APPEASEMENT

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APPEASEMENT

• A Political Education or a Detrimental
  Implication in the Post-War Ear?

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Overview

• What is Appeasement?
• Sections of Research and Analysis
• Impact of Appeasement
• Why is this Topic Important to Study?
• Project Form

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What is Appeasement?

• Appeasement has been defined as
• Giving in to the demands of aggressive powers to
  avoid war
• The policy of pacifying an aggressive nation in
  the hopes of avoiding further conflict
• A policy of making concessions to an aggressor
  in hopes of avoiding war

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What is Appeasement?

• During the 1930s, Britain and France adopted a
  policy of appeasement towards Adolf Hitler and
  Nazi Germany, offering the menacing dictator
  numerous concessions in the hope of avoiding a
  conflict reminiscent of WW1
• The climax of appeasement occurred at the Munich
  Conference in 1938 when Britain and France
  granted the Germans permission to occupy portions
  of Czechoslovakia.

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What is Appeasement?

• Allowed Hitler the opportunity to transform
  Germany into a war machine and gain control over
  Central Europe without a fight
• Appeasement failed, eventually leading to World
  War 2, the most devastating conflict of our
  time, which resulted in an estimated 56 61
  million deaths

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What is Appeasement?

• The Legacy of appeasement
• The leaders during this timer period, such as
  Neville Chamberlain, have been scorned and
  ridiculed throughout history, receiving
  considerable blame for the outbreak of war. Is
  this fair?
• The west openly sacrificed nations in Eastern
  Europe to avoid war with Hitler. Did this
  influence the attitudes and actions of the Soviet
  Union at the end of the war?

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Sections of Research

• Historiography and general theories regarding the
  policy of appeasement
• An analysis and description of the policy of
  appeasement in Britain and France throughout the
  1930s
• The role of the Soviet Union during this time
  period, analyzing their reactions to the
  appeasement of Nazi Germany

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Historiography

• Traditional Theory belief that the policy of
  appeasement was merely an attempt on behalf of
  Britain and France to save themselves by offering
  other nations to Germany
• How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that
  we should be digging trenches and trying on
  gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away
  country between people of whom we know nothing!
  Neville Chamberlain, 1938

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Historiography

• Revisionist Theory more sympathetic towards
  Britain and France, arguing that they were
  fighting to maintain their dieing empires while
  simultaneously attempting to reinstate a
  balance-of-power system throughout Europe,
  excluding the Soviet Union

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Analysis and DescriptionBritain and France

• An in-depth analysis and description of the
  causes, motivations, political actions and
  reactions, discussions, debates and political
  policies of Britain and France during appeasement
• Includes heads of state, government officials,
  ambassadors, foreign ministers, politicians, and
  most importantly, ordinary citizens
• Inability of the capitalist west and communist
  east to cast aside their differences and come to
  an agreement to in order to counter Hitler

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Role of the Soviet Union
Hitlers regime was fanatically anti-communist,
anti-Slavic, and anti-Semitic. His plans for
world domination were oriented towards the east,
something the Soviet Union was well aware of
during his ascendancy to power
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Role of the Soviet Union

• What was the Soviet Unions response to the
  Wests policy of appeasement towards Hitlers
  Nazi Germany?
• Did the attitudes maintained by Western European
  nations during this time period influence the
  Cold War?

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Impact of Appeasement

• Following the end of World War 2, the United
  States formulated its foreign policy based in
  accordance with the lessons the world had learned
  from the policy of appeasement during the 1930s.
  As a result, the U.S. adapted an aggressive
  policy of action to prevent the failures of
  appeasement from reoccurring
• The effects of appeasement on U.S. foreign policy
  has been apparent for several decades, and is
  still influencing diplomatic decisions in todays
  world
• An example of the U.S. anti-appeasement policy is
  the Vietnam War

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Why is this Subject Important to Study?
Prior to the outbreak of war with Iraq in 2002,
politicians, government officials, and numerous
TV analysts compared Saddam Hussein with Adolf
Hitler, warning against the dangers of
appeasing him
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Why is this Subject so Important to Study?

• History proved that Churchill was right. If the
  appeasers of our own day are wrong, then Saddam
  Hussein continues Hitlers quest to eradicate the
  world of Jews and terrorize the planet with the
  threat of, now, nuclear annihilation. The United
  States is the only country that CAN stop Saddam
  Hussein before that terrifying possibility
  becomes a horrific, unstoppable reality.

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Why is this Subject so Important to Study?

• Hussein is the brute that threatens not only his
  continent, but the entire civilized world. And
  after two world wars, one would expect the
  publics reaction to the unprovoked attacks on
  New York and Washington to elicit an
  appropriately autonomic response of no less than
  pre-emptive self-defense against the source of
  those attacks. But, quite the contrary, there is
  a growing peace movement in Europe, Canada and
  the United States calling for temperance,
  patience and yes, even appeasement of Saddam
  Hussein.

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Why is this Subject Important to Study?

• Studying appeasement is essential to the problems
  that will inevitably arise in the future
• History teaches us lessons, providing us with the
  opportunity to analyze certain scenarios that
  have presented themselves
• Does the legacy of appeasement still impact the
  diplomacy, foreign policy and international
  relations of the United States?
• Is the policy of appeasement justifiably
  comparable to the events in todays world?

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What Will This Project Look Like?

• After a period of extensive research and detailed
  analysis, this project will take the form of a
  polished and in-depth research paper
• This project can be accomplished at UNCW
• A wealth of primary and secondary source material
  pertaining to this subject is available at
  Randall Library. This includes memoirs,
  microfilm, personal letters, testimonies,
  diaries, official correspondences, state and
  government documents