The Postwar
Legacy of
Appeasement
The Postwar Legacy of Appeasement
British Foreign Policy
Since 1945
R. GERALD HUGHES
In international politics . . . you must either be ready to practice appeasement indefinitely, or at some point you must be ready to fight.
George Orwell, 1947
It will be enough for me . . . if these words of mine are judged useful by those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or other and in much the same ways, be repeated in the future. My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last forever.
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War
Mae’r hen delynau genid gynt,
Ynghrog ar gangau’r helyg draw,
A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,
A’u gwaed yn gymysg efo’r glaw.
Foreword by Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield
Introduction Present histories and past follies: the legacy of appeasement and British foreign policy since 1945
1In the footsteps of Cromwell: an empire against two evils, 1941–53
2Churchill and Locarno, Eden and Geneva: the limits and possibilities of diplomacy
3‘I have never thought Nasser a Hitler’: Suez and the shadow of Munich
4‘I will be no Mr. Chamberlain’: Harold Macmillan and Berlin, 1958–62
5Helsinki, 1975: Nuclear age Westphalia, Versailles or Munich?
6‘We have ceased to be a nation in retreat’: Margaret Thatcher, the Falklands War and the negation of Munich and Suez
7In pursuit of a ‘New World Order’: liberating Kuwait, 1990–1
8Appeasement and the politics of obstructionism: Britain and the dissolution of Bosnia
9‘History will be my judge’: Blair’s wars and the moral case against appeasement
Conclusion Appeasement, British foreign policy and history
I.1The Munich Conference, 1938. Credit: © CORBIS
1.1The Potsdam Conference, 1945. Credit: © US Army Signal Corps, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library
4.1Western powers’ summit conference, 1959. Credit: © Bettmann/CORBIS
6.1The Iron Lady, Boudicca of the South Atlantic. Credit: © Bettmann/CORBIS
I should like to thank all of the staff of the libraries and archives consulted during the preparation of this book. Great people all. I am especially grateful to the National Archives (Public Record Office) in Kew, which is a wonderful place, and to the Thatcher Foundation Archive at the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge. My thanks to Aberystwyth University for granting a period of leave that was very helpful in writing this book. Many thanks to Thomas Robb for his great assistance and advice in the preparation of this book. I have known Thomas since he was an undergraduate student of mine and I take great pride in his success. I should like to acknowledge the helpful advice of Len Scott. My very best wishes to my old mate Martin Alexander (a gent of the ‘Old School’). Thanks to Peter Jackson for his long-standing interest in my history. My sincere thanks to Peter Alan Lambert and Björn Udo Weiler for making their criticism of my history so much fun. I am grateful to Jan Ruzicka (Masaryk) for his knowledgeable insights – Děkuji! Thanks to Whitelegg (aka Spear), Kris Lovell, Gregory Moore, Bobby ‘Bayern’ Kammel and Oliver Dodd for their help. I am very grateful to Chikara Hashimoto (橋本力-万歳!) for his assistance with the index. Thanks to Rhodri Mogford, Claire Lipscomb, Giles Herman at Bloomsbury for their professionalism and good humour; similar to Toby Hopkins at Corbis; and thanks to Srikanth Srinivasan at Newgen Imaging Systems for his hard work and for his unfailing patience. Best wishes to Gibson & Christine, Gegs (ac O2), Rab, Dav, Lindy, Babar, Tom Lewis, Owen K, Aled, Magnus Synge, Matt, Tony, Bryan (Mr. Lloyd’s friend), Terry John, Tom and Percy. Thanks to the Owain the ‘Ozone’ and Simon for Friday lunches and laughter at the Rheidol. I have long appreciated the support of Toxy over the years – Go raibh maith agat. My salutations to all my brothers and sisters at Bangor City FC; a happy hundredth to dear old Anglesey GC; and my best wishes and thanks to all my friends in Rhosneigr. Finally, my thanks to my family – Arnie, Ma, Dave, Owen and Rachel – for all of their support over the years. Hwyl i bawb!
The two words ‘Munich’ and ‘Appeasement’ are scored more deeply than any foreign policy concept into the Velcro of the national collective memory. Part stain, part shadow they lurk in the British consciousness ready to burst forth, floodlit, whenever a British government is confronted by the question of peace or war or even to intervene or not to intervene in circumstances short of war.
This is a book for which we have been waiting for years. R. Gerald Hughes is a consummate calibrator of the force and reach of the Munich/Appeasement spasm on the occasions it has pulsed through the national political conversation. Not for him what Edward Thompson called ‘the enormous condescension of posterity’. He judges each case on its merits and in the context of its own time. From his pen flows the sensitivity of the historian and the discipline of the international relations scholar.
In a rational world, any minister or parliamentarian itching to reach for the ‘Munich’ analogy should pause, reach for Hughes on the bookshelf and think twice. This is a book of high utility and a real pleasure to read.
Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield, FBA
Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History