Was the Policy of Appeasement Justified?

Exam code: 2147

Written by: Ashika|Reviewed by: Caroline Carroll|Updated 2 July 2026

What was Appeasement?

Appeasement was the policy of giving in to demands to avoid war
- Followers of appeasement use diplomacy and treaties to make allowance for aggressive nations
- Britain and France followed the policy of appeasement in the 1930s
Many historians associate appeasement with Neville Chamberlain
- Like many other politicians, Chamberlain had lost family members in the First World War
  - His brother was killed in action in 1915
- The First World War had horrified Chamberlain and the British public
  - He would do anything to avoid another world war
- In 1937, Chamberlain became the British Prime Minister
  - During this time, he attempted to appease Hitler’s foreign policy aims
Not all British politicians agreed with appeasement
- Winston Churchill was a strong opponent of appeasement
- He stated that:

Motivations for Appeasement

A split-panel illustration comparing arguments for and against appeasement before the Second World War.

Left Side – Arguments for Appeasement (Green background)
Neville Chamberlain is shown, labelled at the bottom.

Arguments listed below include:

“Hitler can stop the spread of communism”

“Britain needs time to rearm”

“Hitler is just taking back what the Treaty of Versailles unfairly took from Germany”

“The public do not want another world war”

“Britain cannot afford a war due to the Depression”

“Hitler will stop his demands soon”

Right Side – Arguments against Appeasement (Pink background)
Winston Churchill is shown, labelled at the bottom.

Arguments listed below include:

“We cannot trust Hitler. He keeps breaking his promises”

“Germany is very quickly rearming. We need to stop Hitler before it’s too late”

“Appeasement makes Britain look weak. We must stand up against tyrants” — An illustration showing the arguments for and against the policy of Appeasement

Worked example

Study Source A.

How useful is this source to a historian studying the causes of the Second World War? Explain your answer using details of the source and your knowledge

7 marks

Source A: A cartoon by David Low published in the Evening Standard on 8th July 1936 with the title “Stepping Stones to Glory”. A representation of Hitler is seen stepping on multiple people’s backs. The words ‘Rearmament’ and ‘Rhineland Fortification’ are displayed on the first three backs.

Partial answer:

Source A is useful for a historian because it shows the dangers of appeasement (1). The cartoon shows Hitler stepping over the backs of what Low calls “spineless leaders of democracy” (1). The cartoon was published in 1936. By this point, the League had allowed Hitler to rearm and remilitarise the Rhineland for Germany. The leaders of France and Britain were following a policy of appeasement, which gave in to Hitler’s demands to avoid war (1). The cartoon shows that some people in 1936 disagreed with appeasement. Calling the leaders ‘spineless’ shows that Low believed that the leaders could do more to stop Hitler (1).

Exam tip

All sources are, in some way, useful for a historian. To achieve full marks for this question, you need to comment on the nature, origin and purpose of the source

Nature - The source is a cartoon produced in 1936. Cartoons are useful for understanding the zeitgeist, or the mood of the time. A limitation of cartoons as historical sources is that events are often exaggerated
Origin - David Low was born in New Zealand but worked in the UK. He created many political cartoons for The Star (1919 - 1927) and the Evening Standard (1927-1950)
Purpose - Cartoons are often drawn to entertain or to provide an opinion. Low represents an anti-appeasement opinion in a time when a lot of British people supported the policy

This method of source analysis ensures you are using details from the source and your own knowledge in your answer.

What was Appeasement?

What was Appeasement?

Motivations for Appeasement

Motivations for Appeasement

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