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The Appeasement Was the Wrong Choice for British Foreign Policy from 1935 To 1939
Introduction
The repercussions of the First World War were too harsh that most countries hoped never to get involved in a conflict that would result in similar results. Therefore, countries like Britain adopted a policy referred to as appeasement. Appeasement was a diplomatic policy adopted by British and some other European democracies after World War II to ignore any form of aggression with the aim of preventing war. It entailed resolving conflicts through negotiation and compromise to prevent armed conflict. The appeasement policy, which was applied in 1930s by various European countries resulted in fake peace, and eventually made war inevitable. They were trying to prevent war with Germany and Italy, which were demonstrating severe aggression. British greatly applied the appeasement policy hoping to avoid war with Germany and Italy. The British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain avoided any conflict that would result in war between Britain and Germany from 1937 to 1939. This paper focuses on the reasons why appeasement the wrong choice for British foreign policy from 1935 to 1939.
There are many reasons why the appeasement policy was a wrong decision by the British. Although Chamberlain of British hoped to prevent occurrence of another war through adoption of the policy of appeasement, Adolf Hitler of Germany and Benito Mussolini of Italy continued being aggressive. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini of Italy and Germany were quite aggressive and took advantage of the British appeasement policy to develop themselves. They considered Britain a coward. Therefore, Germany occupied Rhineland while Italy invaded Abyssinia since they knew that the other European powers would not respond. Consequently, Britain adoption of the policy of appeasement allowed European aggressors to plan and perpetuate actions of defiance (Adams 133-139).
At the start of the appeasement policy, Britain signed an agreement with Germany, allowing Hitler to increase his navy. This move was inappropriate since Germany eventually violated the Treaty of Versailles when he invaded Rhineland. The violation was possible since Hitler took advantage of France and Britain appeasement policy. Moreover, Italy and Germany continued to arm themselves and conquer other regions. Additionally, the Munich conference of 1938 gave the aggressors more power to attack other countries since France and Britain continued to prefer use of negotiations, which favored Germany and Italy. Moreover, the aggressor continued to dominate the world, which eventually led to Second World War (Adams 45-49).
The appeasement policy adopted by British was not appropriate since it was satisfying the aggressors. Although Britain believed that negotiations would prevent war, the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy had their own aspirations, which they wanted to fulfill. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia and Britain did not respond. In 1938, Germany captivated Austria. Even when Adolf Hitler wanted to annex Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain of Britain sought to negotiate resulting in signing of the notorious Munich Agreement. Therefore, the appeasement policy encouraged aggression (Adams 11-117).
Conclusion
The appeasement policy adopted by Britain was inappropriate and made war inevitable. From 1935 to 1939, Germany and Italy perpetrated acts of aggression since they considered Britain a coward. Attempts of British to use negotiations were not fruitful and only enabled Adolf and Mussolini to continue with their dictatorial actions. Actions such as Hitler’s attempt to absorb Czechoslovak into Germany and invasion of Ethiopia by Italy were encouraged by the appeasement policy. This is because the aggressors perpetrated their actions without any serious justification and face no repercussion. Although the appeasement policy aimed at preventing war, it made war inevitable.
Works Cited
Adams, Ralph. How was appeasement the wrong choice for British foreign policy from 1935 to 1939? New York: Stanford University Press, 1993. Print.
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