A Union of Circumstance: Chamberlain and Hitler
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Name: __________________________________________ Honors History 9 | www.mrtripodi.org A union of circumstance: Chamberlain and Hitler Neville Chamberlain became Prime Minister of Britain on May 28, 1937. Over the next two years Chamberlain's Conservative government became associated with the foreign policy that later became known as appeasement. Chamberlain believed that Germany had been badly treated by the Allies after it was defeated in the First World War. He therefore thought that the German government had genuine grievances and that these needed to be addressed. He also thought that by agreeing to some of the demands being made by Adolf Hitler of Germany and Benito Mussolini of Italy, he could avoid a European war. Anthony Eden, Chamberlain's foreign secretary, did not agree with the policy of appeasement and resigned in February, 1938. Eden was replaced by Lord Halifax who fully supported this policy. Halifax had already developed a good relationship with the German government. After his first visit to Nazi Germany he told his friend, Henry Channon: "He (Halifax) told me he liked all the Nazi leaders, even Goebbels, Neville Chamberlain and he was much impressed, interested and amused by the visit. He thinks the regime absolutely fantastic." Appeasement: 1938 vs. 2008 In November, 1937, Neville Chamberlain sent Lord Halifax to meet Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goering in Germany. In his diary, “Some seem to believe we should negotiate Lord Halifax records how he told Hitler: "Although there was much in the with terrorists and radicals,” President Bush Nazi system that profoundly offended British opinion, I was not blind to said before the Israeli Parliament. “We have an what he (Hitler) had done for Germany, and to the achievement from his obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement.” point of view of keeping Communism out of his country." This was a reference to the fact that Hitler had banned the Communist Party (KPD) in The White House claimed publicly that the Germany and placed its leaders in Concentration Camps. reference was to those — including Jimmy Carter — who had met with Hamas, but an In February, 1938, Adolf Hitler invited Kurt von Schuschnigg, the Austrian administration official acknowledged to Chancellor, to meet him at Berchtesgarden. Hitler demanded concessions reporters that the remarks were meant as a for the Austrian Nazi Party. Schuschnigg refused and after resigning was swipe at the probable Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, who has proposed replaced by Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the leader of the Austrian Nazi Party. On meeting autocratic world leaders “without 13th March, Seyss-Inquart invited the German Army to occupy Austria and preconditions.” proclaimed union with Germany. To appease, according to one concise The union of Germany and Austria (Anschluss) had been specifically dictionary definition, is “to yield or concede to forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. Some members of the House of belligerent demands, sometimes at the expense of justice or other principles.” Recent debates Commons, including Anthony Eden and Winston Churchill, now called on on the subject generally consist of one side Neville Chamberlain to take action against Adolf Hitler and his Nazi claiming that an appeased enemy is an government. empowered enemy, as proved to be the case with Hitler. Hugh Christie an MI6 agent working based in Berlin, met with Hermann Goering on 3rd February 1937. He immediately reported his conversation Winston Churchill’s famous remark that England had been “offered a choice between with Goering and included information that Germany intended to take war and shame” and by choosing shame would control of Austria and Czechoslovakia. He also told Christie that Germany get war, too, is only the most eloquent mainly wanted "a free hand in Eastern Europe.In March 1938 Hugh Christie expression of what has become a maxim of told the British government that Adolf Hitler would be ousted by the military international diplomacy. if Britain joined forces with Czechoslovakia against Germany. Christie Isaac Chotiner warned that the "crucial question is 'How soon will the next step against May 25, 2008 Czechoslovakia be tried?' ... The probability is that the delay will not exceed New York Times two or three months at most, unless France and England provide the deterrent, for which cooler heads in Germany are praying." International tension increased when Adolf Hitler began demanding that the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia should be under the control of the German government. In an attempt to to solve the crisis, the heads of the governments of Germany, Britain, France and Italy met in Munich in September, 1938. On 29th September, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini signed the Munich Agreement which transferred to Germany the Sudetenland, a fortified frontier region that contained a large German-speaking population. When Eduard Benes, Czechoslovakia's head of state, who had Chamberlain, Hitler congratulate each other on the Munich Pact not been invited to Munich, protested at this decision, Chamberlain told him that Britain would be unwilling to go to war over the issue of the Sudetenland. The Munich Agreement was popular with most people in Britain because it appeared to have prevented a war with Germany. However, some politicians, including Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden, attacked the agreement. These critics pointed out that no only had the British government behaved dishonorably, but it had lost the support of Czech Army, one of the best in Europe. One staunch critic of appeasement was the journalist Vernon Bartlett. He was approached by Richard Acland to stand as an anti-Chamberlain candidate at a by-election in Bridgwater. Bartlett agreed and in November, 1938, surprisingly won the previously safe Tory seat. Henry (Chips) Channon, a junior member of the government wrote in his diary: "This is the worst blow the Government has had since 1935". In March, 1939, the German Army seized the rest of Czechoslovakia. In taking this action Adolf Hitler had broken the Munich Agreement. The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, now realized that Hitler could not be trusted and his appeasement policy quickly came to an end. The assignment: Neville Chamberlain has a one-word memoir to most historians: "Appeaser". For tomorrow -- using what you know and any research you find necessary -- write a six-word memoir for ten of the historical figures below. Be creative, but make a statement with what you create. Have fun. Neville Chamberlain Emperor Hirohito Hermann Göring Adolf Hitler Hideki Tojo Josef Mengele Joseph Goebbels Edvard Beneš Edouard Daladier Heinrich Himmler Charlie Sheen Hugh Mulcahy Benito Mussolini King Zog Donald Trump Mr. Mandell Franklin D. Roosevelt Francisco Franco Joseph Stalin Henry Wallace Winston Churchill Vyacheslav Molotov Wendell Willkie Kurt von Schuschnigg this idiot .