Chamberlain was an Idiot - Discuss

History Homework
Neville Chamberlain was an idiot. discuss.
Neville Chamberlain was Prime Minister of Britain from 28 May 1937-10 May 1940. He is famous for using his appeasement foreign policy against Adolf Hitler. His actions today are widely criticized for allowing Hitler to grow more powerful, the most famous example being the Munich Agreement of 1938 in which Hitler not only took over the agreed Sudetenland but went on to take over the rest of Czechoslovakia.
One hand Neville Chamberlain was a responsible Prime Minister. Britain’s economy was still crippled due to the First World War. Britain was in no position to be involved in a war, and so Chamberlain did as much as he could to keep war from breaking out in Europe. The biggest threat to European peace at the time was Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany. Adolf Hitler rose to power in the early 1930’s mainly due to his promise that he would destroy the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler’s first step was to remilitarize the Rhineland, an area of Germany that according to The Treaty of Versailles, was to be demilitarized to act as a buffer zone between Germany and France.
Chamberlain turned a blind eye to Hitler’s move, as it was not in Britain’s interests to go to war with Germany over the reoccupation of Hitler’s own country. There was already growing sympathy in Britain for Germany, the vast majority of the general public started to believe that the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany. Many people admired Hitler, he was named as “Man of the Year” in the American Magazine “Time”. It was famously quoted that, “Hitler is walking into his own back yard”. Hitler had taken a risk and it had paid off. Hitler wasn’t ready for war, but to his favour, the Allies ignored his move. This is the first example of Chamberlain applying his appeasement policy to Adolf Hitler. It was based on giving Hitler what was reasonable and then when those demands were satisfied, they would stop.
France on the other hand was very worried about the remilitarized Rhineland. The Treaty of Versailles made sure the land was demilitarized to protect France from another possible German attack. Despite having built many fortresses along the border between France and Germany, France was worried that this would lead onto the eventual invasion of France by Germany, (which it did in May 1940). France like Britain also had been crippled by the First World War, and was in no position to go to war. However France couldn’t take action against Germany without Britain’s support.
Chamberlain was determined to keep peace, even if it meant France was slightly more prone to attack from Germany, he needed to make sure that a full scale war with Germany was out of the question, (for now).
Another section of the Treaty of Versailles prohibited the unification of Austria with Germany. Austria had a lot of political instability at the time. There was also increased amounts of riots, crime and demonstrations, mostly stirred up by the Austrian Nazi party. In 1938 the Austrian army invited the German army into Austria to keep order. The German army were greeted with cheers and celebrations in the streets. The German army never left. A plebiscite was held shortly afterwards to vote on the Anschluss of Austria and Germany. The outcome was 99.75%, (it is widely believed today that this election was rigged by the Austrian Nazi Party). Austria was then annexed into Germany under the territory of “Ostmark”. The Anschluss was complete. Hitler did not face any opposition to the Anschluss, despite it breaking the Treaty of Versailles.
Chamberlain did not want to get involved as Hitler argued he was using the principle of self-determination as an excuse for the Anschluss. Self-determination was mentioned in the Treaty of Versailles and was a founding principle of the League of Nations. Hitler was uniting two German speaking countries together, and Chamberlain could not intervene as technically the German army was “invited in”, and then a formal vote was held. Hitler’s demands appeared reasonable at the time, although in hindsight these demands should never have been allowed. Chamberlain once again used appeasement to let Hitler get what he wanted to keep peace in Europe. He was letting Hitler grow stronger and not setting a limit. Each time Hitler got what he wanted, he kept pushing for more.
In 1938 Hitler had talks with the PM of Czechoslovakia about annexing the Sudetenland, an area of land in Czechoslovakia that was predominantly German speaking. When the Czech PM refused, Hitler threatened war. This lead to the Munich Conference of 1938, where Hitler and Chamberlain discussed the fate of the Sudetenland. Ironically, the Czech PM wasn’t even there, despite the fact that Chamberlain and Hitler were discussing the future of his own country. Hitler once again argued that German-speakers were living in the Sudetenland that should be part of Germany. Hitler then went on to say he wouldn’t ask for any more land after this. Chamberlain agreed and the Munich Agreement was signed.
Neville Chamberlain came back to Britain a hero, waving a piece of white paper, and saying that peace has been secured for Britain and for Europe. Behind the scenes, he didn’t trust Hitler, and was quietly readying the armed forces for war.
Hitler went on to take the Sudetenland, where the German army were treated as heroes, but then went on to take the rest of Czechoslovakia as well, betraying his word.

After this point, Hitler was readying for WWII. Chamberlain had let him grow too powerful, and soon the Nazi-Soviet Pact was signed, ensuring the death of Poland. On September 1st 1939 Hitler invaded western Poland. Shortly afterwards, the Soviet Union also invaded on the East side, and WWII had started.

In some ways Neville Chamberlain was an idiot. He did not draw a line to the extent of Hitler’s demands, and in doing so made himself and the other allies look weak compared to Germany and her demands. Chamberlain let Hitler strengthen Germany, in the hope that Germany would be an important trading partner. Instead strengthening Germany lead to WWII. Chamberlain could have stopped Hitler when he remilitarized the Rhineland, which could have put a firm stop to Hitler’s campaign.
However, it must be remembered that everything that Chamberlain did was in Britain’s best interests. Britain was not ready for war, and Chamberlain did not want another world war, which he thought might lead to the end of civilization. Chamberlain used appeasement to keep peace in Europe. It was the easiest policy to please everyone and keep peace, but he did set a limit to Germany’s demands and in the end the policy backfired.
Chamberlain wasn’t an idiot. He knew what was going on behind the scenes, and he didn’t trust Hitler. He couldn’t go to war with Germany at the time, as he was still rebuilding the armed forces. However, Chamberlain should have done something when Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia. In my opinion this was the perfect time to intervene and stop the German warmongering.