WESLEYAN
UNIVERSITY
History 158
Fall 2014
SEMINAR FOR PRE-MAJORS:
APPEASEMENT AND THE
ORIGINS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
N
Nathanael Greene, 215 Public Affairs Center
685-2376 ngreene@wesleyan.edu
Office hours: Mondays, 10-11, Wednesdays 1-4
BOOKS: Broad Street Books will have copies of the following books. Amazon.com lists all
except Weber, Chamberlain, and Jackson; many are available on its site as used copies.
Occasionally you may wish to choose works not listed on this syllabus and are urged to
browse Olin’s excellent collection.
General introduction and interpretation:
P. M. H. Bell, The Origins of the Second World War in Europe
A.J. P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War
Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, France and the Nazi Threat: The Collapse of French
Diplomacy, 1932-1939
Eugen Weber, The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s
Gerhard Weinberg, Hitler’s Foreign Policy, 1933-1939
Reading for specific classes:
Neville Chamberlain, In Search of Peace
Richard Overy, 1939: Countdown to War
Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis
Marc Bloch, The Strange Defeat
Julian Jackson, The Popular Front in France: Defending Democracy, 1934-1938
DOCUMENTS:
Documents for each session will be found on the History 158 Moodle website. Some, in a
single file, are noted on the syllabus with the notation History 158 documents. This file is
located directly after the syllabus on the Moodle website. Others are located in separate
files for particular sessions with the notation [Moodle].
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -2Additionally students should explore published documentary collections in Olin Library,
especially Documents on German Foreign Policy, The Foreign Relations of the United
States, Documents on British Foreign Policy,1919-1939, and Documents Diplomatiques
Français, 1932-1939. These documents are collected in multiple volumes.
PAPERS: Each student will submit three brief reports and a major research paper.
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The brief reports will be due in class on the date stipulated and will be
devoted to topics assigned below. These reports should be very succinct, no
longer than two, double-spaced printed pages, 12-point font; a third page
may be used for notes and references. Reports will be required for the
sessions of September 15, 22, and 29. These should be submitted by e-mail
before the beginning of class.
The research paper, devoted to a topic chosen in consultation with the
instructor no later than Monday, October 6, will be due in its final form by
noon on the third day of the examination period, Thursday, December 11.
By October 27 each student should submit a written, detailed plan for the
research and writing of the paper.
First drafts of papers must be circulated by e-mail to all members of the
seminar and to the instructor no later than 48 hours prior to classes
scheduled for discussion of these drafts on November 17 and 24, and
December 1.
Examples and suggestions concerning research papers are offered on pages 913 of this syllabus. There is no set length for the research paper; it is expected
to be a substantial work, carefully documented, with footnotes and
bibliography.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS:
 Every student will serve at least once as one of the discussant leaders at one
or more of the classes described below in September, October, and November.
Discussant leaders are responsible for setting out issues, proposing questions,
and directing debate.
 In addition, the first draft of a research paper will receive detailed comment
from a student assigned to that task at the classes of November 17 and 24, and
December 1.
EXAMINATIONS: There will be no examinations in this course.
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -3SCHEDULE OF CLASSES, ASSIGNMENTS, AND PAPERS:
SEPTEMBER 1: ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
History 158 documents:
 Remarks by President Reagan
 Remarks by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
September 8: THE ORIGINS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR: FIRST THOUGHTS
Choose from among the following or browse the Olin collection and select one or two
studies on appeasement and the origins of the Second World War.
