answersLogoWhite

0

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, was a member of the Conservative Party and was, unfortunately, the wrong leader of the British people during this tense period. He refused to provoke Hitler or Mussolini and appeased both dictators at every turn. He looked the other way when Germany reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936. He did nothing when Germany and Austria reunited in 1938. Later that year, at the Munich Peace Conference, once again Chamberlain gave in to demands by Hitler to cede to the Germans, the German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. Few month later, Germany occupied the entire country, without the British declaring war. Only when Hitler invaded Poland in Sept, 1939, that the British and French declare war on Germany. Had Churchill been Prime Minister during this period, perhaps the war could have been averted. My only anwer to Chamberlain's weakness, is that, like most English of that generation, remembered the horrors of World War 1 and the 1 million British soldiers that were killed. That helps explain why the French had littel stomach for the fighting in the 2nd World War and easily surrendered to the Germanys in June 1940.

User Avatar

Wiki User

14y ago

What else can I help you with?