Has Appeasement been the best policy towards dictatorships in the past and will continue to be in the future?
Keywords:
Appeasement Policy, World War II, Treaty of Versailles, Adolf Hitler, Neville ChamberlainAbstract
The statement “appeasement has been the best policy towards dictatorships in the past and will continue to be in the future” is not convincing based on the historical knowledge. To clarify the contradiction to the statement, this essay will use the case of the rise of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, which eventually led to World War II. The maxim “compromise seems better than conflict” appropriately describes the diplomatic relations between European superpowers, particularly Britain, France, and Germany post-World War I. If viewed in detail, World War II could be considered as a string that evolved from the failure of the appeasement policy adopted by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in the 1930s. What is to be noted here is the legitimacy of the appeasement policy by the British, whether it is a thriving democratic move to postpone the war or something that should not be done because, in the end, there was also World War II. As a result of the British failure to appease Germany, which triggered World War II, this essay argues that appeasement has not been, and might never be, the right strategy and suitable policy against dictatorships.
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