1. Responses to Military Aggression
Colin Walker, Lawson Walker, Grady Castriota
Account for the responses of the European democracies to the military aggression by Italy and Germany in the 1930s.
In the 1930s, European governments took actions to appease Hitler and Mussolini. The best way to sum up the policies and actions of the European governments is the word “Appeasement”. There are several reasons for governments’ actions of appeasement toward Hitler and Mussolini. These reasons are: no country wanted a war, the Great Depression had devastating effects on each country, and there was a lot of political turmoil and chaos amongst the European governments.

2. We Don’t Want Another War!
In the aftermath of WWI
22.5 million KIA, WIA, or MIA
Devastating effects on morale and view towards war
Treaty of Versailles-harsh punishment of Germany, impossible demands on German economy, Germany could not have a large army
French lived in fear of the day Germany would recover
Because nobody wanted another world war, European democracies responded to German and Italian military aggression by attempts to appease Hitler and Mussolini

3. We Don’t Want Another War!
Britain
Afraid of huge loss of life on Western Front caused Britain to be afraid of another huge war and more lives lost
Civilians scared of German bombing raids
Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister after 1937, became chief architect of appeasement policy
1938-Munich Pact (gave Hitler permission to invade Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia)
1939-Britian said it would support Poland if Germany invaded-Germany invaded anyways

4. We Don’t Want Another War!
France
Passivism was growing in the west and it had roots in France
Like Britain, a huge loss of life on the Western Front in WWI caused France to be afraid of another war and more casualties
Political chaos, unstable government

5. The Economy Can’t Handle a War!
Still Recovering From WWI
Expenses of WWI: by 1919 European nations were in debt to the U.S. by $10,000,000,000.
Britain was depending on her colonies for essential war materials
Germany finished paying off reparations of WWI and WWII in October 2010
New taxes were created to boost the war effort
Britain had a lot of money invested in American stocks in an effort to try and raise money to pay off post war expenses

6. The Economy Can’t Handle a War!
Great Depression
Britain was borrowing heavily on Wall Street
October 29, 1929-Stock Market Crashes
Overall GDP drastically drops across Europe
Hyperinflation in Germany (4.2 trillion Marks to the dollar)
Governments focused on raising taxes and cutting government expenditures
The thought of trying to finance another war was too much for European nations to think about during the Great Depression

7. The Economy Can’t Handle a War!
More effects of the Great Depression
Unemployment caused by the G.D. helped contribute to the rise of dictatorships across the world and gave way to leaders such as Hitler and Mussolini as they promised to lead their people out of the tough times
25 countries became dictatorships from
Policies of European countries mainly focused on recovering their economies instead of keeping dictators like Hitler and Mussolini out of power
Britain and France could not afford to go against Hitler or Mussolini-it was not in their best interests at the time

8. Turmoil in Politics! France
From 1919 to 1940, France was governed by two main groupings. The right-center Bloc National (wanted revenge against Germany & economic prosperity) and the left-center Cartel des Gauches (anti-clerical & represented small business and lower middle class – essentially Socialist)
Street violence between the two groups were frequent
Édouard Herriot
Georges Clemenceau

9. Turmoil in Politics! France Governments came and went quickly
General Strikes in 1936 in the working industry
Any attempt to radically alter policy would almost certainly lead to the fall of the sitting government (as happened in September of 1939, when France declared war over the German invasion of Poland).

10. We Don’t Want Another War! (Politics in Great Britain)
During the mid-to-late 1930s the UK (as well as other nations across the globe) attempted to bring a sense of national unity
Before WWII, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain led his Cabinet and a Conservative majority in the Commons
Chamberlain promised peace by way of appeasement, despite Hitler’s naked aggression throughout Europe

11. Turmoil in Politics!
Civil Wars in Spain and China during the 1930s distracted Britain and France from Hitler (Germany) and Mussolini (Italy)
Spain
Experienced a Civil War from July 17, 1936 to April 1, 1939
China
April December 1936

12. Our FINAL Words… One Response: Appeasement
Appeasement: avoiding war by making concessions to another power
Avoidance of a second Great War
Simply, people didn’t believe war was a necessary element of diplomatic cooperation with the abundant amount of deaths in WWI
Economy = Great Depression
Cost of rearmament and war was seen as too damaging to the economies of European nations during the 1930s (notably France and Great Britain)
Politics were unstable throughout Europe during the 1930s
Any attempt to radically alter policy would almost certainly lead to the fall of the sitting government

13. Works Cited