Bread and Circuses Trivia Quiz

Answer: Winston Churchill

The appeasement policies of Britain toward Nazi Germany saw the latter receive certain concessions with the view that it would avoid greater conflict. Were these policies misguided? This quiz does not seek to answer that as, even with the benefit of hindsight, scholars cannot agree. The conventional view is that it was foolish to allow Hitler and Germany to grow to such power; others will put forth the view that Britain had little alternative. Bear this in mind as you work your way through. Many world leaders were quick to praise the British in their manoeuvrings. President Roosevelt had telegrammed Chamberlain after the Munich Agreement to say "Good man". It would also be fair to say that the British did not fully understand the nature of the beast that they were dealing with. Even as late as 1938 Chamberlain had concluded that Hitler was "a man who can be relied on". Did the appeasement policies of Great Britain cause World War II? No, they didn't, but they failed to prevent it and, as a result, those that were campaigners for appeasement were soon criticised for it once the war began.

MacDonald was the UK's Prime Minister from 1931 to 1935, Baldwin from 1935 to 1937 and Chamberlain from 1937 to 1940. Churchill served his first term as Britain's PM during the war years from 1940 to 1945.

Answer: Collective security

The League's main weapon would be the one that ultimately let it down, but I'll come back to that. The lack of an armed force to support it proved to be a major weakness for the League. This was recognised by the United Nations when it was formed after World War II and became one of the key elements in its creation.

Whilst the League expended a lot of energy toward disarmament it lacked direction and a certainty as to far it could push this regime that it became more talk than real action. Arbitration was only effective if the League had a big stick. That big stick was meant to be collective security, a premise that it could call upon international co-operation to bring pressure to bear upon an aggressor.

Whilst this threat was there the League had some success however, major cracks in this ideal began to appear when the League was ineffective in its handling of Japan's incursion into Manchuria during the early 1930s.

Answer: The Abyssinia Conflict

Following a dispute between Abyssinian and Italian troops at Walwal in December of 1934 where 150 Abyssinian and 50 Italian soldiers were killed, Italy demanded compensation. Abyssinia appealed to the League which, in turn, sought to broker a settlement between the parties under the 1928 Italo-Ethiopia Treaty.

This failed when Mussolini launched an attack on Abyssinia in October of 1935. The League responded by imposing sanctions on Italy but these were somewhat hollow because they ignored key items such as coal and oil. To make matters worse countries such as Hungary, Albania and Austria refused to impose any sanctions and the plan started to falter.

In May 1936 Mussolini marched on and captured Addis Ababa. Three months later the sanctions were abandoned.

The League lost face in this incident and, as a result, both France and Britain became more amenable toward policies of appeasement.

Answer: Remilitarization of the Rhineland

The Rhineland had been demilitarized after World War I under two treaties - The Treaty of Versailles (1919) and the Locarno Treaty of 1925. Of these the Locarno was the most significant because it represented a voluntary acceptance of the move by Germany whereas the terms of Versailles were compulsory. Built into the Locarno Treaty was the understanding that if Germany were to attack France the Italians and the British would come to the aid of the French. Likewise, these two countries would also come to the aid of the Germans if the French were to turn upon the latter. Hitler complained vehemently that these treaties posed a massive threat to Germany and then proceeded to violate them by pushing troops into the Rhineland in March of 1936. This was partly astute observation by Hitler and a major gamble - he was punting on France and Britain not taking any serious (forceful) action.

His reading of the situation was true as both countries lodged protests with the League of Nations but did little else.

In one fell swoop Hitler had swung the balance of power in Europe toward Germany and opened the door to his policies of aggression in Eastern Europe.

Answer: True

Documented as the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the agreement was signed 10 September, 1919 between the Allies of WWI and the Republic of German-Austria, who had accepted the blame for starting the war in conjunction with the Central Powers. The treaty had the effect of dissolving the Austro-Hungarian Empire (under Article 177), recognising the new Republic of Austria and the independence of a number of countries including Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland. Part of the naming of the new Republic of Austria stemmed from Article 88 which insisted that the word "German", in the name "German-Austria", be removed.

It went further to declare that there would be no union, political or economic, between Austria and the German Reich without prior consent from the League of Nations.

Answer: Coercion & propaganda

One of Adolf Hitler's aims was to have all the German speaking nations in Europe as part of a "Greater Germany". High on his list was his native country of Austria. When the Austrian Chancellor, Kurt Schuschnigg, sought to foster ties with the "little entente" (Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania) Hitler strongly echoed his dissatisfaction with the move.

