Reasons for Appeasement

• Reasons for Appeasement - Fear of another major war


  • The memory of WWI and the tremendous losses in terms of lives and the economy was still strong.
  • Public disgust towards war as they had seen the ill effects of it. Being democratic countries, Britain and France had to take public sentiments into consideration.
  • Countries just recovered from the Great Depression and were not prepared for another war of a similar scale.
• Reasons for Appeasement - US isolationism and Weakness of the LON

  • After WWI, USA practised isolationism, meaning it did not want to be involved in European affairs. Hence Britain and France knew they could not count on USA to help against Hitler
  • LON’s lack of credibility and authority also meant countries preferred to settle problems on their own rather than depend on the LON, leading Britain and France to negotiate with Hitler to avoid a war.
• Reasons for Appeasement - Buying time to rearm


  • WWI & the Depression weakened British and French economy & military
  • Not much money to spend on improving or even maintenance of the army, therefore they were not ready to fight a war with Germany.
  • Appeasing Hitler could buy time to build up their military strength and ensure success if war really broke out
  • Despite Appeasement, Britain did start a cautious rearmament programme to build up its navy and airforce after 1936. After Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Britain also started its first peacetime conscription.
• Reasons for Appeasement - Sympathy for Germany

  • Many people in Britain and France thought that Germany had been treated too harshly in TOV e.g. reparations, demilitarisation
  • Many did not object to Hitler building up his army or recovering some land that used to belong to Germany
  • Many saw this as Hitler restoring Germany to its rightful place amongst the major powers
• Reasons for Appeasement - Misjudgement of Hitler

  • Chamberlain believed Hitler was a man who could be reasoned with.
  • After all, he was an immensely popular democratically elected leader.
  • He believed that Hitler’s aims were limited to revising the TOV instead of abolishing it. His claims to protect Germans seemed reasonable.
  • He believed in Hitler’s promises and assumed he could be trusted.
• Reasons for Appeasement - Fear of Communism

  • Britain and France were opposed to communism as they saw it as a threat to democracy. Hitler was openly anti-Communist (Anti-Comintern Pact)
  • By allowing Hitler to rebuild Germany, they believed a strong Germany could act as a shield against the Soviet Union
  • Prevent the spread of communism to the west