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Tom Williams
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Avid reader, writer, political junkie, student of history Updated Sat

Do you think Neville chamberlain’s decision to appease Hitler made sense
(in the moment) as he wanted to spare human lives and prevent another destructive war?
It was exactly the correct decision at the time and with what was known.
The British military, other than the Royal Navy, was ill-equipped to
fight a war with Germany and the British people wanted no part of it.

Hitler was open about his refusal to adhere to many of the terms of the
Treaty of Versailles. Soon after he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933
he began to re-arm the country, breaking the restrictions mandated by
the treaty. In 1936, he sent German troops into the Rhineland and in
March 1938 he joined Germany and Austria.

As a result of national boundary changes from the First World War, three million Germans found themselves now living in a part of Czechoslovakia
known as the Sudetenland. The German population there had always been
against this situation and there was a lot of social friction between
them and the Czechoslovakian authorities.


Adolph Hitler was aware of this and vowed to reunite these Germans under
the German national flag and in preparation, stationed troops along the
Czech border. Edvard Benes, the leader of Czechoslovakia, knew that if
Germany was given the Sudetenland, most of the Czech defenses would be
rendered useless.

From Neville Chamberlain’s notes;

“He (Hitler) said that he had from his youth been obsessed with the
racial theory and he felt that the Germans were one, but he had drawn a distinction between the possible and the impossible and he recognized
that there are places where Germans are where it is impossible to bring
them into the Reich; but where they are on the frontier, it is a
different matter, and he is himself concerned with ten millions of
Germans, three millions of whom are in Czechoslovakia. He felt therefore
that those Germans should come into the Reich. They wanted to and he was determined that they should come in.

It was impossible that Czechoslovakia should remain like a spearhead in
the side of Germany.

So I said “Hold on a minute; there is one point on which I want to be
clear and I will explain why: you say that the three million Sudeten
Germans must be included in the Reich; would you be satisfied with that
and is there nothing more that you want? I ask because there are many
people who think that is not all; that you wish to dismember
Czechoslovakia.”

He then launched into a long speech; he was out for a racial unity and
he did not want a lot of Czechs, all he wanted was Sudeten Germans.”

I was then going on to some further questions on the subject when he
said: “But all this seems to be academic; I want to get down to
realities. Three hundred Sudetens have been killed and things of that
kind cannot go on; the thing has got to be settled at once: I am
determined to settle it: I do not care whether there is a world war or
not: I am determined to settle it and to settle it soon and I am
prepared to risk a world war rather than allow this to drag on.”

To that I replied: “If the Fuehrer is determined to settle this matter
by force without waiting even for a discussion between ourselves to take
place what did he let me come here for? I have wasted my time.”

Chamberlain’s flight to Berchtesgaden was followed by another to
Godesberg a week later and then another to Munich on 29 September. At
Munich, Chamberlain got an international agreement that Hitler should
have the Sudetenland in exchange for Germany making no further demands
for land in Europe. Chamberlain said it was ‘Peace for our time’. Hitler said he had ‘No more territorial demands to make in Europe.

On 1 October German troops occupied the Sudetenland: Hitler had got what
he wanted without firing a shot.


©Central Press/Getty Images

General Hastings Ismay, was the Secretary of the Committee of Imperial
Defence, (effective 1 August 1938) and was deeply involved in the
negotiations between Chamberlain and Hitler.

Conclusion of Note from General Ismay to the British Cabinet sent on
September 20th, 1938;

15. The broad conclusions of this Note may be summarized as follows;

(a) A German absorption of Czechoslovakia will enhance her military
prestige, increase her war potential and probably enable her to dispose
of stronger land forces against France and ourselves than she can do at present.

(b) So far as air power is concerned, Germany may be able to maintain
her lead over the Franco-British Air Forces in air striking power. On
the other hand, it is open to us, provided that we make the necessary
effort, to catch her up, or at least greatly reduce her lead, in the
matter of defence (both active and passive) against air attack. By so
doing we shall have heavily insured ourselves against the greatest
danger to which we are present exposed: indeed by substantially reducing Germany’s only chance of a rapid decision, we shall have provided a
strong deterrent against her making the attempt.

(c) It follows, therefore, that, from the military point of view, time
is in our favour, and that, if war with Germany has to come, it would be
better to fight her in say 6-12 months’ time, than to accept the present challenge.”

At the time Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement, he had agreed to a
huge increase in military spending in preparation for war. He was aware
from the situation outlined to him by General Ismay, that Czechoslovakia
was already lost, and that war was inevitable.

Six months later, in March 1939, German troops took over all of
Czechoslovakia. Poland was to be the next most likely target for Hitler
and Chamberlain made an agreement with the Poles to defend them if
Germany invaded. Hitler did not believe Britain would go to war over
Poland, having failed to do so over Czechoslovakia, so he sent troops
into Poland in September 1939. Two days later, Britain declared war on
Germany.

Chamberlain continued on as Prime Minister until May 1940 when he
resigned and Winston Churchill, a critic of appeasement, assumed power. Chamberlain died of cancer in November 1940, and he was vilified for appeasement in general and for his actions in September 1938 in
particular long after his death and the conclusion of the war.

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