The algebra of appeasement: 1938 and today – opinion

Throughout my youth, I retained an obsession with the history of World War II and the Holocaust. I always asked myself: “What led to the outbreak of WWII?”

Of course, we all know that the story of the British appeasement of Nazi Germany can be seen as the event that precipitated the outbreak of the war. Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Germany (September 30, 1938) was quickly followed by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (August 23, 1939), and thereafter the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939.