Revision Diary

Appeasement, Sudetenland and Munich

   

Appeasement and Chamberlain; Sudetenland and Munich Agreement;

 

 

Make sure that you know about:

1.  What appeasement was, with examples, as well as its importance/results

 

You must know:

2.  the Story of the Sudetenland and the Munich agreement in detail, as well as its results/importance.

    

  

  

Appeasement

You should not get asked directly about:

●   why Chamberlain appeased Hitler, or

●   whether appeasement was sensible, or even

●   who was to blame

but make sure you have thought about these questions.

  

However: THIS IS THE LIST YOU MUST LEARN:

Appeasement was believing that Hitler's claims were REASONABLE, and that he was reasonable, and that if we gave in to his reasonable demands he would stop what they were fulfilled - that is why Chamberlain set so much store by Hitler's promise at Munich that he had no more demands.  

Appeasement involved treating Hitler's Germany, not as a troublemaker or an outcast, but as an equal and 'a man who can be trusted':

  

1933

Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald ignored German rearmament

1935

Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin ignored Hitler's open rearmament rally and introduction of conscription

1935

Baldwin made the naval agreement with Germany

7 March 1936

Baldwin ignored the reoccupation of the Rhineland

April 1938

Chamberlain did nothing about Anschluss

Sept 1938

Chamberlain GAVE Hitler the Sudetenland at Munich after a humiliating series of meetings.

    

  

  

Results/importance of Appeasement

  1. Britain gained time to build up her armed forces - but so did Hitler.

  2. Hitler decided that Britain and France were afraid of him and that they would not stop him whatever he did.   Historians have suggested that in this way appeasement ENCOURAGED Hitler to start WWII.

  3. Russia decided that Britain and France would never stand up to Hitler, and that war with Germany was inevitable (this led to the Nazi-Soviet Pact).

  4. The people of Britain realised that they had been duped, and decided that war was inevitable.

  5. But it also improved the morale of the British people, who knew they had done everything possible to avoid war.

   

  

  

Sudetenland and Munich

Background

•   By 1938, Hitler expected Br & Fr to appease him.

•   He was buoyed up by the successful invasion of Austria.   

•   7 Sept 1938:  the Sudeten Nazi Party (led by Konrad henlein) demanded union with Germany – riots.      Hitler accused the Czechs of atrocities and threatened to support the Sudeten Germans with military force.

Meat

THREE MEETINGS:

•   15 Sept 1938: Chamberlain met Hitler at Berchtesgaden.  They agreed on a plebiscite.   Hitler promised him that this was the ‘last problem to be solved’.   Chamberlain decided Hitler was ‘a man who can be relied upon’.   Chamberlain got the Czech to agree.

•   22 Sep 19382.    Chamberlain met Hitler at Bad Godesberg.   Hitler made more demands.   Chamberlain refused, but then he decided that Czechoslovakia was not one of the ‘great issues’ which justified war, but just ‘a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing’.   

•   29 Sep 1938: Chamberlain and Daladier met Hitler at Munich and gave the Sudetenland to Germany.   Czechoslovakia was not even invited to the talks. 

End

•   30 Sept 1938: Chamberlain returned to England with his ‘piece of paper’: ‘I believe it is peace for our time’, he told the cheering crowd.  

•   1 Oct 1938: Hitler marched into the Sudetenland and boasted that it was the start of a 1000-year Reich.  

    

  

  

Sudetenland/Munich - results/importance

  1. Czechoslovakia was weakened (only a matter of time before Hitler took the rest - 15 Mar 1939).

  2. Hitler decided that Britain and France were afraid of him and that they would not stop him whatever he did (historians have suggested that in this way appeasement ENCOURAGED Hitler to start WWII).

  3. Russia decided that Britain and France would never stand up to Hitler, and that war with Germany was inevitable (this led to the Nazi-Soviet Pact - Aug 1939).

  4. The people of Britain immediately realised that they had been duped, and decided that war was inevitable (Winston Churchill said: 'It is a total defeat.   Czechoslovakia will be swallowed up by the Nazis.   And do not suppose that this is the end.   This is only the beginning').

  5. Britain gained a year to prepare for war (but so did Hitler)

Dec 1938

‘National Register’ of who would do what if there was a war.

Jan 1939

Plans to strengthen navy and RAF

Feb 

A quarter of a million free air raid shelters are given to Londoners.

Mar

Territorial Army doubled in numbers.

Apr

Parliament increases defence spending. Civil Defence Act – plans to evacuate women and children from London to the countryside.

May

Military Training Act – conscription.

31 Aug

First children evacuated from London.

  1. It improved the war morale of the British people, who knew they had done everything possible to avoid war, and now decided that Hitler was evil.

 

 

Revision Focus

This is a Paper 1 topic, so concentrate on learning:

1.   WHAT happened

2.   EFFECTS/ Importance

  

Links

e-book on Appeasement in general, with a KEY page on Sudetenland

 

More detailed study of Munich

 

See the BBC Bitesize storyboard on the Sudetenland crisis and an interactive map

  

Online revision sheet  

  

Essays on:

    What appeasement was and the events of the Sudeten crisis