Why Would Anyone Want to Appease Hitler?

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• The policy of appeasement, adopted by the UK and France leading up to World War II, was primarily motivated by a desire to avoid another devastating war, despite Hitler's clear intentions laid out in *Mein Kampf*.  Copied to clipboard!
• Hitler successfully exploited the Allies' assumptions that he only sought to reverse the punitive Treaty of Versailles, using each concession (like the remilitarization of the Rhineland or the annexation of Austria) to gain strength until the invasion of Poland finally ended the appeasement policy.  Copied to clipboard!
• The failure of appeasement was cemented when Hitler violated the Munich Agreement by taking the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, which convinced leaders like Winston Churchill that deterrence, not concession, was necessary, and ultimately led to the UK and France declaring war after the invasion of Poland in September 1939.  Copied to clipboard!

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Appeasement Rationale and Modern Echoes

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(00:01:42)

• Key Takeaway: The historical appeasement of Hitler is directly compared to modern concerns regarding the West’s approach to Russia and Putin.
• Summary: The rationale behind the Allies’ appeasement of Hitler is examined, noting that in retrospect it seems cowardly, but understanding their reasoning without hindsight offers context for modern geopolitical decisions. The hosts explicitly draw a line between appeasing Hitler pre-WWII and current concerns about appeasing Putin regarding Ukraine. Understanding the Allies’ initial position helps contextualize why leaders might consider similar approaches today.

Appeasement Defined and Motives

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(00:02:37)

• Key Takeaway: Appeasement was the official policy where Western allies allowed Germany to make demands, believing Hitler only wanted to restore Germany’s footing after the Treaty of Versailles.
• Summary: The policy involved letting Germany take what Hitler claimed he wanted to correct the Treaty of Versailles, based on the mistaken belief he was a conventional statesman who would stop once satisfied. A darker explanation suggests the Allies viewed Hitler as a threat only to lesser peoples, not to established European powers. The primary goal of appeasement was explicitly to avoid a second World War, which no one wanted after the devastation of the first.

Treaty of Versailles Impact

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(00:05:06)

• Key Takeaway: The punitive nature of the Treaty of Versailles, which drastically limited Germany’s military and imposed massive reparations, laid the groundwork for German resentment and the rise of Hitler.
• Summary: The Treaty of Versailles severely punished Germany by reducing its army to 100,000 troops, stripping its navy, forcing territorial returns, and demanding huge reparations, contributing to Weimar Republic hyperinflation. Historians noted at the time that the treaty felt more like a 20-year armistice than a peace settlement due to its punitive nature. This created a populace receptive to Hitler’s nationalistic fervor aimed at reversing these conditions.

Early Appeasement Steps (1935-1936)

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(00:07:15)

• Key Takeaway: The first major appeasement act was the 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which tacitly endorsed Germany’s violation of the Treaty of Versailles regarding naval rearmament.
• Summary: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935 allowed Germany to build its navy, despite treaty restrictions, in an attempt by Britain to control the scale of U-boat construction, though this effort was only partially successful. Simultaneously, France appeased Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, hoping to secure an alliance against Germany later. In 1936, Germany remilitarized the Rhineland, a buffer zone, and the Allies failed to respond forcefully, despite offers of support from Czechoslovakia and Romania.

Anschluss and Munich Agreement

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(00:11:42)

• Key Takeaway: The 1938 annexation of Austria (Anschluss) and the subsequent Munich Agreement, which ceded the Sudetenland to Germany, demonstrated Hitler’s escalating demands and the Allies’ continued submission.
• Summary: The Anschluss in March 1938 involved Germany annexing sovereign Austria based on Germanic heritage, which the world largely ignored, reflecting prevailing public opinion favoring German stabilization. In September 1938, Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier met Hitler in Munich to concede the Sudetenland in exchange for a promise that Hitler would make no further territorial demands in Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was not invited to this summit, echoing modern concerns about excluded parties in international negotiations.

