Appeasement at A Level

A profile of the issues raised by A level questions on this history topic.

Robert Pearce | Published in History Review

Appeasement is one of the most controversial and hotly contested issues in modern history. The arguments for and against are so finely balanced that it is immensely difficult for hard-pressed students - and academics - to make up their minds. No longer can we accept the simplistic theory that portrayed the appeasers, and especially Neville Chamberlain, as cowardly, short-sighted and wishful-thinking Guilty Men who encouraged Hitler's territorial appetites and whose almost criminal negligence left Britain undefended. Nor can the anti-appeasers, pre-eminently Winston Churchill, any longer be assigned the role of valiant heroes, struggling manfully to avoid 'the unnecessary war'. Instead, we have the unpleasant task of thinking for ourselves. How should we approach the topic?

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