Sold – Just Weeks After a New Alliance Between Mussolini and Hitler, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain Articulates His Infamous Policy of Appeasement

By 1938, England’s inexorable march toward war was well underway.  The Nazis were firmly entrenched in Germany and had outlawed other parties.  They had annexed Austria in March of that year, and were threatening at the doorstep of Czechoslovakia, where a large population of ethnic Germans served as a pretext for expansion.  Hitler next demanded the cession of Czech land bordering Germany. And at a now-maligned conference at Munich in September of 1938, the allied powers, led by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, conceded.  This concession would be the embodiment of the policy that he called appeasement, a key component of which was his sympathy with the aspirations of the Germans and a genuine desire to avoid conflict at any cost.  Chamberlain returned from Munich literally waving the Munich agreement and famously stating that he had secured “peace in our time.” As Winston Churchill, then a back-bencher in Parliament, said to the House of Commons, “England has been offered a choice between war and shame. She has chosen shame, and will get war.” When Anthony Eden, the foreign secretary, resigned, Churchill described him as “one strong young figure standing up against long, dismal, drawling tides of drift and surrender.”

Within six months of Munich, Hitler invaded and conquered the entire country of Czechoslovakia and almost immediately began secretly preparing for the invasion of Poland, with which France and Britain would create an alliance.  In late April 1939, Hitler openly repudiated the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact.  In late May, the Pact of Steel between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany was formed. 

As Europe teetered on the brink of war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain continued as a voice of appeasement. And this appeasement has been forever memorialized by history as a great example of inaction in the face of danger, of a lack of leadership in time of need.  Chamberlain, faced with clear signs of aggression, sympathized with the German desire to re-incorporate its ethnic population, watched as Hitler broke treaties, and stood by as he illegally militarized his country. 

A. Beverly Baxter was a Canadian-born journalist-turned Conservative politician.  A close ally of Chamberlain, he notably said, “To me Munich will always remain the most courageous, idealistic achievement any British statesman has accomplished in the past hundred years. Others think differently. . . .”  Less than a fortnight after the alliance between Italy and Germany, Baxter wrote Chamberlain relaying to him that opinion was shifting against his policies.  Chamberlain responded with this previously unpublished letter, a perfect summation of his attitude of appeasement at a crucial moment in the march toward hostilities.  In it, he continues to believe that neither Germany nor Italy truly want war.

Typed Letter Signed, on 10 Downing Street letterhead, London, to Baxter, June 12, 1939. “Many thanks for your interesting letter of the 9th.  It certainly is surprising to hear of the trend of opinion at the dinner to which you refer.  As regards Germany generally as also Italy, one gets many contradictory views depending on the attitude of the individual expressing them.  Generally speaking, I should say that Italy is more pacifist than Germany, but neither does Germany want to go to war unless she is obliged.  Undoubtedly the propaganda about encirclement is being to some extent absorbed by that singularly credulous people.  Yours sincerely Neville Chamberlain.”

As he would explain in a famous speech later that month, “The real tragedy is that the future of Europe is being poisoned by the propagation of false and unfounded suspicions. For instance the German people are being drenched day and night by the assertion that Great Britain is trying to ‘Encircle’ her.” He favored instead “discussion and cooperation.”

June was Chamberlain’s and his policy’s last stand.  Shortly thereafter, Germany signed an alliance with Russia, Within 3 months, after the invasion of Poland by Germany, England was at war.  Though Chamberlain was at the helm at the start of the war, that would not last long.  In May of 1940, Churchill took over as Prime Minister.

Never has there been a greater contrast in leadership than between Churchill and Chamberlain. History records one as a champion of appeasement.  The other is a hero of history and an example of leadership in the face of insurmountable odds.  This letter is both an important pronouncement of England’s official policy on the brink of war and an expression of a sentiment memorialized in history books.

Letters of Chamberlain demonstrating his appeasement policy, particularly at such a crucial moment, are very uncommon.