How far was Britain having no allies the reason why the British government adopted a policy of appeasement? By the mid 1930’s the government was concerned about growing fascist power in Germany and Italy. Having no allies was very anti-war and that was one influence on the government when they adopted the policy of appeasement. It was also felt that the Paris Peace Settlement was too harsh and a policy of appeasement would allow for revision of the harsher parts of the treaty. Britain also had Economic concerns and a fear that if Nazism was defeated then communism would fill the gap.
Britain also had no-one to turn to with their allies so appeasement was the only option. The League of Nations failed and Britain felt “rather fascism than communism. ” The unwillingness of Britain through the slaughter of WW1, made them turn to a policy of appeasement. The only problem was people trusted Hitler and probably would not trust anyone else. And finally, Britain’s large empire would not stop another Great War if Hitler was going to announce it.
The arrival of fascist military dictatorships in the 1930’s took British military planners entirely by surprise.The heads of Britain’s armed forces had consistently warned Chamberlain that Britain was too weak to fight. At the same time, Hitler’s propaganda encouraged Britain and France to believe that Nazi forces were stronger than they really were. Nazi film of soldiers marching into the Rhineland hid the fact that the soldiers were raw conscripts barely able to march in straight lines.
Nazi tanks shown at rallies were often cardboard outlines placed over ordinary cars. But at the time British politicians did not know that.The fighter planes and radar that saved Britain from defeat in 1940 were still at the development stage in the late 1930’s. Britain needed time to rearm. When the Treaty of Versailles was made started, Hitler just about broke every single rule in the 1930’s. Most of the British public felt the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany, when it was first drawn up in 1919 people wanted revenge on Germany.
As years passed, the public realized that the Treaty had been irresponsible and unrealistic.Between 1936 and 1938, Hitler attacked no-on, but in 1935 Britain even negotiated a change in the treaty with the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. In 1936, he moved troops “in his own back garden” and by 1937, no British politician were prepared to confront Hitler over his actions in Spain. But in March 1938, German troops were welcomed into Austria. As early as 1934, the British Government were getting warnings from the committee of Imperial Defence that Hitler was “the ultimate potential enemy”.
At that time, Chamberlain was Chancellor of the Exchequer in charge of Britain’s economy. Britain was in a depression, and he knew that jobs and better housing were priorities for the British pubic. The public had votes and Chamberlain would not support large scale military. By 1937, the military balance of power was worse for Britain and its economy was still very weak. By the late 1930’s Germany, Italy and Japan were allied together but Britain had no allies apart from the Empire – and that was causing concern.
Chamberlain knew he could expect no help from the isolationist USA.In a private letter to his sister, he had written, “You can count on the Americans for nothing but words” France was the only other country that might help Britain but France had its own problems. In 1934, street rioting had brought down the government while France was politically divided and no short term leader would commit France to any war-like moves against Germany. The main aim of the League of Nations was to stop wars. In the 1920s, there were many small disputes between countries, which the League tried to solve and they succeeded as the countries listened to them.
After the Abyssinian crisis, the League gradually died as Italy left the league in 1937 as well as other countries, but all of them realised that it failed, but instead they began to rearm as fast as possible. Also during 1938, Britain and France tried a new policy called “appeasement” under Hitler’s guidance but this failed in 1939 when he invaded Czechoslovakia. When war broke out in 1939, the league closed down and its headquarters in Geneva remained empty throughout the war; as well in 1943 America, Britain and Russia agreed to set up a new international organisation called the “United Nations” when the war ended.Finally, the League of Nations failed as in early 1946; the league met in Geneva and formally abolished itself. The British delegate, Robert Cicil said “The League is dead. Long live the United Nations” Many people in Britain thought Hitler had brought a strong stable government to Germany.
The big political fear for Europe in the 1930’s was communism. Communism promised the destruction of European economies and governments. Hitler’s main challenger had been Communism, the thought of it spreading in Europe horrified British politicians.The fear was one of the main reasons why Britain refused the support the elected government of Spain during the Spanish Civil War which had communists in it. In 1918, all men over 21 gained the right to vote and after 1928 so had women.
By the mid 1930’s, the British electorate was huge compared to only 20 years before and it was clear to all politicians in Britain that the vast majority of the public were oppose to war. The British public were anti-war for two main reasons. They were because of the horrors of the Great War were still fresh in the minds of the public.The writings of the war poets, anti-war films of the early 1930’s and the annual remembrance services all reminded the public that war must never happen again. Also the second main reason was, by the 1930’s everyone knew “the bomber will always get through. ” Blockbuster movies such as “Things to come” predicted a war starting in 1940 in which wave after wave of bomber would destroy British cities.
The government and public were terrified of bombing, and for the first time British cities would be in the front line of enemy attack. Britain’s empire was he, and defence was Britain’s number one concern.As early as 1934 the CID had warned the government that Britain could not fight a war on three fronts. Another concern was Empire unity. In the Great War, empire troops from around the world fought for Britain. At an empire conference in 1937 the South African prime minister had said that if Britain became involved in a war with Germany, South Africa would not feel it would have to help.
In conclusion, the policy of appeasement was the result of many pressures on the government. On one hand, pressure from the allies was an important influence on a government dependant on votes.On the other hand, concern of Empire unity and the cost of rearming were major headaches to the government. They also felt the treaty of Versailles should be revised and with fear of war so high in people’s minds it was felt negotiation would resolve differences far easier than conflict.
On balance, having no allies was an important factor as it covered so many issues and, combined with Britain’s lack of readiness to fight and lack of strong allies, perhaps appeasement was the only possible policy to follow at the time.
