Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain was Britain’s Prime Minister from May 1937 through May of 1940. Chamberlain was elected as Prime Minister upon the retirement of Stanley Baldwin, Britain’s former Prime Minister. Chamberlain was a very conservative leader for Britain, and wanted to avoid war at all costs. This was because he felt there was more of a threat coming from the Japanese and the Italians than there was from Germany. His primary goal was to avoid any premature conflict with any nation in order to build up his military and conserve resources in order to defend against an attack from the Italians or the Japanese. Chamberlain was by no means the aggressor in the beginning years of World War II because like many other nations, he continued to hold the mindset that strong defensive lines would prove to win against its aggressors, as was the case during the Great War. Chamberlain was often regarded as not being worthy enough to hold the position of Britain’s Prime Minister because of his lack of attention and aggression towards Hitler and his movement. As stated above Chamberlain wanted to avoid any premature conflicts at all costs while he built up his military. By doing so he essentially let Hitler walk all over him and continually break the Treaty of Versailles without receiving any punitive measures taken against him. Anytime Hitler would break the Treaty, Chamberlain would meet with Hitler and give in to his demands. What chamberlain was doing was drawling a line in the dirt and instructing Hitler not to cross it, but as soon as Hitler would cross that line, Chamberlain would draw yet another further into neutral territory. Each time this would happen Chamberlain would meet with Hitler, and upon leaving Chamberlain would be convinced that Hitler would not advance anymore. Chamberlain would then return to Britain and ensure the government and people of Britain that Hitler’s movement has stopped. On Chamberlains final trip to meet with Hitler during the Munich Conference, which resulted in the Munich Pact, Hitler gave