Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
The appeasement architect whose bid to avoid war helped open the way to it
Returning from Munich in 1938, he declared the agreement to mean “peace for our time.”
Neville Chamberlain was a British Conservative politician whose career combined domestic administrative reform with finance before he became prime minister. Seeking to avoid another European war and gain time for rearmament, he pursued appeasement, but the strategy failed to restrain Nazi Germany's expansion. His government's acceptance of the Munich settlement in 1938, and its limited response to Soviet proposals for collective security, formed part of the international conditions surrounding the 1939 crisis and the Nazi-Soviet Pact. After declaring war on Germany following the invasion of Poland, he resigned in 1940 amid criticism of the Norway campaign.
Career timeline
- 1911–1915Birmingham city councillor; chair of the Town Planning Committee
- 1915Lord Mayor of Birmingham
- 1916–1917Director of National Service
- 1923–1924Minister of Health; Chancellor of the Exchequer
- 1924–1929Minister of Health
- 1931–1937Chancellor of the Exchequer
- 1937–1940Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1938–1939Led the Munich settlement and appeasement policy toward Germany