Has History Judged Neville Chamberlain Too Harshly?

Intelligence Squared, one of the very best debate organisations going, has an interesting night scheduled for the evening of June 5th, 2013. The topic that night will be whether history and historians have been fair in their assessment of  Neville Chamberlain, former Prime Minister of great Britain, who has been highly criticized for his "appeasement strategy" towards Germany's Adolf Hitler.

The debate will explore whether or not Chamberlain in fact, made the best decision he could've at the time for England.

The preview from Intelligence Squared.com:

If ever a politician got a bum rap it’s Neville Chamberlain. He has gone down in history as the British Prime Minster whose policy of appeasement in the 1930s allowed the Nazis to flourish unopposed. He has never been forgiven for ceding part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in the Munich Agreement of September 1938, and for returning home triumphantly declaring “peace for our time”. The very word “appeasement” is now synonymous with him, signifying a craven refusal to stand up to bullies and aggressors. What a contrast to Winston Churchill, the man who took over as Prime Minister and who has ever since been credited with restoring Britain’s backbone.

But is the standard verdict on Chamberlain a fair one? After all, memories of the slaughter of the First World War were still fresh in the minds of the British, who were desperate to avoid another conflagration. And what choice did Chamberlain have in 1938, in any case? There’s a good case for arguing that the delay in hostilities engineered at Munich allowed time for military and air power to be strengthened.

So what’s the verdict? Let history decide, they often say. But why wait that long? Come to the RGS on June 5th 2013, join some of Britain’s most eminent historians, and decide for yourself at the third event in our new series of history debates.

 Intelligence Squared does post videos of all of its debates on its youtube channel, which is a wealth of intelligent discussions. Watch for the video from the Chamberlain debate by mid June....

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