‘An honourable policy pursued by honourable men.’ Is this a fair assessment of the policy of appeasement?

Appeasement was the policy adopted by Neville Chamberlain and his fellow politicians in the 1930s, in order to avoid war with Hitler. This policy culminated in three trips to meet Hitler in Munich, although these meetings ultimately ended in failure, resulting in the outbreak of war in September 1939, the policy itself is a contentiously debated issue. Especially in the latter part of the twentieth century, many historians have come out in support of Chamberlain, but equally the policy has been criticised heavily. One man whose opinion carried great weight at the time, was Winston Churchill, he told Chamberlain after the Munich crisis that he had been given the choice between, ‘dishonour and war: you have chosen dishonour, but you will still have war.’ He was proved right in that war with Germany did occur, but there are many different views as to whether Chamberlain’s attempt to avoid this was honourable.

Churchill was a very influential politician, especially after the ...