How did appeasement apply to World War 2?
1. The Munich Agreement of 1938
The most infamous example of appeasement is the Munich Agreement of 1938, in which Great Britain, France, and Italy agreed to allow Germany to annex the Sudetenland, a region of Czechoslovakia. The Munich Agreement was widely seen as a failure of appeasement, as it emboldened Hitler and led to the outbreak of World War 2 the following year.
2. The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939
In 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, which divided Poland and the Baltic States between the two countries. The pact was a major blow to the policy of appeasement, as it showed that Germany was willing to work with the Soviet Union, a communist country, in order to achieve its goals.
The failure of appeasement
The policy of appeasement ultimately failed to prevent the outbreak of World War II. In fact, it may have actually made war more likely by giving Hitler the impression that the Western powers were weak and would not stand up to him. The lessons of appeasement are still relevant today, as countries continue to face the challenge of dealing with aggressive regimes.