Transcript Appeasement

Appeasement
Kevin J. Benoy
Definition
• The policy followed first by the British and
later by the French, of avoiding war with
aggressive powers by giving way to their
demands – provided that they were not
unreasonable.
Two Phases
There were basically two phases to
appeasement:
• First Phase: from the mid-1920’s to 1937,
during which people generally felt a war
must be avoided at all costs.
• Second Phase: from May 1937 to mid 1939,
when British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain took the initiative in trying to
reason with Hitler, showing him that
negotiation, rather than force, would resolve
all reasonable claims.
Roots of Appeasement
• Lloyd-George himself felt
that the Versailles Treaty
was too harsh – but it was
not politically acceptable
for the British government
to modify its position at
the time.
• Many other Englishmen,
including John Maynard
Keynes, felt the treaty
draconian.
• Would anyone fight to
enforce such a treaty?
Roots of Appeasement
• The Locarno Treaty of
1925 deliberately left the
door open to revision of
Germany’s Eastern
boundaries.
• According to Foreign
Minister Austen
Chamberlain (Neville’s
half-brother), “no British
government would ever
risk the bones of a British
Grenadier in defense of
the Polish Corridor.”
Popular Support
• Most British
politicians, of all
parties, supported
appeasement.
Ramsay Macdonald,
Labour
Stanley Baldwin,
Conservative
Popular Support
– It would avoid war, which modern
technology made unacceptably
devastating.
– War or even deterrence through arms was
considered too costly for any sensible
government to fund.
– Both Italy and Germany had been badly
treated at the Paris Peace Conference.
– The League of Nations had no teeth.
Deals between the powers were needed to
preserve peace.
– Economic cooperation between Germany
and Britain would help both. Prosperity
in Germany would reduce violence.
Popular Support
• Fear of communism
was particularly strong
among conservatives.
Stalin, not Hitler, was
the chief threat.
• Some, in Britain, and
many in France,
admired Hitler.
Popular Support
• War at a time when
the USA was in
isolation, France was
politically divided, and
Britain militarily
unprepared, was
thought foolish.
• Time was needed to
allow Britain to regain
her strength.
France’s Position
• Although France initially
opposed appeasement, early
in the 1920’s, it late
modified this position –
sometimes supporting and
sometimes opposing it.
• Poincare opposed modifying
Versailles; Briand favoured
conciliation.
• A later foreign minister who
proposed being firm with
Hitler, was assassinated.
• France was too politically
divided to be decisive in the
1930’s.
France’s Position
•Militarily, France had invested hugely in the static Maginot Line.
•Her strategic position was, therefore, predicated on defense and not
mobility.
German Revisionism
• Hitler moved quickly
to rearm, but insisted
that Germany would
disarm if the rest of
the world did so.
• Hitler was good at
acting aggressively
then making soothing
comments.
German Revisionism
• Germany’s signing of a 10
year non-aggression pact
with Poland in 1934 was
seen as evidence of his
willingness for peace.
• However, his real
intention was to split the
Franco-Polish alliance.
• British Lord Lothian, in
January 1935, said
“…what the Germans are
after is a strong army
which will enable them to
deal with Russia.”
The Dolfuss Affair
• In 1934, Hitler suffered a
setback when he attempted to
bring about Anschluss (union)
with Austria.
• Austrian Nazis, directed by
Hitler, staged a revolt,
murdered the Austrian
Chancellor Englebert Dollfuss,
and tried to seize power.
• Italy responded by massing 3
tank divisions on its Austrian
frontier.
• Hitler backed down.
The Stresa Front
• The Dollfuss Affair
seemed to push together
Fascist Italy and the
Western European
democracies to contain
Hitler.
• In April, 1935, Britain,
Italy and France set up the
Stresa Front to oppose
further revision of
Versailles.
• Hitler responded by acting
with much more restraint.
Saarland Returned
• In 1935 the Saar was
returned to Germany
after 90% of its
inhabitants voted for
union with Germany.
Anglo-German Naval Agreement
• In June, 1935, Britain and
Germany signed the
Anglo-German Naval
Agreement, which set the
allowable size of the
German navy to 35% that
of total British tonnage.
• This was inconsistent with
previous arms limitations
and it seemed to contradict
the Stresa Front.
The Abyssinian War
• Feeling that Britain
and France needed his
support, Mussolini
expected a free hand
in avenging Italy’s
19th century defeat at
the hands of Abyssinia
(Ethiopia).
The Abyssinian War
• Newsreel film and
eyewitness reports of
the Italian use of
poison gas and flame
throwers brought
public outrage in
Britain and France.
The Abyssinian War
• In October, 1935 the
League of Nations
denounced Italy as an
aggressor and imposed
limited economic
sanctions.
