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Appeasement
By Jonathan Reeves And Kyle Ginn
What Is Appeasement?
Appeasement is the act of letting someone
have someting and expecting them to stop
there. One of the most famous examples is of
Hitler and Neville Chamberlain.
Chamberlain was allowing Hitler to get away
with what he wanted and expecting Hitler to
stop there. Hitler didn't however; and when
Chamberlain told Hitler Britain would declare
war on Germany, if they invaded Poland;
Hitler didn't believe him. Hitler invaded
Poland and Britain declared war.
In this case, appeasement led to war.
Reasons For Appeasement
The views of a revisionist Historian such as AJP Taylor state reasons
why appeasement could be justified.
The first was that there was a fear of war, especially as not long ago
there had been the Great war.
There was also the fact that Britain weren't prepared for war. They
need to delay a war until they had had time to rearm themselves.
Britain had said they thought the terms of The Treaty Of Versailles
were too harsh and so they were allowing Germany to go against
many of the terms in the treaty.
Finally, Germany wasn't the only threat around, there was also the
Soviet Union to worry about.
Reasons Against Appeasement
There are many traditional historians, such as Cato who think that
Appeasement cannot be justified at all. There are several
disadvantages of appeasement.
• Appeasement is only a short term solution.
• Appeasing someone for too long can give them the impression
that they cannot be stopped. Therefore they will never be satisfied.
• It can make the country who is appeasing others look weak and
defenseless, so more countries will want to try their luck.
• Fighting is always the solution.
The Three types Of Historian
There were three types of Historian that each had a different view on
Appeasement.
The first was the Traditional Historian
view which stated that appeasement
could never be justified. (eg. Cato)
There was also the Revisionist
Historian view which stated that
appeasement was the only thing they
could have done at the time.
(eg. AJP Taylor)
The final view was the Counter
Revisionist. There view stated that it
was the only thing they could have done at the time but it could have
been done better. (eg. McDonough)
Links For Further Reading
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWappeasement.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWmunich.htm