Neville Chamberlain

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Chamberlain in Munich. Oh well.
I hold in my hand a piece of paper.
—Chamberlain after meeting with Hitler, 1938

Arthur Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 - 9 November 1940), a member of the Conservative and Unionist Party, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940. He had been a Member of Parliament since 1918.

Chamberlain is now remembered chiefly for declaring, upon his return from a meeting with Adolf Hitler in 1938, "I believe it is peace in our time," while gesturing with a piece of paper. This has left him with the reputation of being an appeaser in the face of antagonism. Britain declared war on Germany in 1939. Chamberlain has been subsequently castigated as a weakling (possibly true) in the face of German aggression (certainly true).[1] What we should bear in mind is that Chamberlain didn't do anything wrong by talking with Hitler — he erred by giving him half of Czechoslovakia.[2]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. His appeasement, however, has since acted as a warning against diplomacy to some US conservatives.
  2. To be fair, he did realize the need for mass rearmament when the cards were down. But that was probably too late at that point.
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