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OCR GCSE History (Modern World History (Interpretations (1.4: Changing…
OCR GCSE History
Modern World History
Interpretations
1.4: Changing interpretations of Appeasement
Popular majority view 1937 - 1938
'Well done Chamberlain!'
In 1938, there was some opposition to Appeasement but the majority of the population approved of what Chamberlain did at Munich.
British People were haunted by memories of the First World War. The country was not united behind going to war over Czechoslovakia.
Winston Churchill - "We have suffered a total defeat. ... We have passed an awful milestone in our history. This is only the beginning of the reckoning.
Chamberlain kept the spectre of war at bay for as long as he could. He gave peace a chance.
Popular and political view 1939 - 1948
Churchill (orthodox) view 1948 - 1960s
Academic revisionist view 1960s - 1990s
Academic counter-revisionist view 1990s - 2000s
Chamberlain back on trial
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Rehabilitating Chamberlain
In the 1960s, many orthodox ideas were challenged by a new group of historians.
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The appeasers misjudged Hitler
Once the Second World War was over, the events that lead to it were reassessed. The most influential historian was the wartime prime minister himself, Winston Churchill.
Churchill lost the 1945 election, but continued to be an influential historian. Critical of Appeasement, but said that Chamberlain was bad, but made bad decisions.
Churchill self-promoted to stay a prominent figure. Appeasement was shown to be bad by Cold War, and believed that we should immediately stand up to enemies.
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Appeasement was a terrible misjudgement and miscalculation, even if it was based on good motives.
Prime minister from 1940 -1945.
The 'Guilty Men'
The outbreak of the Second World War caused a major change in attitudes.
Appeasement was a foolish, cowardly and immoral policy that strengthened the dictators and weakened Britain.
Many people had already felt ashamed about letting Hitler have Czechoslovakia, and this attitude was consolidated, not only when World War 2 broke out, but when it started going badly within the first year.
Dunkirk - May 1940 - The Evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and other allied troops from the French Seaport of Dunkerque.
Chamberlain scapegoated and Churchill new prime minister.
Churchill faced opposition from Lord Halifax (foreign secretary and an appeaser), and it looked like Churchill would have to resign, until 'Guilty Men' was released by Cato.
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No challenges to this view, but 'Guilty Men' was heavily criticised as a piece of historical writing.
President Harry Truman in 1948 - Appeasement leads only to further aggression and ultimately to war."
2.3: Changing Interpretations of the Cold War
US orthodox view (late 1940s - 1960s)
US revisionist view (mid 1960s - mid 1970s)
Post-revisionist view (1970 -1989)
The new Cold War historians (1989 onwards)
We still can't be sure
With the ending of the Cold War, both Soviet and US historians had greater access to Soviet source material. However, the new sources brought no consensus.
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They just couldn't understand each other
Hot on the heels of revisionism and the Cold War thawing, the post-revisionists tried to find common ground between the first two interpretations.
The Cold War was caused by the way the USA and the USSR each reacted to the actions of the other side, and those reactions were largely based on misunderstanding and mistrust.
The USA was to blame
This view was not accepted by Soviet historians or politicians, but US academics would not worry about that; they might not even know. Other events would challenge the US orthodox view - notably the Vietnam War.
The Cold War was caused by the aggressive actions of the USA, particularly its determination to ensure that it would dominate trade in Europe and Asia.
The Soviet Union was to blame
Early US explanations of the Cold War were created by academics who had worked for the government and in an atmosphere of fierce anti-communism in the USA.
The Cold War was caused by aggressive expansion by Soviet leaders who wanted to spread communism to the whole world.
The 'Red Scare' in the USA, the personal experience and therefore bias, and the lack of reliable sources from both sides made this view very crude.
Many historians writing about the start of the Cold War had been in the events they were writing about.
There was no access to Soviet sources, and most of the public documents were very likely influenced by Propaganda.
The 'Red Scare' in the USA were the many worries the USA had of communist agents operating within its borders.
Thomas Bailey likened the Russian Communists to Nazis - in trustworthiness and dislike of communication.