. He attributed Germany’s
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defeat to treason by Jews and socialists and was
determined to reverse the “shameful” Treaty of
Versailles. Much of this he related in Mein Kampf
(see an excerpt in a Key document in Chapter
11, p. 359). Hitler, moreover, was a spellbinding
orator, a demagogue with great personal charisma.
As historian Ian Kershaw argues: “The underestimation
of the Nazi movement by many critical
outside observers in 1930 was partly rooted in the
underrating of the force of the [Hitler’s] personality
cult, of the clamour for the strong man and
‘charismatic’ leader among the ever-widening
circles of the population in the gathering gloom
of the Depression.”30
For Chamberlain, who had fought in World
War One, the thought of renewed carnage was
inconceivable. Chamberlain was “so deeply,
so desperately, anxious to avoid war that he
could not conceive of its being inevitable.”31
Hitler intuitively knew how to take advantage of
Chamberlain’s longing for peace, as well as widespread
Western feeling that the Versailles Treaty
had been too harsh toward Germany. In 1937,
Chamberlain became Britain’s prime minister and
had to lead the country through successive crises
in relations with Hitler. Aware of his country’s
military weakness for which he was partly responsible
and desperate to delay war until Britain’s
defenses were rebuilt, Chamberlain was the
author of the policy of appeasement.