ABSTRACT
Compared with Neville Chamberlain between 1937 and 1939, Hitler was impulsive and uncertain, continuously engaged in the weighing of pros and cons, and forever balancing contrary advice from various military and political advisers. Chamberlain saw himself as a one-man device for the settlement of international disputes without recourse to war. With single-minded devotion and with complete disregard for contrary advice or criticism, Chamberlain set out to bring peace to Europe with all the embattled arrogance of the Victorian public servant he really was. As for policy towards Germany, Chamberlain's influence was at work even before he became Prime Minister. Chamberlain's purge was concentrated on the Foreign Office. The crisis came, however, over simultaneous differences between Chamberlain and Eden concerning the United States, Austria and Italy. Chamberlain, without consulting Eden, replied that Roosevelt's proposals would cut across his own plan to secure Italian cooperation by according de jure recognition to the conquest of Abyssinia.