A. J. P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, Chapters I-V
Anthony P. Adamthwaite, The Making of the Second World War, chs 1-6
P. M. H. Bell, The Origins of the Second War in Europe , Parts One and Two
Laurence Lafore, The End of Glory: An Interpretation of the Origins of World War II
Gerhard Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany
Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis
Frank McDonough, Hitler, Chamberlain, and Appeasement
R. J. Overy, The Origins of the Second World War, Chapters 1-7
Martin Kitchen, Europe Between the Wars
Arnold Wolfers, Britain and France Between Two Wars
Eugen Weber, The Hollow Years: France in the 1930’s
Nathanael Greene, From Versailles to Vichy: The Third French Republic, 1919-1940
C. L. Mowat, Britain Between the Wars, chapters 8-11
Andreas Hillgruber, Germany and the Two World Wars
Keith Eubank, World War II: Roots and Causes
R. A. C. Parker, Chamberlain and Appeasement, chs. 1-3
Anthony P. Adamthwaite, Grandeur and Misery: France’s Bid for Power in
Europe, 1914-1940, Chapters 1-8
September 15: RIGHT AND LEFT IN FRANCE, 1934-1936
Report and discussion topic: "Both Left and Right in France excelled in fighting imaginary
enemies: the Right feared a Communist takeover, while the Left feared a Fascist seizure of
power. These fears were only weakly grounded in reality, but they profoundly influenced
the internal and external policies of the Right and of the Left."
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -4Reading: Choose from among these titles, or browse Olin’s collection for others:
Eugene Weber, The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s, Chapters 1-5, or
Nathanael Greene, From Versailles to Vichy: The Third French Republic, 1919-1940,
or, Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, France and the Nazi Threat, Preface and Chapters I-IV,
or Joel Colton, Léon Blum, Humanist in Politics, [Olin Library] Chapters I-IV, or
Julian Jackson, The French Popular Front: Defending Democracy, parts 1 and 2
History 158 documents:
 Program of the Popular Front, January 1936
 Jacques Doriot, “The France that We Want”
September 22: HITLER'S REOCCUPATION OF THE RHINELAND, MARCH 1936.
Report and discussion topic: "When Hitler sent troops into the
Rhineland, the French authorities had no option save to defer
to the British. The British, for their part, had no policy."
Reading:
Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, France and the Nazi Threat, Chapters V-IX, and
Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis, “1936: Hitler Triumphant,” and
Gerhard Weinberg, Hitler’s Foreign Policy, 1933-1939, Chapters 1, 2, 7-10, and
A.J. P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, Chapter VI
Documents:
British diplomatic documents [Moodle]
 Edmond to Foreign Office, 3/4/36
 Vansittart conversation with Corbin, 3/13/36
 Vansittart conversation with Massigli, 3/14/36
 G. Clerk telegram to Eden, 3/15/36
 Eden to G. Clerk, 3/15/36
 Beaumont-Nesbitt to G. Clerk, 3/14/36
 Eden to G. Clerk, 3/16/36
 Lord Cranborne’s memorandum to Eden, undated, pages 156-158
 Phipps to Eden, 3/18/36
 G. Clerk to Eden, 3/18/36
 Eden to G. Clerk, 3/18/36
 G. Clerk to Eden, 3/19/36
 G. Clerk to Eden, 3/28/36
German diplomatic documents [Moodle]
 Forster to Berlin, 3/9/36
 Hoesch to Berlin, 3/13/36
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -5 Forster to Berlin, 3/13/36
 Forster to Berlin, 3/19/36
 Forster to Berlin, 4/9/36
French diplomatic documents [Moodle]
 Report of a meeting of the Haut Comité Militaire
 "French military leaders discuss Germany's reoccupation of the Rhineland, 8
March 1936"
 André François-Ponçet on the Franco-Soviet Pact 3/25/36
 The Quai d'Orsay takes stock of France's alliances 6/30/36
History 158 Documents:
 Policy Memorandum of the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, 3/8/36
 P-E Flandin’s meeting with representatives of Locarno powers, 3/10/36
September 29: NON-INTERVENTION IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR.
Report and discussion topic: "France, led by men of the Left,
wandered down the road to appeasement, following reluctant
leaders who knew in their hearts that non-intervention was
dangerous. The French statesmen who feared war over aid to
the Spanish Republic were frightened by hobgoblins out of
their own imagination."
