Unit 3 --> Appeasement

Question 1

What was appeasement?

Answer 1

Policy of giving in to the demands of an aggressor in the hope of avoiding conflict

Question 2

Describe the ways by which appeasement was a success(3)

Answer 2

1- it brought time to RE-ARM (Britain increased its aircraft from 1800 to 8000 from 1936-1939)
2- gave Bt govt time to convince public war was necessary (after the horrors of WW1 the public needed to be totally convinced)
3- prevented war temporarily allowing points above

Question 3

Describe the ways in which appeasement was a fail (3) 1-(4)

Answer 3

1) It made Germany STRONGER:
-Rhineland made it easy to invade Fr
-Rearmament gave Hitler the weapons to attack & threaten other countries
-Austria & Sudetenland provided more soldiers & raw materials
-Bt+Fr lost Czechoslovakia as an ally
2) encouraged Hitler to be MORE AGGRESSIVE:
-if he was stopped in the Rhineland ha may have stopped altogether
-made Hitler more confident every time he got away w/ something
3) Stalin (Russia) felt western european allies became too weak w/ appeasement –> felt urge to deal w/ Hitler (links to point 1)

Question 4

Describe the ways in which appeasement was justified at the time (4)

Answer 4

1)ToV was harsh –> Germany just getting back what’s theirs
eg –> Bt allowed Germany to rwbuild warships due to severity of arms reduction
2) large unemployment in Germany –> weapon helped solve that and ended the economic crisis
3) memories of war still fresh –> felt right to avoid war
4) British govt trying to deal w/ depression –> didn’t want to spend sums on arms

Question 5

Describe the ways in which appeasement is not justifies (with benefit of hindsight)(4)

Answer 5

1) gave in to a bully (morally wrong)
2) misjudged & trusted Hitler too much
3) vital opportunities to stop Hitler were missed (eg. Remilitarisation of Rhineland)
4) was wrong –> prepared to give away parts of other countries

Question 6

Essay structure for appeasement success or fail

Answer 6

1) intro (not only did the policy fail to prevent war, it harmed the situation and assisted to bring out war)
2) success: avoided early war –> gave time for Bt govt to convince public that war was necessary (people weren’t going to sacrifice their lifes otherwise)
rebuttle: they were just convincing, Germany was gaining thousands more soldiers from czechoslovakia and austria
3) success: gave Bt+Fr time to re-arm
rebuttle: gave time for germany to become stronger

4)failure: reasons how Germany is stronger (include point of russia as new ally)
5)failure: encouraged hitler to be more aggressive