Why did England and France follow a policy of appeasment with Hitler?

Question

The second part of the question is :
Explain what appeasment is and what England and France did to follow this policy.

I have homework due tomorrow and seemed to have misplaced my book. HELP!!! I have 3 more history questions being posted soon. Thank you!!!

Answer 1

England and France did not want to go to war with Germany because of the huge losses in men and machines they suffered earlier during the First World War. They wanted to avoid getting into another big war like that any way possible. They decided if they just let Hitler do what he wanted -- that is, invade Czechoslovakia and "free" the Sudenten Germans -- he would stop there and not invade any more countries. Letting him do what he wanted and not going to war with him over it was called appeasement. Hitler promised not to invade any other counties. Of course he totally lied about it and invaded Poland, Russia, France itself, tried to bomb England into submission, etc.

Answer 2

It was worth a go, even if it failed. Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, was a decent man and wanted more than anything to avoid war and bloodshed. Hitler however, saw the policy as weakness and it only goaded him on further. At the same time as talking with Hitler, the French and British should also have been re-arming. Instead, when appeasement failed, both countries had a lot of catching up to do in terms of modernizing their military. But they also over-estimated the strength of the German military at the beginning of the war. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, there was not a single German tank on the western borders with France. France and Britain were not to know this and an opportunity to counter-attack was lost.

Answer 3

England and France initially followed a policy of appeasement with Hitler because they believed, erroneously, that he was a man of honor and would keep to the bargains they had made. He didn't, but the world could scarcely believe his actions and it took a while before the pacifists were shaken enough to realize what was going on and to declare war on him. By that time, it was already too late for some of the smaller European countries that Germany gobbled up in its rampage.
Hitler at first appeared to be only asking for land that had once been German, but that wasn't true. He trampled Austria and Prussia (which were separate countries) and England and France believed him when he said they were all part of the AustroGerman Empire and belonged with Germany. Amazing how he was able to hoodwink so many supposedly experienced politicians and diplomats!

Answer 4

verb (used with object), -peased, -peas·ing. 1. to bring to a state of peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment; pacify; soothe: to appease an angry king.
2. to satisfy, allay, or relieve; assuage: The fruit appeased his hunger.
3. to yield or concede to the belligerent demands of (a nation, group, person, etc.) in a conciliatory effort, sometimes at the expense of justice or other principles.


They wanted to make Hitler happy at first, especially since he was only taking back land that had once belonged to Germany before WW 1. They pretty much ignored him until he invaded Poland. Hitler asked/demanded that Germany be left alone because the lands they were "invading" wanted to be part of Germany, and they used to be part of Germany before it was split up after WW1

Answer 5

Wish-full Thinking.