Editing History of the United Kingdom (section)

===Appeasement===
{{Main|Munich Agreement}}

[[File:MunichAgreement.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.35|British Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]], landing at [[Heston Aerodrome]] on 30 September 1938 after his meeting with Hitler at [[Munich]]. In his hand he holds the peace agreement between Britain and Germany.]]
[[File:Chamberlain returns from Munich with Anglo-German Agreement.ogg|thumb|Chamberlain returns from Munich with Anglo-German Agreement]]
Vivid memories of the horrors and deaths of the World War made Britain and its leaders strongly inclined to pacifism in the interwar era. The challenge came from dictators, first [[Benito Mussolini]] of Italy, then [[Adolf Hitler]] of a much more powerful [[Nazi Germany]]. The [[League of Nations]] proved disappointing to its supporters; it was unable to resolve any of the threats posed by the dictators. British policy was to "appease" them in the hopes they would be satiated. By 1938 it was clear that war was looming, and that Germany had the world's most powerful military. The final act of appeasement came when Britain and France sacrificed Czechoslovakia to Hitler's demands at the [[Munich Agreement]] of 1938.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faber |first=David |title=Munich, 1938: Appeasement and World War II |date=2010 |author-link=David Faber (politician)}}</ref> Instead of satiation Hitler menaced Poland, and at last Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] dropped appeasement and stood firm in promising to defend Poland. Hitler however cut a deal with [[Joseph Stalin]] to divide Eastern Europe; when Germany did invade Poland in September 1939, Britain and France declared war; the British Commonwealth followed London's lead.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watt |first=Donald Cameron |title=How War Came: Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938–39 |date=1990}}; {{Cite journal |first=Patrick |last=Finney |title=The romance of decline: The historiography of appeasement and British national identity |journal=Electronic Journal of International History |volume=1 |date=2000 |url=http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/3385/1/Journal_of_International_History_2000-06_Finney.pdf}}</ref>