Appeasement 1931-34

Appeasement 1931-34

1. For

   • Public opinion
     • 60% of British population said that they wouldn't volunteer in another war 1937
     • 1933 oxford university students said they wouldn't fight.
   • Fear of civilian bombing
     • GB had no radar until 1939
     • as seen in Spanish civil war
       • Guernica1937. 10,000 civilians dead
   • GB lack of allies
     • NO USA or USSR
       • Both had played a crucial part in winning the last war.
   • Memories of WW1
     • 3.1 million killed as result of war.
   • Great depression
     • unemployment. hunger, homelessness
       • hunger marches
         • Jarrow march
   • GB cannot rely on empire to fight
     • The empire had been crucial in ww1 but didn't want to fight any more.
   • GB thought Versailles treaty was too harsh
   • GB more concerned about Germany as a block/ buffer to communism
   • Brought Britain time to re-arm
     • 1939 window of opportunity for Britain to take on Germany

2. Against

   • Hitler cannot be trusted
     • Promised Sudetenland was all he wanted...
   • Nazis just want more territory
     • Where will they stop?
   • Appeasement has given Hitler confidence to take more
   • Appeasement has failed
     • in terms of European alliance
       • Germany + Italy /Germany + USSR
     • didn't prevent war
   • Hitler must be stopped
     • Nazi regime evil
       • Concentration camps, Sachsenhausen
     • 1939 Hitler talks about "annihilation of Jewish race in Europe
   • Winston Churchill in said that he could see it comming
     • The Gathering Storm