Ch+27+-+The+Failure+of+Appeasement

Appeasement
European countries decided that if they allowed Hitler to carry out his small demands, that then that would be all he would want. Of course, this didn’t prove to be true. At a certain conference held in Munich, European nations allowed Hitler to invade the Sudetenland, which turned out to be a grave mistake. Ø In 1935, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. The League of Nations and the United States objected but made no military move to stop the action. Ø In 1936, Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles by moving troops into the Rhineland – a demilitarized zone on the western side of Germany. Ø In 1937, Japan and China began a war. One U.S. gunboat was accidentally sunk, and the Japanese apologized for this but didn’t stop their invasion of the mainland. Ø In 1938, at the Munich conference, European nations allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland unopposed.

The Effect of Appeasement
As European countries continually allowed Italy, Germany, and Japan to invade countries unopposed, Roosevelt attempted to slowly shift public opinion toward the Allies and entering the war. While this was going on, he adopted a policy similar to Wilson before WW1 – Preparedness. He began to build up the United States Armed Forces under the guise of ‘defense against a possible attack’



http://www.lojsociety.org/docvideos_files/ETHIOPIA_ITALY_WAR_sm.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_Of_Versailles