Appeasement

Today we have been taught to think of "appeasement" as a kind of cowardice. Most people believe that the "appeasers" gave in to Hitler's demands, especially at Munich in 1938, and helped to bring on the war. Negotiations between countries today have become much more difficult because neither side wants to be accused of "appeasement."

The truth isn't quite so simple. Hitler made many demands in the late 1930s, but the Munich agreement, which gave him parts of Czechoslovakia, was actually a British and French proposal. And it had much public support. "[F]ew causes have been more popular. Every newspaper in Britain applauded the Munich settlement with the exception of Reynolds' News." In the l9th and early 20th centuries, many great powers settled their differences by dividing up smaller powers or colonies. You may think this was very wrong, but it was common. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain wasn't an advocate of nonviolence, and the partition of Czechoslovakia wasn't an example of nonviolence or the "failure" of peacemaking. It was, in many ways, a continuation of traditional diplomacy--but even more cynical than most such agreements.

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