The policy of appeasement is the diplomatic policy of restraining a state from using force and making concessions in order to prevent the escalation or escalation of conflict. The term is associated with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy against Nazi Germany in the interwar period. However, in that case it served to convince Adolf Hitler of the West’s inaction and allowed him to expand the Third Reich. In recent years it has been associated with the Western reaction to Russia’s intervention in the post-Soviet space and the start of the war in Ukraine.
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Chamberlain, Hitler and World War II
From 1933 to 1936, the policy of appeasement focused on tolerating Nazi erosion of the Treaty of Versailles, the peace settlement at the end of World War I. Hitler, who took power in 1933, first questioned the implementation of German disarmament: that same year he left the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations. In 1935 he raised his ambitions further and signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which allowed Germany to build a battle fleet no more than 35% the size of the British fleet. already consolidated in power, the fuhrer It re-militarized the Rhineland region in 1936. The United Kingdom and the League of Nations condemned the action, but took no further action.
That appeasement with Germany passed for territorial concessions in 1938. The Nazis first occupied Austria in March with little use of force. In September Hitler claimed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, threatening conflict, and obtained it after the Munich Agreement with Italy, France and the United Kingdom. Faced with the inaction of Paris and London, and convinced that they would not stop him, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and the rest of Poland in 1939, starting World War II.
The policy of appeasement was motivated by several factors. First, the fear of repeating the atrocities of the Great War. Second, the belief that the terms of the peace with Germany were excessive. Third, a still-damaged economy and the need to maintain their respective empires convinced Britain and France that they were not prepared to deal with Germany, let alone American isolationism. Finally, anti-communism and suspicion of the Soviet Union prevented an alliance that may have limited German ambitions.
Appeasement policy with Putin in Ukraine?
With Russia’s intervention in the post-Soviet space, the policy of appeasement once again gained prominence. The response to the war in Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014 – economic sanctions and condemnation at the United Nations – convinced the Russian president of the lack of force from the West and led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a few days ago asked to end the policy of appeasement with Russia.
However, the recent context is different from the context between the wars. On the one hand, Russia has a nuclear arsenal with greater deterrence than the Nazi army. However, the reactions to the Russian invasions of Georgia and Crimea were far greater than those of the Allies in Europe. On the other hand, the Allies and Poland had signed agreements in which the former promised to intervene in the event of a German attack. For its part, Ukraine is not a member of NATO and does not have mutual defense treaties with Western countries, so support has been mainly arms and more sanctions against Russia.
