Now you may be reading the caption, wondering who. It may not seem so obvious, but after reading this article you will see exactly who fell into Hitler's trap. Someone who was surely given enough red flags, but persisted he was right on his greater thoughts on Hitler.
So it all starts, a year and a half after World War II had made its appearance. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a secret message to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Two of which I dearly hope you have heard of. What was this call about.. hmmm? Well we know for sure by 1939, everyone saw the agonizing fast journey to Hitler's rise. He was invading countries at an unstoppable speed. I'm sure it was quite terrifying to witness.
The reason for President Roosevelt's call was for the worry of Hitler. He was getting very powerful, very very quickly. He expressed his concern that the smaller countries of Europe were being drawn or forced into the orbit of Hitler and Mussolini. He offered to address an appeal to the whole world for an agreement on new disarmament measures, the keeping of treaties, access to raw materials and for discussion of the just requirements of Germany and Italy, in exchange for guarantees of freedom of the smaller countries. He would do this, he said, only if Chamberlain approved like said in New York Times, Anthony Eden, the British Foreign Secretary, was delighted. For two years he had been doing his best to inspire such an initiative, believing that only a powerful statement of concern about the course of events in Europe on the part of the United States could stop the dictators in their tracks. But by now Chamberlain had taken charge of foreign policy personally. He believed that he could trust - and manage - Hitler and Mussolini, and feared that Roosevelt's proposed initiative would offend them and cause Chamberlain's policy of appeasement to collapse. So without consulting Eden, he rejected Roosevelt's offer.
Now, why on Earth would you trust BOTH Hitler and Mussolini single-handed? They were fooled, simple as that. Just like Hitler's own German people. Hitler says in this quote:
"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed"
That's just what happened in the case with Chamberlain. Hitler tended to lie A LOT, it's one of his traits. So I'm sure you just know by now the British PM is basically done for. Ignoring a helping hand for help, and trusting your "instincts", the bad guys took advantage of Chamberlain and soon before you know it, on Sunday, September 3rd of 1939 Britain was at war with Germany. Just as you imagined. He had no choice but to declare war on Germany when Hitler invaded Poland. Not to mention, Chamberlain didn't even prepare his own country for war. He dilly-dallied.
Go ahead and search 'Neville Chamberlain' on your browser. You may find articles saying "A Failed Leader in a Time of Crisis" or "How Britain Hoped To Avoid War with Germany in the 1930s". He didn't seem like a very liked character.
The word most assigned with Neville was appeasement. A policy of weakness. Appeasement was popular for several reasons. Chamberlain - and the British people - were desperate to avoid the slaughter of another world war. Britain was overstretched policing its empire and could not afford major rearmament. Its main ally, France, was seriously weakened and, unlike in the First World War, Commonwealth support was not a certainty. Many Britains also sympathized with Germany, which they felt had been treated unfairly following its defeat in 1918.
Why was he appeased? In the 1930s (with the Munich Agreement), he allowed Hitler to expand German territory unchecked. But how did he allow or even think to give off the territory of the German minority to Hitler? Think. It was a demand made by Hitler. And Chamberlain being basically brainwashed at this point by the 2 of these fools - Hitler and Mussolini - he fell for ANOTHER one of Hitler's lies. It would be appropriate to say, Hitler purposely put the British PM in this position, he knew he would most likely be appeased. What other way would it be? The Agreement allowed Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland, the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia, under the agreement with Chamberlain.
Why Czechoslovakia? After First World War nearly 3 million German civilians were dispersed throughout Europe, most of the civilians being in Czechoslovakia which is now known as the Czech Republic. As a policy of Hitler, he wanted to reunite all the German people and thought the best route to do so would be invading here to create a nation. Now, this is where it may get confusing, so listen close. Loads of Germans living in Czechoslovakia were in a town called the Sudetenland, Sudeten Germans began protests and provoked violence from the Czech police. Hitler claimed that 300 Sudeten Germans had been killed. This was not actually the case, but Hitler used it as an excuse to place German troops along the Czech border. (The National Archives)
During this situation, the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, flew to meet Hitler at his private mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden in an attempt to resolve the crisis. Three of the documents here are extracts from Chamberlain’s own record of the meeting. The other two documents are useful evidence of Chamberlain's kind of advice at home in Britain. (The National Archives)
Source 1a^ Extract from a letter from Nevile Henderson, British Ambassador in Germany, September 6th, 1938 (FO 371/21737)
Source 1b^
Source 1c^
Source 2a^ Extracts from the Minute of the conversation between Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden (FO 371/21738)
Source 2b^
Source 2c^
Conclusion of Note from General Ismay to the British Cabinet sent on September 20th, 1938 (CAB 21/544)
But, despite his promise of ‘no more territorial demands in Europe’, Hitler was undeterred by appeasement. In March 1939, he violated the Munich Agreement by occupying the rest of Czechoslovakia. Six months later, in September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and Britain was at war. (IWM).
So I'm sure you get it now, Chamberlain was stupid enough, like others to fall into Hitler's trap. It basically all crashed and went downhill for Britain after Chamberlain. Something that remains unforgettable forever.
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