• Austria, Hungary and
Germany refused to apply
sanctions.
• Coal, oil and steel, the
goods most needed by
Italy, were not restricted.
• Britain even allowed Italy
to use the Suez Canal.
The Abyssinian War
• Trying to patch up
the Stresa Front,
Britain and France
proposed the HoareLaval Plan, which
would grant 2/3 of
Abyssinia to Italy.
• When word of the
secret agreement
leaked, it forced the
resignation of Sam
Hoare, the British
Foreign Minister.
The Abyssinian War
• In May, 1936 Addis
Ababa, the Abyssinian
capital fell.
• Italy had its way in
Africa.
• The Stresa Front was
also dead.
• Mussolini looked for a
new friend.
The Rhineland
• With the world’s
attention focused on
Abyssinia, Hitler
marched into the
demilitarized
Rhineland.
The Rhineland
• German troops were
ordered to withdraw if
they encountered any
Allied resistance.
• They did not.
• Britain was too
sympathetic to act,
believing that Germany
was “going into their own
back garden.”
• The League of Nations
protested feebly.
• France was too politically
divided to act alone.
Edward VIII
• Britain gained,
briefly, a new and
pro-German King
– Edward VIII.
• However, his
reign ended after
only 11 months,
as he abdicated in
order to marry
American divorce
Wallis Simpson.
The Spanish Civil War
• In July, 1936 General
Francisco Franco rebelled
against the Leftist
government of Spain.
• A week after the rebellion
commenced, Hitler agreed
to provide the rebel
general military aid.
• German aircraft were
instrumental in
transporting Franco’s
Moroccan army to
peninsular Spain.
The Spanish Civil War
• Italy also helped the
nationalist uprising – on
land and at sea.
• The Republican
government had sympathy
abroad, but the Western
democracies pledged
neutrality.
• Only individual volunteers
in the International
Brigades, and the Soviet
Union offered help to the
Republic.
The Spanish Civil War
• German and Italian
forces gained
significant combat
experience and tested
their weapon systems.
• The German bombing
of Guernica gave
notice of what air war
would mean for
civilians.
Anschluss
• With the world’s attention
focused on Spain and
Britain consumed with the
issues of the monarchy,
Hitler again turned to his
boyhood home.
• In February, Austrian
Chancellor Schuschnigg
was summoned to Hitler’s
mountain retreat at
Berchtesgarten and bullied
into granting amnesty to
Nazi plotters.
Anschluss
• To avoid further street
fighting, Schushnigg
announced a plebiscite in
March on whether or not
Austrians wanted to unite
with Germany.
• Fearing an embarrassing
loss, Hitler demanded the
resignation of the Austrian
Chancellor.
Anschluss
• Schuschnigg appealed
for British and Italian
support.
• None was offered.
• On March 12,
German troops
crossed into Austria
and Hitler returned
home in triumph to
the cheers of Austrian
crowds.
• Hitler’s plebiscite
received 99% support.
The Sudetenland
• Czechoslovakia felt
vulnerable after
Anschluss.
• It was now surrounded on
three sides by Germany, at
a time when Hitler was
fomenting trouble among
Czechoslovakia’s 3.5
million Sudeten Germans.
The Sudetenland
• Konrad Henlein, the Sudeten Nazi leader, claimed
Czechoslovak discrimination against the German minority.
The Sudetenland
• From June, 1938 German
pressure on
Czechoslovakia began to
build.
• Chamberlain, the British
Prime Minister, sent Lord
Runciman to
Czechoslovakia to report
on the situation. He
suggested Sudeten
autonomy within
Czechoslovakia.
The Sudetenland
• Hitler was unsatisfied.
• He wanted the immediate
surrender of the entire
area.
• The Czechoslovaks were
opposed, as the territory
included virtually all of
their strong mountain
defences and one of the
world’s greatest armament
factories – the Skoda
Works.
The Sudetenland
• Chamberlain and French
Prime Minister Daladier
suggested areas with more
than 50% German
population might be
surrendered after a
plebiscite.
• Fearing abandonment by
its French ally,
Czechoslovak President
Benes agreed.
The Sudetenland
• Hitler refused to
compromise – but agreed
to a meeting with
Chamberlain at Bad
Godesberg.
• Here, he ranted and raved,
demanding everything by
October 1 or there would
be war.
• Chamberlain left, badly
shaken.
The Sudetenland
• War seemed
imminent.
• In Britain,
civilians filled
sandbags for
defense works.
The Sudetenland
• Stalin pledged to stand by
Czechoslovakia against
Hitler.
• However, Benes
mistrusted Stalin.
– The USSR had no common
border with Czechoslovakia
and there was no guarantee
Poland or Romania would
allow Soviet troops to pass
through.
