he didn’t know the Czechs well enough, to need to do anything. This was cowardliness at work. Chamberlain even went to the extreme of declaring war on Germany, a true peacemaker would not have done, or even considered, this. Overall, Chamberlain was just being a coward, and does not deserve to be remembered as a peacemaker.