Appeasement’s Final Collapse

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(00:15:51)

• Key Takeaway: Hitler’s invasion of the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 destroyed the credibility of the Munich Agreement and the entire policy of appeasement.
• Summary: Seven months after the Munich Agreement, Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia, proving his promises were worthless and signaling to the world that he intended to go much further than merely reversing the Treaty of Versailles. This act destroyed the traction of appeasement, leading directly to Britain and France guaranteeing Poland’s borders. The invasion of Poland in September 1939, following the Nazi-Soviet pact to partition the country, finally triggered the declarations of war by Britain and France.

Motivations for British Appeasement

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(00:19:51)

• Key Takeaway: The UK pursued appeasement partly to stall for time to rearm and primarily to preserve its global empire and associated resources from the jeopardy of a major war.
• Summary: The British government feared a second world war would jeopardize its status as a superpower and lead to the decolonization of its vast empire, losing critical resources. While some supported appeasement to stall for rearmament time, others, like Winston Churchill, recognized the inevitability of war and advocated for deterrence. Public opinion in Britain strongly favored avoiding war, with high percentages unwilling to volunteer, which bolstered the pro-appeasement political stance until Kristallnacht.

Churchill’s Opposition and Rise

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(00:29:50)

• Key Takeaway: Winston Churchill was an early and vocal opponent of appeasement, viewing Hitler as a serious threat, and his foresight led to him replacing Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister in 1940.
• Summary: Churchill visited Germany in 1932 and warned that conceding to Hitler would only lead to worse outcomes, advocating for rapid rearmament despite the economic cost. Chamberlain’s claim of achieving ‘peace for our time’ after the Munich Agreement lasted only a year before the war began, making him look inept and Churchill look prescient. Churchill, who had inside intelligence regarding Germany’s brutality, took power in 1940 when the policy of appeasement was definitively abandoned.

French and US Positions

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(00:24:33)

• Key Takeaway: France was paralyzed by internal far-right and far-left political conflict, leading to a defensive posture, while the US officially supported appeasement due to isolationist sentiment and military unpreparedness.
• Summary: France’s internal political stalemate prevented decisive foreign policy action, though they remained fundamentally anti-German. The US, under FDR, officially endorsed the Munich Agreement while maintaining isolationism, having significantly depleted its military capacity after World War I. The US military was vastly smaller than Germany’s in 1940, but Roosevelt was already authorizing engagement against U-boats targeting American shipping in the Atlantic.

Nazi View of Appeasement

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(00:35:14)

• Key Takeaway: Hitler and the Nazis viewed appeasement as a clear sign of weakness from leading world powers, which emboldened Hitler and solidified his support among the German populace.
• Summary: The Nazis saw the concessions as proof that France and the UK would yield to German demands without a fight. Hitler leveraged these bloodless victories—Rhineland, Austria, Sudetenland—to whip up nationalistic fervor, convincing the German people that he was the leader who could restore national pride. This success without firing a shot was the moment Hitler truly became Der Führer in the eyes of his people.

Appeasement’s Double-Edged Sword

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(00:36:23)

• Key Takeaway: While appeasement bought time for the UK to rearm, it ultimately worsened the conflict because Hitler gained Czechoslovakia’s industrial capacity, tipping the military balance in Germany’s favor by 1939.
• Summary: Appeasement did achieve the goal of allowing Britain to increase its armament proportion of GDP, rebuilding its Navy to world-leading strength by the late 1930s. However, the critical window for deterrence was 1938-1939, when the Allies still held a five-to-one armament superiority over Germany. By allowing Hitler to take Czechoslovakia in 1939, the Allies handed Germany vital munitions factories and labor resources, making the subsequent war far more difficult.

Alternate History Scenarios

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(00:40:24)

• Key Takeaway: The most significant missed opportunity was intervening militarily when Germany remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936, as France alone had the troop superiority to easily repel the move and potentially undermine Hitler’s leadership.
• Summary: One alternative was for the UK to simply not declare war after Poland’s invasion, relying on the inevitable clash between Germany and the USSR over Lebensraum. Another unlikely option was an alliance between the UK and Germany, which was impossible due to colonial conflicts and ideological differences, especially after Kristallnacht turned public opinion against Hitler. Intervening in 1936 when Germany only moved 35,000 troops against France’s 100,000 near the border could have forced Hitler to either back down or take Germany to war against military advice.