Chamberlain somewhat sympathized with Germany’s injustice at the Treaty of Versailles, interpreting Germany’s expanding self as Germany’s aim to restore pre-World War I borders. In the face of Chamberlain’s ambiguous emotions, Hitler was also very good at arousing his guilt, and used this to bargain in “diplomatic negotiations”. There is always an ironic side to the history of
ignorant “vigilance” of compassion .
Hitler was nominated for the 1939 Nobel Peace Prize under the nomination of Swedish MP Eric Brandt.
Hitler was nominated because he signed the Munich Agreement with France and Great Britain in 1938. At the same time Hitler was nominated, British Prime Minister Chamberlain was also “honored” to be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
At the beginning, Hitler relied on the promise of “We will tear up the “Versailles Peace Treaty” that drove us to hell, we will stand on the stage of the world again, and we will make those robbers who oppress us and divide our country regret. German power.
However, when he first came to power, Hitler called for “peaceful cooperation” with Britain, France and other countries, and suggested to sign a “non-aggression pact” together. “, Germany is willing to disband the entire army.
In 1935, Hitler even specially issued a “peace speech”, which made a hype about the vision of “the West without war”. Therefore, Western newspapers once thought that the “dangerous element” Hitler’s prodigal son turned back and applauded him.
But they didn’t know that Hitler said to his confidants in private: “You can talk about peace with your mouth, and think about war in your heart.” Facts have proved that Hitler’s series of measures to promote peace were only released to secretly promote war. Smoke bomb.
Under the bewitchment of Hitler, Chamberlain once believed that Hitler was sincere in peace, and believed that Britain and Germany had fundamentally the same interests in peace.
At the same time, Chamberlain sympathized to a certain extent with Germany’s injustice in the Treaty of Versailles, interpreting Germany’s expanding self as Germany’s aim to restore pre-World War I borders. When the German von Kleist warned Chamberlain that Hitler was “the only true extremist”, Chamberlain dismissed it as a slander against Hitler.
In the face of Chamberlain’s ambiguous emotions, Hitler was also very good at arousing his guilt, and used this to bargain in “diplomatic negotiations”.
Chamberlain once pressed Hitler face to face: “You say 3 million Sudeten Germans must be brought into Germany, are you satisfied with that? Don’t you want more? I ask because many people think that’s not all , think you want to dismember Czechoslovakia.”
Hitler replied, of course he didn’t want many Czechs, but the Soviet Union would use the Czechs to threaten Germany’s security, so the disintegration of the Czechoslovakia would be of great benefit to Germany’s security.
In fact, Chamberlain is not a special case of sympathy for Germany after the First World War, and this sentiment is generally permeated in the United Kingdom. When German troops marched into the Rhine to retake the area in 1936, British public opinion was unusually calm. At the same time, when Italy invaded Ethiopia, British public opinion was in an uproar.
In the face of Hitler’s continuous challenges to the Versailles Treaty, the British, to some extent, regarded it as Germany fighting for its rightful rights and gave it an understanding.
Mistakes Repeatedly: From Balance of Power to Appeasement
Beginning with the “Glorious Isolation Policy” of the late 19th century, Britain has been trying to maintain a “balance of power” on the European continent, in which it played the role of “fisherman”.
In the 20 years after the First World War, due to the aftermath of the war and the heavy damage of the world economic crisis, the afterglow of the British Empire has become increasingly dim. This balance of power is therefore crucial to maintaining Britain’s crumbling “hegemony” status.
Before the First World War, Britain could reap the benefits of the fisherman by provoking the relationship between France and Germany’s old enemies. But since then, the Treaty of Versailles has established France’s dominance in continental Europe.
The book “Ambassador of Peace” also commented: “Britain’s fundamental interest is to prevent the collapse of Germany. As long as Germany is a unified whole, Europe can maintain a more or less balance of power.”
Perhaps because of this, in the “Versailles Peace Treaty” , Germany was able to survive as a unitary body. To this end, Britain tried to manipulate Germany into a cat’s claw that could only take chestnuts in Europe for British interests.
In the process of Hitler strategizing and breaking through the Treaty of Versailles step by step, Britain naively believed that Hitler would keep the bottom line of peace after satisfying Germany’s “reasonable” demands. Therefore, when Germany attempted to abolish the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles restricting German armaments, the United Kingdom not only did not stop it, but instead forced France to issue a communiqué of the talks, expressing its willingness to abolish the provisions of the peace treaty through negotiation.
Perhaps seeing through the mind of the United Kingdom, in March of the same year, Hitler brazenly announced that he would unilaterally abolish the provisions of the peace treaty restricting German armaments. Not only that, France and Belgium jointly sent troops to occupy the Ruhr area to urge Germany to pay reparations, which was firmly opposed by the United Kingdom.
At the same time, in order to revitalize German industry, Britain, together with the United States, forced France to accept the Dawes plan and the Younger plan. Under the British operation, Germany was able to restore its great power status by concluding the Locarno Pact with six European countries and joining the League of Nations.
The series of appeasement against Germany after the end of the First World War was based on the confidence that Britain had enough power to control the still recovering Germany. However, under the leadership of Hitler during World War II, Germany was like a “runaway horse”, which made Britain’s “appeasement” gradually evolve into a helpless resignation. Chamberlain was even more humbled and flew to Germany three times to beg for peace. This outcome should have been unexpected in the UK.
The “Sima Zhao’s Heart”
of “Dongshui Dongyin” is also “Sima Zhao’s Heart” behind the British “appeasement” to Germany.
Due to their different political genes, Western countries have always been unwilling to see the Soviet Union. As one of the leaders in the capitalist world, Britain will naturally not miss any opportunity to strangle the Soviet Union. Churchill once recalled that as early as the Paris Peace Conference at which the “Peace of Versailles” was signed, the leaders of the major Western powers believed that it was an impossible task to rely on the victorious countries to deal with the Soviet Union after the war, and that Germany must be used to “liberate” the Soviet Union and revive Eastern Europe.
Chamberlain is also very afraid of the powerful military equipment of the Soviet Union. He believes that the Soviet Union can leave some very serious scars “where its claws can reach”, so he is more convinced of the importance of his own policy of appeasement in maintaining the “unity” of Western Europe.
Therefore, Chamberlain should try his best to prevent Britain and Germany from killing each other and the Soviet Union from taking advantage. However, what Chamberlain did not expect was that Hitler, who had concocted the “Reichstag arson case”, massacred the Communists, and publicly shouted against the Soviet Union, reached a “Soviet-German Non-aggression Pact” with the Soviet Union before the outbreak of World War II.
Nowadays, many writings or everyone’s words often attribute the main responsibility for the outbreak of World War II to Chamberlain and his “appeasement policy”. After the First World War, war weariness and sympathy for Germany pervaded British society, which were the “soil” and catalyst for Chamberlain’s appeasement policy. Therefore, the policy of appeasement is not so much a personal tragedy of Chamberlain, but rather a tragedy of the times for the entire English nation.
