Was the Appeasement Policy the Primary Cause of Wwii free essay sample

World War primarily caused by the appeasement policy? The appeasement policy is adopted first by the Britain and then by France to avoid war with the aggressors, namely Germany, Italy and Japan during the interwar period in 1930s. The policy is to give way and fulfill the aggressors’ demands as much as possible, like what historian Paul Kennedy defines: the appeasement is â€Å"a policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying the grievance through international negotiation and compromise, thereby avoiding the resort to an armed conflict which would be expensive, bloody and possibly dangerous. [1] In my opinion, the appeasement policy is not a primary cause of the Second World War, it can only be considered as a catalyst of the outbreak of war instead of a root cause. As comparing with other factors that leads to war like the rise of totalitarianism which is the Nazi party and the Fascist Party, the Great Depression and the failure of collective security that undermined world peace in the long period of late 1920s to 1930s, the appeasement policy is rather an immediate cause that sparkled off the outbreak of WWII. We will write a custom essay sample on Was the Appeasement Policy the Primary Cause of Wwii? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page On one hand, the appeasement policy indeed caused the outbreak of WWII by encouraging the growth of aggressors, which increased the possibility of war. For example, regarding the expansion of Fascist Italy, after the Abyssinian crisis in 1935, there was the Hoare-Laval pact which appeased Italy by giving it two-thirds of Abyssinia. This encouraged the desire for expansion of Italy. In 1934, Italy withdrew from the League of Nations, and launched its plan of aggression to the fullest by breaking free from the control of the League. Another example to illustrate how the appeasement policy encouraged the growth of the aggressor was that of the Nazi Germany. The Italian success of annexing Abyssinia set an example for Hitler to carry out his expansion plans[2] and then after every territorial acquisition of Germany from the appeasements, such as the union with Austria and annexation of Sudetenland in 1938, Hitler got a larger army and more raw materials to prepare for war, this increased the readiness of Germany to go to war and it became potentially threatening and dangerous to other countries like Britain and France, not to mention the small central European countries as well. The policy not only made Germany â€Å"physically† stronger, but also built up its confidence and desire of starting a war to conquer the whole of Europe. Because the appeasements revealed the weakness and fear of war from Britain and France[3], both of the powers did not stand up to aggressions and allowed them to grow stronger and stronger by merely compromising and satisfying their requests. For example: the Anglo-German Naval Agreement that allowed the rearmament of Germany and the Munich conference which gave Germany Sudetenland facilitated Germany’s foreign expansionist policy for lebensraum[4], and made its appetite of obtaining other country grew larger and larger. Seeing how both powers only protested and did not take real action to oppose it, Hitler was no longer afraid of the possibility of Britain and France’s interference or obstruction to its expansion acts, thus carried out more aggressive acts at ease, taking the whole of Czechoslovakia in 1938. This further created a powerful and threatening Germany and made the outbreak of war more possible. Therefore, similar to the case of Italy, appeasement policy did not stop the growth of Nazi Germany into an aggressor, but further encouraged it, making it a significant threat of European peace and main factor leading to the outbreak of war. [5] On the other hand, other factors also contributed to the outbreak of WWII. Firstly, the rise of totalitarianism led to the outbreak of WWII. Regarding the case of Nazi Germany, it first rearmed in 1935 and then remilitarized Rhineland in 1936 and also occupied Austria and Sudetenland in 1938 then the whole of Czechoslovakia. These attempts of expansion threatened world peace in the sense that Germany gained what it wanted without being stopped; and undermined the credibility of the peace-keeping countries and the League of Nations because they were not able to maintain collective security. Nevertheless, referring to Nazism, because it was determined to overthrow the Treaty of Versailles which was seen as a diktat and to restore Germany’s reputation and glory as one of the world’s greatest power. Hitler aimed to achieve this goal by enlarging the area and territory of Germany, this was threatening to war because in 1937 the Hossbach Memorandum, Hitler mentioned that it is to be done by foreign expansion and this would further lead to war. Regarding the case of Fascist Italy, in 1923 there was the Corfu incident and the occupation of Fiume and in 1935 the Abyssinian crisis. These events demonstrated the ineffectiveness of collective security because the economic sanctions were not posing much effect to Italy as it ignored them. [6] The sanctions also drew Mussolini closer to Hitler because Hitler had not imposed sanctions to Italy nor did it take action against the invasion of Abyssinia of Italy. Moreover, what made the rise of totalitarianism more dangerous is that Fascism and Nazism worked together to work for their expansionist plans this made the aggressors stronger and more dangerous. The leader of the Fascist Italy, Mussolini gave up the alliance with Britain and France as the Stresa Front broke down when Italy invaded Abyssinia in 1935. Mussolini then moved closer to Hitler when they signed the Pact of steel in and Rome-Berlin axis. [7] When the axis power worked together, their military and political alliance become more powerful and their bargaining power with the other powers like Britain and France grew because the axis power increases the danger of war. Secondly, the Great Depression also led to the outbreak of WWII. As the Great Depression seriously crippled Britain, France and even US’s economy, they tend to focus on their domestic economy recovery, cut their military expenditure and became reluctant to contain aggressors and choose to appease them instead. [8] As a result, the adoption of appeasement policy encourages the growth of totalitarianism because they do not have to worry that Britain and France would take military action against them. Moreover, the Great Depression mad the US went for isolationist policy. This severely weakened the peace-keeping power of Britain and France because they alone were not powerful enough to impose economic sanctions or to provide troops for the League of Nations when in need. Hence, the Great Depression’s effect was that the peace keeping efforts were all undermined and ineffective, which cleared the way for the aggressors to carry out expansionist acts more easily. Comparing with other factors that caused the outbreak of war, like the rise of totalitarianism with the appeasement policy, the rise of Nazism and Fascism should be considered as a root cause of the war instead of the appeasement policy. It is because both Nazism and Fascism are aggressive in nature; because they upheld the idea of foreign expansion as the major strategy to restore national glory after the First World War and to show that they were strong countries to the other powers. Therefore, their policy of expansion made war more easily to broke out, and if Germany and Italy was not so aggressive, Britain and France would not have to appease them in exchange for peace, and according to Historian A. J. P. Taylor, the appeasement is a rational political strategy, both Britain and France are only reacting and responding to the aggressions of Germany and Italy. Taylor said that â€Å"appeasement ought to be seen as a rational response to an unpredictable leader, appropriate to the time both diplomatically and politically. †[9] Therefore, if it was not because of the totalitarian state’s territorial demands, Britain and France would not have to counteract with the aggressors and to adopt the appeasement policy. In addition, the appeasement is a result of the different factors that lead to war, therefore it cannot be considered as a primary cause of the Second World War but a catalyst instead. It is because the appeasement policy is a counteract policy of Britain and France in response to the aggressions of Germany and Italy in the 1930s to gain more time to prepare themselves for war and also trying to fulfill the desires of Hitler so that he may stop his expansionist policies and peace could be preserved. If the League of Nations was strong enough and successful in containing the aggressors, Britain and France would not have to find their own way to deal with Hitler and Mussolini and would not need to give way to the aggressors that triggered off the war. Last but not least, referring to the time of the adoption of the appeasement policy, it was from 1935 to 1939 and the Second World War broke out in 1939. The policy is not as a deep rooted problem comparing with other factors. If there was not the â€Å"foundation† of the other factors which was the Great Depression, the rise of totalitarianism and the effects of the failure of collective security that sow the seeds of war, the effect of the appeasement policy would not be so profound and influential to affect the international situation so seriously and gave chance for Hitler to carry out his plans of expansion.