Sunday 19 September 2010

The following were three reasons why the British practised the appeasement policy in the 1930s:

Horrors of the First World War
Communism as a greater threat
British domestic problems
Which was the most dominant reason? Explain your answer. [13]


One of the reasons for the British to adopt the appeasement policy was due to the fear of war. The First World War had a major impact on the British, who had suffered a great loss of lives and resources as a result of the war. Many British would not want another war to break out that would lead to more losses. Therefore, they were willing to give in to Hitler in order to avert another war. Furthermore, the areas that Hitler was claiming had no British stake in them and thus, fighting with the Germans over these territories would not make sense to them.

Another reason for adopting the appeasement policy was due to the threat posed by Communism. In the 1930s, Nazism and Fascism were not the greatest threat to peace. The Communists, with their declared intention of world revolution, appeared to be disrupting peace in many parts of Europe. Therefore, Communist Russia was seen as a bigger threat than Nazi Germany. In fact, Nazi Germany was staunchly anti-communist and was seen by the British as a reliable ally in stopping the spread of Communism. If the appeasement policy could strengthen Germany to resist the spread of Communism, many British felt that it was alright to appease Germany.

Finally, the British were experiencing a number of domestic problems. Economically, the British was still recovering from the effects of the Great Depression and thus, could not afford to be involved in any costly wars. Militarily, the British were hardly ready, since the weak economy had resulted in his defence expenditure being cut. The British also experienced problems in maintaining their empire, as they needed to utilise resources to deal with the independence movements in colonies like India and the Middle East. With all these problems, the British saw appeasement as the best solution, since it would not require Britain to lose anything and yet, war could be avoided.

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