On this day 30th Sept 1938,. On his return from Germany, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain told a crowd at Heston Airport, Middiessex, " I believe it is peace for our time, " and waved the agreement he had signed with Hitler. Graham.
BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Series 40, AA Gill on Arthur Neville Chamberlain AA Gill on Arthur Neville Chamberlain Great LivesSeries 40 Episode 8 of 9 The writer and critic AA Gill nominates Neville Chamberlain as his great life. But his choice is someone who is regarded as one of the worst Prime Ministers Britain has ever had. Chamberlain is someone entrenched in popular legend, as the man who failed to stand up to Hitler. So will AA Gill’s choice stand up to the scrutiny and will he be able to convince presenter Matthew Parris that this was a great life? To help tell the story of Arthur Neville Chamberlain they are joined by Stuart Ball, Professor of Modern British History at the University of Leicester. Producer: Perminder Khatkar First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2016.
"A man who did Prime Minister impressions."---Spike Milligan "A stupid old man doing his best by his very dim lights."---George Orwell
The last war was still deep in the bones of everyone involved. (It may be hard to believe, but even in Germany the majority of the population had absolutely no interest in going to another war.) I don't blame Mr Chamberlain for trying to pacify a dictator by diplomatic means: Every halfway sensible politician first counters sabre-rattling with diplomatic methods in the quiet hope that "dogs that bark don't bite". One should also not forget that Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili was still seen as the greater evil at the time. Even the mutual assistance pact with Poland (which, by the way, was originally addressed to Romania) was nothing more than another primarily diplomatic instrument. Hardly anyone wanted to realise that Hitler was a rabid lunatic who always and fundamentally played vabanque at full throttle... He could (and would) not interpret any form of appeasement as anything other than contemptible weakness. Even Stalin had to make this experience...and how else is it to be explained that the Times Magazine named him "Man of the Year" in the same year? This fact became Chamberlain's downfall. A prominent and tragic example of the old adage: the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Appeasing Hitler Appeasing Hitler The white paper of the Munich Agreement is famed as one of history's key stategic blunders. In this episode, Tim Bouverie takes Dan through the old questions about appeasement. Was it right to appease Hitler in order to buy time to re-arm? Why did Chamberlain and Halifax not take action when the Rhineland was re-occupied, or during the Anschluss of 1938, or during the occupation of the Sudetenland?
British history is littered with war mongering politicians, it's refreshing to see one attempt to negotiate peace.
But he wasn't, was he? He was prepared to go to war but knew he had to prepare the country before starting one. Denial of reality is something that seems to have slipped into the PPE syllabus since then. Historical politicians simply understood that it was far easier to negotiate an effective peace if you're holding the gun and/or the other party's throat (1918-19 excepted, obviously).