– The fighting ability of the
recently purged Red Army
was doubted.
– Benes was as unhappy at
the prospect of Soviet
troops in Prague as German
ones.
The Sudetenland
• Chamberlain was
convinced that the
British public did not
want to fight for this
“far away country.”
• British rearmament
was now underway –
but air defenses were
dangerously weak.
The Munich Conference
• In the midst of the
Crisis, Mussolini
offered to mediate in a
4 Power Conference in
Munich.
• Czechoslovakia and
the USSR were not
invited.
• For the British and
French, it offered a
way out of war.
The Munich Conference
• Mussolini was hardly the
“honest broker” he
claimed to be.
• The deal he proposed was
drafted by the German
Foreign Office.
• The deal gave Hitler
everything he demanded
at Godesberg – but by
October 15.
The Munich Conference
• In a side deal,
Chamberlain got
Hitler to sign a
document promising
no additional claims
would be made in
Europe – the famous
“piece of paper.”
• Chamberlain believed
he had “peace in our
time.”
The Munich Conference
• Chamberlain’s deal was
welcomed by a wildly
enthusiastic public.
• Others, however, felt
otherwise.
• Duff Cooper, First Lord of
the Admiralty, resigned in
disgust.
• Churchill called Munich
“a total and unmitigated
defeat.”
The Munich Conference - Results
• Czechoslovakia had no
choice but to sign.
• It was crippled, losing
70% of its heavy industry
and almost all of its border
defenses.
• Slovakia, with German
encouragement, began to
demand autonomy.
• Poland and Hungary made
territorial claims
• Hacha, the Czech leader,
was pressured into
requesting German help to
restore order.
The Czechs Betrayed
• In March, 1939
German troops
occupied the remainder
of the Czech part of the
country.
• Britain and France did
nothing, though they
had guaranteed
Czechoslovakia against
further German
aggression. The
promise was invalid,
they claimed; the
Germans were invited
in.
End of Appeasement
• Chamberlain was
appalled.
• Britain pledged to
defend Poland against
attack and France
renewed its 1919
alliance.
• After Italy invaded
Albania at Easter,
Britain and France
gave guarantees to
Romania and Greece.
End of Appeasement
• Despite his ideological
aversion to dealing
with the Soviets,
Britain and France
opened military talks
with the USSR.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
• However, the Western
Democracies had
nothing to offer – if
war broke out in the
East, Russia would do
the fighting and would
get nothing in return.
• Hitler had more to
offer – a division of
Eastern Europe
between the two
powers – with the
lion’s share offered to
Stalin.
Poland
• Hitler gambled and
won on every occasion
since his first attempt
at Anschluss.
• German pressure on
Poland began as early
as March, 1939 –
when Hitler demanded
the return of the Free
City of Danzig to
Germany and free
passage through the
Polish Corridor.
Poland
• British negotiators still
sought to preserve
peace – but with little
confidence that Hitler
could be trusted.
• British rearmament
was picking up
dramatically.
• On March 30, Britain
& France guaranteed
Polish security
Poland
• Negotiations with Britain
continued, but Germany
unilaterally withdrew from
the German-Polish NonAggression Pact of 1934
and the 1935 London
Naval Agreement.
• There was no prospect of
success.
• On August 31, Hitler
ordered German forces
into action against Poland.
• Appeasement was
finished.
Conclusions
• Hitler largely
guessed right until
late 1939.
• His aggressive
posture worked
against leaders who
wanted, above all,
to keep the world
safe from the
horrors of world
war.
• The appeasers were
reasonable men, but
Hitler was not.
Conclusions
• Hitler’s game of
brinksmanship won
Germany much, but it
ultimately plunged it into
a war it realistically did
not have much chance of
winning.
• Chamberlain, more clearly
than Hitler, understood
that the alternative to
reason was the destruction
of Europe.
• In the end, he was willing
to pay that price to halt
Hitler’s megalomania.
Conclusions
• However, it is
probably a shame that
Chamberlain did not
come to this
realization earlier.
• While Britain’s air
defenses were clearly
better in the autumn of
1939 than they were a
year earlier, the
situation on the
ground was far worse.
Conclusions
• Czechoslovakia had been
a democracy; Poland was
a dictatorship.
• Czechoslovakia had strong
mountain defenses and a
fine army that matched the
Germans ranged against it.
Poland was a flat country
with obsolete forces – and
the Wehrmacht had
acquired all Czech
armaments.
• In 1939 Stalin pledged to
stand with the Czechs; In
1939 he was effectively a
German ally.
Conclusions
• When war finally came,
Britain and France found
themselves honouring
commitments that they
were ill-equipped to
undertake.
• Germany found itself
fighting a war that it was
ill-equipped to wage over
time.
finis