Appeasement was the most significant cause that led to the start of World War II. It allowed
Hitler to invade Austria, declaring the Anschluss, which was the union with Austria, and brought
Germany to conquer Sudetenland, which was the part of Czechoslovakia primarily inhabited by german
speakers, through the Munich Agreement which was a pact between Britain, France and Germany.
Appeasement took place between 1936 to 1939, it was a policy which enabled Hitler to believe that he
could get away with anything and have his demands granted by others who wanted to prevent another
conflict. Hitler wanted to conquer Austria for it was a strategic territory to own for future conflicts, and so
wouldn’t interfere in his plans, for Chamberlain was determined to appease Hitler to prevent another war
because the citizens did not want another war. A few days later Hitler had full control over Austria
proclaiming the Anschluss. For example, Chamberlain says that "The hard fact is that nothing could have
arrested what has actually happened [in Austria] unless this country and other countries had been prepared
to use force.” This shows that they appeased Hitler allowing him to conquer Austria to prevent the start to
another war that nobody was ready to fight, the reason they agreed to this invasion was because nobody
was willing to fight and use force against Germany. The With no country protesting over what Hitler had
done, Czechoslovakia was the next logical step to his aggression. In 1938, Hitler encourages the Nazis
Sudeten leader, to rebel against the Czechoslovakian government and threaten a war if they didn’t agree
with the invasion of Germany. After having met with Chamberlain, the British prime minister, who did
not want another war, demands the Sudetenland territory, which is granted to him with the “piece of
paper”, Munich Agreement, in which is said that Hitler can get possession of Sudetenland and, also where
Hitler declares that he does not want to got to war. For example, William Shirer, an american journalist,
in a conference says, “There is to be no European war, the price of that peace is the ceding by
Czechoslovakia of the Sudeten territory to Herr Hitler’s Germany. The German Fuhrer gets what he
wanted. His waiting ten short days has saved Europe from a world war most of the peoples of Europe are
happy that they won’t have to go marching off to war.” This shows that the dominant powers, Britain,
France, and Italy, fear the start of a war by allowing Hitler to conquer Sudetenland, appeasing him with
his demands, making this the most important cause to the start of World War II because of Hitler’s threats
to start a war no one is willing to fight for, which eventually begins because of the excessive demands
Hitler has. As a result, appeasement fails, for Hitler breaks the Munich Agreement invading the rest of
the Sudetenland and Britain does not do anything to stop them. The invasion in Czechoslovakia leads to
World War II because it allows Hitler to gain land and increase its military making it a strong power once
again. Appeasement was the most important cause to the start of World War II because of its concessions
it gave to Hitler through the annexation of the Anschluss and the Munich Agreement, making him think
that other countries will not react to his actions, which then causes the start of World War II, everything
because Britain and France decided not to fight back. Without appeasement, World War II could have
been avoided because Britain and France could have stopped Germany and prevented the possession over
Austria and Czechoslovakia preventing Germany to become a strong power in Europe.