Who Is More to Blame for the British Policy Appeasement to Nazi Germany & the Lack of Prepardedness to Re-Arm, Neville Chamberlain or Stanley Baldwin?
36-40, FVIP
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Burnley123 · 41-45, M
Both but especially Chamberlain.
I am interested in military history but I'm not sure that this is either contentious or relevent.
This isn't an analogy that works for other wars but it keeps getting used over and over again.
The one just war. The one where a decision not to fight was counterproductive in it's own terms.
Name another that ticks both of those boxes.
I am interested in military history but I'm not sure that this is either contentious or relevent.
This isn't an analogy that works for other wars but it keeps getting used over and over again.
The one just war. The one where a decision not to fight was counterproductive in it's own terms.
Name another that ticks both of those boxes.
Elessar · 26-30, M
@Burnley123 Russia-Ukraine is the only where the comparison stands, Russia being big enough and armed enough to represent a global threat if allowed to expand with little to no repercussions because everyone is afraid of their nukes.
I agree that it's a bullsh*t comparison when it comes to wars involving non-nuclear regional powers like in the ME region, or even mere terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, ISIS and Hamas.
I agree that it's a bullsh*t comparison when it comes to wars involving non-nuclear regional powers like in the ME region, or even mere terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, ISIS and Hamas.
beckyromero · 36-40, FVIP
@Burnley123
Chamberlain, of course, was the P.M. who famously waved around the paper bearing his signature and Hitler's. But I think Baldwin gets off with barely a mention of responsbility.
Baldwin could have fought to increase Britain's military readiness. in the mid 1930s. The German-Anglo Naval Agreement is on him. He didn't learn the lessen of the U-boat menace from the First World War. And the failure to support the French when Germany re-militarized the Rhineland in 1936 is also on him. It is said he didn't push for greater military expenditures because he was afraid it could cost him the 1935 election. And so he kept from the public information about Germany's quick rise in military rearmament - although Winston Churchill was able to get secret documents from Ralph Wigram of the Foreign Office (as well as others) which he used to embarrass Baldwin.
Chamberlain did try to belatedly address Britain's military prepardedness once he became P.M. But he also rightfully deserves a heap of scorn for his bumbling efforts at diplomacy. Chamberlain failed to make a stand over Czechoslovakia. He felt Britain needed more time to rearm. In reality by giving Germany more time as well, the gap didn't close and instead widened in the Nazi's favor. War breaking out in 1938 would have forced Germany to fight for every inch of Czech soil and they wouldn't have captured that country's important armament factories intact. It would have thrown the Fall Weiss timetable into chaos, as Germany could have not been both fighting a guerrilla warfare in Czechoslovakia and invading Poland at the same time - while facing a strong combined French-British army on the Western front.
It's a tought call. Perhaps Chamberlain ends up slightly more to blame when you add in Britain's disastrous military losses early in the war,
Chamberlain, of course, was the P.M. who famously waved around the paper bearing his signature and Hitler's. But I think Baldwin gets off with barely a mention of responsbility.
Baldwin could have fought to increase Britain's military readiness. in the mid 1930s. The German-Anglo Naval Agreement is on him. He didn't learn the lessen of the U-boat menace from the First World War. And the failure to support the French when Germany re-militarized the Rhineland in 1936 is also on him. It is said he didn't push for greater military expenditures because he was afraid it could cost him the 1935 election. And so he kept from the public information about Germany's quick rise in military rearmament - although Winston Churchill was able to get secret documents from Ralph Wigram of the Foreign Office (as well as others) which he used to embarrass Baldwin.
Chamberlain did try to belatedly address Britain's military prepardedness once he became P.M. But he also rightfully deserves a heap of scorn for his bumbling efforts at diplomacy. Chamberlain failed to make a stand over Czechoslovakia. He felt Britain needed more time to rearm. In reality by giving Germany more time as well, the gap didn't close and instead widened in the Nazi's favor. War breaking out in 1938 would have forced Germany to fight for every inch of Czech soil and they wouldn't have captured that country's important armament factories intact. It would have thrown the Fall Weiss timetable into chaos, as Germany could have not been both fighting a guerrilla warfare in Czechoslovakia and invading Poland at the same time - while facing a strong combined French-British army on the Western front.
It's a tought call. Perhaps Chamberlain ends up slightly more to blame when you add in Britain's disastrous military losses early in the war,