How Neville Chamberlain Became Defined By Appeasement
And why his legacy will never be repaired
“This is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.” — Neville Chamberlain after signing the Munich Agreement.
When I was in school, Neville Chamberlain and the term “appeasement” went hand in hand. After appeasement came the word “weakness.” In history, appeasement is making concessions to avoid war conflict. Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who presided over the Munich Agreement, which appeased Hitler was always a simple figure in history, a failure who didn’t take a stand on stopping Nazi Germany. Chamberlain was complicit in allowing Hitler to commit mass genocide and continue Nazi expansion in Europe. In 2005, historian Francis Beckett ranked Neville Chamberlain 0 out of 5 stars in how he implemented his policies, the lowest of 20th century UK Prime Minister.
Needless to say, history has not been kind to Neville Chamberlain.
It seems like most biographers and historians still remember Chamberlain for appeasement. Biography.com remembers Chamberlain as the British prime minister as the country entered World War II, who signed the Munich Agreement in 1938 that relinquished the region of…
