Right, so, letâs talk for a second about Britainâs policy of appeasement during the ramp-up to WWII proper.
In a diplomatic context, appeasement is basically letting your opponent have what he wants because, well, that demand isnât too bad, and itâs a minor concession for you, doesnât hurt your country at all, so whatâs the harm. Besides, let him have this one thing and heâll stay off your back, right? He wonât ask for more, and you wonât have started a diplomatic incident over something small.
This? NEVER. WORKS. This is like giving your bratty three year old ice cream because theyâve been screaming for it for an hour and if you give them ice cream, itâll shut them up at least, right? No. Your bratty three year old will then demand MORE. No bedtime! More ice cream! More toys! Candy! Movies! MORE MORE MORE! We would not advocate raising your child this way. We should really not advocate running diplomatic relations with other countries this way.
This is different, too, than a negotiation, where you give Mr. Opponent his ice cream and he gives you a plate of home-made cookies in exchange. Appeasement is basically handing the opponent the ice cream and saying âNow leave mommy alone for *FIVE MINUTES* please.â
Now, prior to Great Britain basically telling Germany/Hitler to just take Rhineland and Sudentenland and leave mommy alone for five minutes, there were two other fairly significant instances of Allied Nation appeasement of Axis Nations. (To remind everyone not as fascinated by WWII history as I amâthe Allies are generally listed as US/UK and Russia during the later war years; the Axis are Germany, Italy, and Japan.) First, the US did nothing to stop the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. This was a bad move, as it basically started the entire Pacific Theater of WWII. Instead, the US sent a strongly worded letter to Japan, reminding them that as a member of the League of Nations (a pretty much useless precursor to the United Nations), they were obligated to try and solve their issue with China peacefully first. Japan basically went âFuck that shit, we hate China and we have no intention of being nice to themâ and continued the invasion (there is a long history of conflict between China and Japanâitâs a whole thing, but basically, neither one likes the other very much and whenever they fight thereâs a lot of dehumanizing and racism and Generally Not Okay Stuffâwe can talk about the Rape of Nanking one of these days, but I gotta get over my urge to vomit every time I think about it first). The US, and the League of Nations, did nothing except some head-shaking and finger waving and vague tutting, and allowed Japan to carry on. Japan resigned from the League of Nations, and the US basically issued a statement saying they refused to recognize any Japanese conquest of Japan, and would deal only with Chinese governments when dealing with China (the Stimson Doctrine is actually more complicated than this, but that was the very basic gist).
Then, in 1934, Italy was sanctioned by the League of Nations for invading Abyssinia. However, the sanctions were much reduced from what would normally have applied in order to avoid starting a war. Nevertheless, despite extremely lax responses from future Allied Nations, Italy got upset at being sanctioned and began to side with Germany over international matters. Italy also continued to invade African nations through the rest of the decade. The League of Nations did nothing, and actually lifted their already lax sanctions on Italy in 1936, even though Italy had shown no remorse for itâs behavior and was continuing to invade sovereign nations.
So, in 1936, Hitler decides he wants to start invading European countries and sends troops into the Rhineland, a section of Germany that was given to France as war reparations under the Treaty of Versailles. France was not happy about this, but could do nothing without the support of itâs ally, England. The Prime Minister at the time, Stanley Baldwin, basically said, âWell, just let him have it, then heâll be happy and we wonât have to fight another war.â Hitler, quite rightly, interpreted this unwillingness to fight him over the little things as an advantage, and staged the Anschluss, annexing Austria to Germany. The Allied response was little more than a worried frown. Basically the same thing happened when Nazis in Czechoslovakia announced they were declaring the Sudentenland part of Germany. However, Baldwin had resigned as PM at this point, and Neville Chamberlain was the new PM. He recognized the potential threat of a German invasion and flew to Munich to meet with Hitler and try to reach some agreement to prevent a German attack on the UK. The end result was that Germany got what it wanted, and Chamberlain got an empty promise that Hitler wouldnât take over any more countries. All this promise actually was, in my opinion, was a promise not to invade any countries currently allied to Great Britain until Hitler had taken care of the easy stuff first.
What was Americaâs opinion on all this? âOkay, cool, as long as we can stay over here and not get involved, we donât care what Europe does.â
So, then, in 1939, Hitler invades Poland, and what do the Allies do? We sit there and watch and bite our fingernails and only after itâs clear Poland has fallen do we declare war. And actually, the US didnât even declare war then. We were pretty staunch isolationists at this point, and didnât want anything to do with another European war. It was only after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that we officially entered World War II.
So, what is the point of all this?
DO NOT FUCKING LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT.
If you see something happening and you think to yourself, âWell, if I let them have this, theyâll leave us alone,â stop right there and STOP THAT SHIT. Escalate things. Make noise. Make sure people know whatâs happening. Because we should not be okay with sitting back and watching as entire countries are swallowed up, entire people groups. Fuck that. Stop them. Tell someone. Donât let them get away with it, even if it means trouble for you.
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