Appeasement

1
Appeasement

• Learning Aim
• To Understand The Concept Of Appeasement

2
Defining Appeasement

• Taken in its most positive sense appeasement is
  the honourable and praiseworthy policy of putting
  right someone else's legitimate grievance
• It can also be used to describe a countrys
  attempt to use diplomacy to reduce the number of
  its potential enemies
• This is what the politicians of the 1930s were
  trying to do

3
Appraisal of the policy of appeasement in the
1930s

• Britain was in economic decline but had
  world-wide commitments and responsibilities
• Governments had to take more notice of public
  opinion because of the reform acts giving those
  aged 21 the vote
• Support from the Empire and Commonwealth could
  not be taken for granted
• Tht Treaty of Versailles had complicated rather
  than solved the problem of Britains relations
  with France and Germany

4
Other reasons for appeasement

• Appeasement was not a single policy
• In the 1930s Britain could not afford to take on
  all of her potential enemies and meet the needs
  of the League of Nations
• Deciding on the appropriate response to each
  crisis involved decisions about strategic
  priorities and economic policy as well as
  diplomacy

5
Opponents to appeasement

• Churchill was a lone voice of opposition
  throughout the 1930s
• The Labour Party was close to being contradictory
  with its support for disarmament but demands to
  have greater support for the League of Nations
• Anthony Eden ,who resigned in 1938,disagreed with
  Chamberlains policy towards Italy and the USA
  not the policy of appeasement

6
Chamberlain

• British foreign policy changed when Chamberlain
  became Prime Minister in 1937.
• With a partner make up a biography of Chamberlain