1. LO: What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Appeasement: A diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an enemy power in order to avoid conflict. The term is most often applied to the foreign policy of the British Prime Ministers Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain towards Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy between 1935 and 1939.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the lesson you will be able to…
Describe the policy of appeasement. E-D
Explain Churchill’s views of appeasement. C-B
Assess Churchill’s views of appeasement and explain why those views were unpopular. A-A*

2. Does the cartoon show appeasement to be a good thing?
LO: What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Describe the policy of appeasement. E-D
Explain Churchill’s views of appeasement. C-B
Assess Churchill’s views of appeasement and explain why those views were unpopular. A-A*
Study source A…
What can you see?
Does the cartoon show appeasement to be a good thing?
What does the cartoonist think Appeasement will lead to?
Source A – A cartoon by David Low from the London Evening Standard, This was a popular newspaper with a large readership in Britain.

3. LO: What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Describe the policy of appeasement. E-D
Explain Churchill’s views of appeasement. C-B
Assess Churchill’s views of appeasement and explain why those views were unpopular. A-A*
From 1937 the policy of Appeasement was pursued by Neville Chamberlain. The key element of the policy was the Munich Agreement of 1938 in which Chamberlain agreed to the dismembering of the independent state of Czechoslovakia, making the German-speaking part, the Sudetenland, part of Germany and allowing Slovakia to be separate from a reduced Czech state.
Britain had accepted Hitler’s annexation of Austria (Anschluss, 1938) but the Munich Conference accepted Germany taking over the territory of people who were not Germans.

4. LO: What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Describe the policy of appeasement. E-D
Explain Churchill’s views of appeasement. C-B
Assess Churchill’s views of appeasement and explain why those views were unpopular. A-A*
What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Churchill was VERY CRITICAL OF THE MUNICH AGREEMENT.
As Chamberlain had given in to German demands in a conference on German soil, CHURCHILL BELIEVED BRITAIN HAD COME ACROSS AS WEAK AND WAS IN DANGER OF BEING DOMNATED BY GERMANY.
According to Churchill, the Munich Agreement STRENGTHENED GERMANY and would make it more difficult for Britain to control future expansion.
THE AGREEMENT WAS NOT A NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT, BUT ‘A DEFEAT WITHOUT WAR’.
It was seen as a moral defeat, not only in being instrumental in the break up of an independent state, but also in Britain’s ‘moral health’ in failing to maintain a stand against Hitler after he had gone back on his word.

5. LO: What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Describe the policy of appeasement. E-D
Explain Churchill’s views of appeasement. C-B
Assess Churchill’s views of appeasement and explain why those views were unpopular. A-A*
What was Churchill’s policy?
With HINDSIGHT, Churchill’s views of Appeasement appear correct, but his criticism of the Munich Agreement and his view that Britain should have gone to war in 1938 seemed quite unrealistic at the time. Many people in Britain thought that Czechoslovakia was simply a ‘far away country’ about which they knew nothing.
In any case, rearmament had not really begun, and there was no expeditionary force to send to Europe. It was also far from certain that Britain would find allies in a war against Germany. There was no certainty that France would have supported joint military action, even though the French had an alliance with the USSR and the Czechs.

6. LO: What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Describe the policy of appeasement. E-D
Explain Churchill’s views of appeasement. C-B
Assess Churchill’s views of appeasement and explain why those views were unpopular. A-A*
What was Churchill’s policy?
Military chiefs in Britain doubted the real strength of Russia as an ally, given the purges of military leaders being carried out there. In addition, the dominions in the Commonwealth could not be relied on, and there was little possibility of the USA joining Britain in the event of war.
Churchill believed that a strong stand by Britain and other nations would deter Germany and would prevent the balance of power shifting in central Europe towards a powerful German state. He may have also believed that a strong stand would have encouraged opposition to Hitler within Germany itself.

7. LO: What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Describe the policy of appeasement. E-D
Explain Churchill’s views of appeasement. C-B
Assess Churchill’s views of appeasement and explain why those views were unpopular. A-A*
Why was Churchill criticised at the time?
Churchill’s alternative to Appeasement was criticised by many in Britain. As well as the uncertainty that other countries would join with Britain, the British chiefs of staff were worried that war against Germany would also become a war against Hitler’s allies, Italy and Japan. Churchill did not really speak or write much about Japan and neglected its possible threat to Britain’s Asian colonies in the event of war. There was also little evidence that German generals or many German people would turn against a general popular German regime.

8. LO: What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Describe the policy of appeasement. E-D
Explain Churchill’s views of appeasement. C-B
Assess Churchill’s views of appeasement and explain why those views were unpopular. A-A*
Why was Churchill criticised at the time?
However, Churchill’s opposition had some merit:
The breaking of the Munich Agreement by Hitler when he occupied the Czech state made Britain look weak and confirmed Churchill’s suspicions of Hitler’s expansionist agenda.
Thought the Munich Agreement gave Britain a chance to rearm, Germany also rearmed at considerable speed from
In 1938, there was the chance of working with France and the USSR and also having 35 divisions of Czech troops fighting on interior lines of defence.
The Germans might well have found it difficult to conquer Czechoslovakia as they would have to have kept forces on other fronts to meet a possible allied attack.

9. LO: What were Churchill’s views of appeasement?
Describe the policy of appeasement. E-D
Explain Churchill’s views of appeasement. C-B
Assess Churchill’s views of appeasement and explain why those views were unpopular. A-A*