This definitions covers Key Terms within Appeasement for GCSE History. Revise Appeasement in Conflict and Tension 1918-1939 for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 3 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 11 of 16 in this topic. Make sure you can use the exact wording confidently, because definition marks are often lost through vague language.
Topic position
Section 11 of 16
Practice
8 questions
Recall
3 flashcards
📖 Key Terms
- Appeasement
- The British and French policy of giving in to Hitler's demands in order to avoid war. Associated primarily with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1937–1940). At the time it was widely supported; after the fall of France in 1940, it became deeply controversial and is now generally seen as a failure.
- Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)
- British Prime Minister from May 1937. The chief architect of appeasement. He flew to Germany three times during the Sudetenland crisis (September 1938). On returning from Munich, he declared he had achieved "peace for our time." Resigned in May 1940 after Germany invaded Norway and France. His reputation was destroyed by the failure of appeasement, but some historians argue he made the best of a bad situation.
- The Munich Agreement (September 1938)
- Agreement between Britain (Chamberlain), France (Daladier), Germany (Hitler) and Italy (Mussolini) handing the Sudetenland to Germany. Czechoslovakia was not invited to the conference and was not consulted. This is the defining moment of appeasement — widely seen as the point at which Britain and France went furthest in sacrificing another country to satisfy Hitler.
- Peace Ballot (1935)
- A survey of 11.5 million British people, showing overwhelming support for collective security and disarmament. Over 90% supported reduction of armaments. This showed Chamberlain that the British public strongly favoured peaceful solutions — which helps explain why he pursued appeasement rather than confrontation.
- Collective security
- The principle that League of Nations members would act together against aggression. The failure of collective security (Manchuria 1931, Abyssinia 1935) left Britain and France feeling isolated and reluctant to challenge Hitler alone.
- Lebensraum
- "Living space" — Hitler's policy of territorial expansion eastward to provide land for the German people. First outlined in Mein Kampf (1925). This made appeasement fundamentally futile: Lebensraum meant Hitler's demands would never stop at a negotiated line, because his final goal was the racial conquest of Poland and the Soviet Union, not the correction of Versailles injustices.