Appeasement

= DEFINITION = The policy of acceding to the demands of a potentially hostile nation in the hope of maintaining peace

= SIGNIFICANCE = The policy of Appeasement was adopted by Neville Chamberlain (Prime Minister of Britain) in 1937 in hopes of avoiding war with Hitler. The most notable example is the Munich Agreement of 1938 signed by Germany, Britain, France and Italy agreeing to Sudetenland being returned to Germany so that Germany won't make any more territorial claims. It was generally vied as a triumph and an excellent example of securing peace through negotiation. However Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939 and broke the terms of the Munich Agreement, resulting as a failure of appeasement.

