How did the Policy of Appeasement lead to the Second World War?
The Policy of Appeasement led to the Second World War as Britain and France, two of the main powers in 20th century Europe, failed to appease Hitler to the extent where war with Nazi Germany was inevitable. The process of appeasement did not take place in one day or over a short period of time, rather it was a series of events, starting with Manchurian Crisis in 1931, followed by the Abyssinian Crisis of 1935 and Hitler’s annexation of the Rhineland, Poland, the Sudetenland in Austria, Czechoslovakia and Belgium, breaking the Treaty of Versailles, in his attempt to build a ‘Grossseutschland’.
The Manchurian Crisis of 1931 was an event that developed after Japan, a member of the League at the time, tried to annex China through Manchuria. China had appealed to the League, led by Britain and France, multiple times but the League turned their backs on China and allowed Japan to invade. In an attempt to caution Japan by filing a report blaming the Japanese for the events that had taken place in Manchuria, Japan left the League and continued their Chinese annexation without any repercussions. Hitler saw this as an example of the League’s growing complacency and encouraged him that he would be able to break the Treaty of Versailles without any repercussions. When Italy, led by Mussolini, tried to invade Abyssinia in Ethiopia in 1935, the Abyssinian people cried for help to Britain and France. Like in incident in Manchuria, Britain and France ignored the Abyssinian pleas for help and instead proposed a secret pact, the Hoare-Laval pact, with Fascist Italy stating that two thirds of Abyssinia would be given to Italy without Abyssinian consent in order to keep Mussolini satisfied. The pact was highly unpopular among both the British and French people so it never went into effect. However, this crisis again proved to Hitler that he would be able to invade countries or territories and the League would simply either step aside or negotiate an unfavourable deal.