Reading:
Julian Jackson, The French Popular Front: Defending Democracy, part 3, or
Joel Colton, Leon Blum, [Olin Library] chapters V-VIII, and
Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, France and the Nazi Threat, Chapter X, and
Eugene Weber, The Hollow Years, Chapter VI, and
Gerhard Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany, chapters 11 and 12
Documents:
British diplomatic documents [Moodle]
 G. Clerk to the Foreign Office, 8/7/36
 G. Clerk to the Foreign Office, 8/8/36
 G. Clerk to the Foreign Office, 8/11/36
 Thomas to Cadogan, 8/11/36
 Minute by Sargent, 8/12/36
 Eden to G. Clerk, 8/24/36
German diplomatic documents [Moodle]
 Welczeck to the Foreign Ministry, 8/6/36
 Welczeck to the Foreign Ministry, 8/10/36
 Welczeck to the Foreign Ministry, 8/21/36
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -6
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Forster to the Foreign Ministry, 12/11/36
Welczeck to the Foreign Ministry, 12/24/36
History 158 documents concerning France in 1936 and the Spanish Civil War
 Léon Blum, Speech at Luna Park, August 1936
 The American Ambassador in France on the reasons why the Blum
government refuses to supply arms to the Spanish Republic, 27 July 1936"
 “Sir George Clerk warns Yvon Delbos of the dangers of French intervention in
the Spanish Civil War"
 Manifesto by General Francisco Franco, 7/17/36
October 6. FROM VIENNA TO MUNICH: HITLER AND CHAMBERLAIN IN 1938.
Discussion topic:
"Our policy is not one of dividing Europe into opposing blocs of countries, each
arming against the other amidst a growing flood of ill-will on both sides, which can end
only in war. That seems to us to be a policy which is dangerous and stupid."
-- Neville Chamberlain.
"It is my unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia by military action in the near
future. It is the business of the political leadership to await or bring about the suitable
moment from a political and military point of view.”– A. Hitler, May 30, 1938
Reading: [For October 6 and 13]
Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, France and the Nazi Threat, Chapters XI and XII, and
Neville Chamberlain, In Search of Peace, and
A.J. P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, Chapters VII and VIII, and
Gerhard Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany, Chapters 23-25, or
Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis, Chapter 2, or
P. M. H. Bell, The Origins of the Second World War in Europe, chapter 14
History 158 documents for October 6:
 "The Hossbach Memorandum," November 10, 1937
 Neville Chamberlain, speech to the House of Commons, March 24, 1938
 Hitler’s Instructions to Henlein, March 28, 1938
 "Halifax to Nevile Henderson in Berlin, May 21, 1938
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"Halifax to Phipps in Paris, May 22, 1938
"Hitler's directive for “Operation Green,” May 30, 1938
"Halifax to Newton in Prague, July 18, 1938
Nevile Henderson to Halifax, August 22, 1938
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -7October 13: MUNICH
Discussion topic: “The settlement at Munich was a triumph for British policy, which had
worked precisely to this end; not a triumph for Hitler, who had started with no clear
intention. Nor was it merely a triumph for selfish or cynical British statesmen, indifferent to
the fate of faroff peoples or calculating that Hitler might be launched into war against Soviet
Russia. It was a triumph for all that was best and most enlightened in British life." -- A. J. P.
Taylor.
History 158 documents
 Neville Chamberlain, radio broadcast, 9/27/38
 Neville Chamberlain, “Peace for Our Time,” 9/30/38
 Speech by Neville Chamberlain after the Munich Conference
 The Munich Accords
 House of Commons by Harold Nicholson
 Hodgson writing about Chamberlain in 1938
 Winston Churchill, Speech to the House of Commons
British diplomatic documents [Moodle ]
 Minutes of conversations between Hitler and Chamberlain at Berchtesgaden,
September 15, 1938 ( notes by Chamberlain and Schmidt)
 Record of Anglo-French Conversations held at No. 10 Downing Street, September
18, 1938
 Notes of a conversation between Hitler and Chamberlain at
Godesberg, September 22, 1938
 Phipps to Halifax, September 24 and 25, 1938
 Note from the Czechoslovak Minister to Viscount Halifax, September 25, 1938
 Record of Anglo-French conversations held at No. 10 Downing
Street, September 25 and 26, 1938
 Notes of a Conversation between the Prime Minister and Herr Hitler, September 30,
1938
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -8October 27 : WAR OVER POLAND, SEPTEMBER, 1939.
