Appeasement and the Collapse of the Postwar Order (1935-1939)

Appeasement can be defined as a strategy of concessions aimed at averting another general war. It was rooted above all in the generational trauma of the First World War, which fed deep pacifism across the Western democracies, and in the widespread British perception that some German grievances were, in fact, reasonable given how harsh Versailles had been. It was reinforced by the relative military weakness of France and Britain after years of disarmament, and by Britain's overriding priority of avoiding simultaneous conflict in Europe and across its empire. British prime minister Neville Chamberlain became the policy's chief architect, while a weakened France, both politically and militarily, largely followed Britain's lead.