Was the appeasement of hitler by the british a significant cause of the outbreak of ww2?
You can answer the question both ways… We know, for instance, that German generals were prepared to overthrow Hitler had France intervened militarily when Hitler reoccupied the Ruhr River Valley. Further we also know today that each diplomatic victory achieve by Hitler, such as the takeovers of Austria and Czechoslovakia strengthened his grip on power to the point that few had the opportunity or the courage to oppose him. And we know that Hitler was surprised when England and France declared war on him following his invasion of Poland. You could make a strong argument that had England and France actively opposed Hitler’s moves from 1935 to 1939 the German military and other then-powerful and somewhat independent agencies in the German government would have overthrown Hitler. You could also argue that by not making a strong stand against Hitler when Germany was just rebuilding its military, England and France allowed Hitler to consolidate his power so that he could go to war. Finally,
