Neville Chamberlain did the right thing: Appeasement of Hitler was the best policy for the British government in the 1930s

Intelligence Squared

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🗓️ 10 November 2017

⏱️ 65 minutes

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Summary

If ever a politician got a bum rap it’s Neville Chamberlain. He has gone down in history as the British prime minster whose policy of appeasement in the 1930s allowed the Nazis to flourish unopposed. He has never been forgiven for ceding part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in the Munich Agreement of September 1938, and for returning home triumphantly declaring “peace for our time”. The very word “appeasement” is now synonymous with him, signifying a craven refusal to stand up to bullies and aggressors. What a contrast to Winston Churchill, the man who took over as prime minister and who has ever since been credited with restoring Britain’s backbone. But is the standard verdict on Chamberlain a fair one? After all, memories of the slaughter of the First World War were still fresh in the minds of the British, who were desperate to avoid another conflagration. And anyway what choice did Chamberlain have in 1938? There’s a good case for arguing that the delay in hostilities engineered at Munich allowed time for military and air power to be strengthened. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:00.0	Now it is my turn to welcome you to Intelligence Squared and to a debate among
1:04.2	four extremely distinguished historians about one of the most controversial
1:08.1	moments in 20th century history. In September of 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, together with his French counterpart, agreed to let Adolf Hitler occupy the Sudetenland, an ethnically German part of Czechoslovakia.
1:22.0	Calling the crisis a quarrel in a faraway country
1:25.9	between people of whom we know nothing. He returned home waiving a promise in
1:30.0	that picture up there, signed by Hitler not to pursue war any further. So was he right to do so? Those
1:37.0	in support of this motion will argue yes and those against will argue no. Our first speaker
1:42.3	for the motion for the motion is John Charmley, Professor of Modern History at
1:46.6	the University of East Anglia, who can now stand up, and he's the author of Chamberlain
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