Why was appeasement so popular amongst the Britons?
There was no appetite for a war in Britain after the senseless slaughter and painfully slow trench warfare of WW1, which in 1939 was still very fresh in the memory. Also many European countries had trimmed their military budgets and consequently the size of their armies, taking the calculated view that another war in Europe was unlikely. It was because of the heavy cuts in defence spending in France that the German army was able to stroll in so easily. The political attitude to German expansion in Europe, prior to and including the invasion of Poland, was that it was all happening in a far off place, and not something we need be concerned about here. It was only when Hitler made it clear that he wasn’t going to stop at Poland, that it became obvious that action was going to be needed. You should note though that America only became involved in WW1 from 1916; the rest of the allies were fighting that war from 1914. America only became involved in WW2 in Europe from 1942, after provocati
