ABSTRACT
Appeasement reached its apogee with the Munich Agreement when Neville Chamberlain, its leading exponent, was regaled at home and abroad for saving the peace. Within months the policy was discredited after a succession of crises showed that appeasement encouraged rather than satiated revisionist powers. With a general election on the horizon, the Chamberlain government recognised reluctantly that it must draw a line in the sand, but doubts remained over western resolve, especially in Berlin. Rome’s stance veered from peacemaker to warmonger, triggering precautionary measures to secure Egypt lest Mussolini did not stay on the sidelines should a war break out with Nazi Germany.