His first response was to threaten the Chancellor with military action unless he released some prominent Austrian Nazis who had been jailed after a failed putsch in July 1934.

He also demanded that these Nazis have an involvement in the government of the country. Schuschnigg acquiesced and appointed the Nazi lawyer Arthur Seyss-Inquart to the cabinet. Schuschnigg then sought to set up a plebiscite to arrive at a decision in respect to the country's independence. Sensing a possible loss of control Hitler protested vehemently and immediately ordered his propaganda department to issue reports that the proposed plebiscite had started riots in Austria and that the population was calling for German troops to enter the country to restore order. Schuschnigg looked to Britain and France for support which, whilst they lodged protests with the League of Nations, balked at the idea of using force. Feeling cornered and lacking support Schuschnigg handed power to Seyss-Inquart who promptly called in the German troops to "restore order". On the 12th of March 1938 the German Wehrmacht crossed the Austrian border and met no resistance. Hitler followed and was greeted with delirious applause in Linz and Vienna.

Answer: False

The reaction of the Allies could, at best, be described as mild. Italy (ironically) and France were the most vocal in their condemnation but they backed away at the thought of using force to change the outcome. Britain's Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, addressed the House of Commons and essentially declared that unless the country was prepared to use force nothing could be done to change what had happened.

The appeasement tactics of the international communities, in particular those of Britain, were a boon to Adolf Hitler and it gave him the confidence to push forward with greater aggression with his plans for expansion.

Answer: Czechoslovakia

During World War I a number of Czechs, styled as the Czechoslovakian Legions, fought alongside the Allies in the hope that their efforts would enable them to gain independence from the Austrian empire. Their efforts were not in vain, Czechoslovakia came into being in October of 1918 with the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire via the above-named treaties.

The present day territories of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (and the Capartho Ukraine) were incorporated under the new country's banner. Bohemia and Moravia included a German-speaking region known as the Sudetenland.

A group Sudeten-Nazis pressed claims for autonomy and by 1938 were demanding complete integration with Germany.

Answer: All of these played a part

Sudetenland, as a name, came into being after the treaties of World War I that saw the dismemberment of the Austro-Hungary Empire. Suddenly a large number of Sudeten-Germans had found themselves in a new country (Czechoslovakia) where they were one of the minorities.

The Sudeten-German Party (SGP) was created in 1931 and proclaimed that they sought to have all Sudeten Germans under the control of a German speaking nation and organised rallies and protests to promote their cause. Adolf Hitler endorsed the party once he came into power in Germany and also provided them with funding that saw them grow in strength and influence. One of the strengths of the Sudetenland was its industrial sector, however, it was very dependent upon export sales to maintain its existence.

When the Depression put the squeeze on the buying power of its customers the Sudetenland was hit hard. Unemployment grew rapidly which, in turn, added fuel to the fires of the SGP as the population became more open to extremist views.

In April of 1938, urged on by Adolf Hitler, the SGP began a campaign for self government and their programme of civil unrest intensified.

Answer: The Munich Betrayal

Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, saw the push for autonomy by the Sudeten-German Party (SGP) as an opportunity for Hitler and his expansionist ideals. He also felt that Hitler had inflamed this situation by sending troops to the borders of the Sudetenland regions.

The SGP was now pushing for full integration with Nazi Germany. In April of 1938 Chamberlain sent Lord Runciman to Czechoslovakia to try and broker a deal between the Czechs and the Sudetan-Germans, which Runciman could bring about. In September, with the leaders of France and Italy in tow, Chamberlain flew to Germany to negotiate directly with Hitler. Hitler advised them that he wanted Sudetenland as part of Germany, that he would not move from that position and that he would go to war if he had to.

Despite not being at these negotiations Czechoslovakia found itself being pressed into ceding this territory. The surrender of the land seemed a small price to pay in the eyes of Britain, France and Italy, however, the problem for Czechoslovakia was that Germany was its neighbour and its neighbour was hostile towards them. Sudetenland had provided them with a strong defence against Germany. That was now gone, along with a sizable chunk of their population, a large portion of its heavy industry and most of the country's banking facilities. To allay the Czech fears Chamberlain had signed a peace agreement which he famously claimed would bring "peace for our time". Six months later Hitler completely ignored the peace agreement and marched in and took the rest of Czechoslovakia. Six months beyond that he invaded Poland and the world was plunged into war.