Why was British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain reluctant to declare war on Germany before September 1939?

Answer 1

Neville Chamberlain was reluctant to get go to war because he was hoping that as Hitler had just annexed Austria and later the Sudetenland. he would stop. But unfortunately he didn't therefore forcing Chamberlain to take Great Britain to the war. * Neville Chamberlain has been severely criticized for not having gone to war against Germany earlier. One needs to bear in mind that the suffering caused by World War 1 made the prospect of a major war unpopular with the electorate in Britain and France. They also found it very hard to understand the obvious recklessness of Hitler. When a democracy goes to war the government needs the backing of the the electorate. * Ever since the early 1920s successive British governments had taken the view that the Treaty of Versailles (1919) had been too harsh and were in principle willing to rectify real grievances on the part of Germany. Chamberlain had gone to Munich to meet Hitler & returned with a piece of paper which stated Hitler had no more territorial demands to make in Europe. This policy was called Appeasement. Peace in our time was what they called it. Of course history shows that Hitler was totally untrustworthy. When the Germans invaded Poland, Britain & France declared war on Germany. The Appeasement policy was obviously to avoid another European war, and its aims were honourable, but with the benefit of hindsight had Britain & France acted together when the Germans re militarised the Rhineland.....