Hitler, Chamberlain and Appeasement

by Frank McDonough

• ISBN13: 9780521000482
• ISBN10: 0521000483
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The book examines the central roles played by Hitler and Chamberlain in the events which led to the outbreak of the Second World War. It focuses on Anglo-German relations from 1918 to 1939, with particular attention paid to the key events from 1937 to 1939, when Hitler pursued an aggressive foreign policy, while Chamberlain strove to satisfy the 'legitimate' demands made by Hitler in the hope this would prevent war. The book includes an analysis of the changing nature of the debate on the roles of Hitler and Chamberlain in the origins of the Second World War. Hitler, Chamberlain and Appeasement is illustrated and includes primary sources.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(2)
Anglo-German relations, 1918--33	3	(14)
The legacies of the First World War	3	(1)
The Paris peace conference	4	(1)
The Treaty of Versailles	5	(4)
The reparations problem	9	(1)
The Locarno treaties	10	(2)
The impact of the Great Depression	12	(1)
German foreign policy, 1929--33	13	(1)
Document case study	14	(3)
The impact of Adolf Hitler: foreign-policy aims and actions, 1933--37	17	(14)
What were Hitler's aims in foreign policy?	17	(1)
The early years of Hitler's foreign policy, 1933--35	18	(3)
The problem of German rearmament	21	(1)
The Italian invasion of Abyssinia and its consequences	22	(2)
The Rhineland crisis	24	(1)
The Spanish Civil War	25	(1)
Hitler moves from strength to strength	25	(1)
The search for an Anglo-German alliance	26	(1)
Document case study	27	(4)
Why appeasement?	31	(12)
The impact of the First World War	31	(1)
Economic difficulties	32	(1)
The crisis of French will	32	(1)
Hostility towards Soviet communism	33	(1)
The imperial dimension	33	(1)
National defence	33	(3)
The mass media	36	(1)
Public opinion	36	(1)
The supporters of appeasement	36	(2)
The logic of appeasement	38	(1)
Alternatives to appeasement	38	(1)
Critics of appeasement	39	(1)
Document case study	39	(4)
Chamberlain and appeasement (1): the period of hope, May 1937-October 1938	43	(18)
Neville Chamberlain: early life and character	43	(1)
Chamberlain's views on the European crisis	44	(1)
Chamberlain's new direction	44	(2)
The Hossbach memorandum	46	(1)
Hitler makes key changes	47	(1)
Chamberlain's conflict with the Foreign Office	47	(1)
The union between Germany and Austria	48	(1)
The Czech crisis	49	(4)
The aftermath of Munich	53	(2)
Document case study	55	(6)
Chamberlain and appeasement (2): the road to war, October 1938-September 1939	61	(16)
The backlash against the Munich agreement	61	(2)
Difficulties with further appeasement	63	(2)
The foreign-policy options facing Chamberlain after Prague	65	(1)
The guarantee to Poland	65	(3)
The search for an alliance with the Soviet Union	68	(1)
The Nazi-Soviet pact	69	(2)
The outbreak of war	71	(2)
Document case study	73	(4)
The historical debate	77	(10)
The Hitlocentric interpretation	77	(1)
The revisionist view	78	(2)
Neville Chamberlain - `guilty man'?	80	(1)
Modern revisionism	81	(3)
A post-revisionist era?	84	(2)
Conclusion	86	(1)
Select bibliography	87	(2)
Chronology	89	(2)
Index	91