Discussion topic: "It is unlikely that Hitler intended the actual war against Great Britain
and France which broke out in 1939. The war of 1939, far from being welcome, was the
result of diplomatic blunders on both sides."
Reading:
Richard Overy, 1939: Countdown to War, and
A. J. P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, Chapters IX- XI, and
Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, France and the Nazi Threat, Chapters XIII-XV, and
Gerhard Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany, chapters 26-29, or
Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis, chapters 3-5, or
P. M. H. Bell, The Origins of the Second World War in Europe, chapter 15
History 158 Documents:
 Neville Chamberlain – September 1, 1939
 Neville Chamberlain, letter dated September 10, 1939
 Memoir by Georges Bonnet
 Adolf Hitler, November 23, 1939
November 3: THE FALL OF FRANCE, 1940.
Discussion topic: How would you evaluate the conclusions drawn by Marc Bloch and
Eugene Weber in explanation of France’s defeat in 1940?
"The generation to which I belong has a bad conscience. From laziness and cowardice, we
let things take their course. . . . It was entirely owing to our ministries that we were illprepared for war. . . "--Marc Bloch
Eugene Weber writes about “the inexorable march to war of a society that was, and
wasnot, helpless to affect its own fate. For men and women . . . are not objects of history
– playthings of ideas, currents, laws that they can’t inflect. They are responsible subjects:
actors who write and rewrite their script while moving from one decision to the next, or,
failing to decide, resign the script to others. Each choice, each failure to make a choice
commits them to a course and sets the limits of their future choices. Decisions and events
are not the work of fate . . . . Not individually, but taken as a whole, the French of the
1930’s would not, and could not decide. They allowed others to forge their destiny and
had to pay for this abdication.”
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -9Reading:
Marc Bloch, The Strange Defeat, and
Eugene Weber, The Hollow Years, Chapters IX and X, or
Julian Jackson, The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion 1940, or
Joel Colton, Léon Blum, Humanist in Politics, Chapters XI-XIII
History 158 documents
Excerpts from speeches and writings of Léon Blum,
Charles Spinasse, Pierre Laval, and Philippe Pétain
____________________________________________________________________
November 10: NO CLASS: PREPARATION OF RESEARCH PAPERS.
November 17: FIRST DRAFTS OF RESEARCH PAPERS.
November 24: FIRST DRAFTS OF RESEARCH PAPERS.
December 1: FIRST DRAFTS OF RESEARCH PAPERS.
THE
FOLLOWING ARE EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH PROJECTS:
Pacifism in thought and action in Britain and France.
Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary: Facing the Dictators.
Georges Bonnet, French Foreign Minister: Defender of Peace?
Edouard Daladier: the "Mystery of the Bull of the Vaucluse”
British Labour's Foreign Policy: Apostles of Appeasement?
Studies of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
The British (or French) Press in the 1930's.
Ambassadors in Berlin and Rome, e.g., Neville Henderson,
André François-Poncet.
British Fascism and foreign policy.
King Edward VIII (a/k/a the Duke of Windsor) and foreign policy.
Winston Churchill in the 1930's
Studies of particular figures, for example:
Pierre Laval in the 1930's
Marcel Déat, Robert Brasillach, and/or Jacques Doriot, French "fascists"
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -10Charles Maurras and the Action Francaise in the 1930's
Marceau Pivert and left-wing socialism in France
Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and Armaments Minister
Paul Reynaud, next-to-last Prime Minister of the Third French Republic
Andre Malraux and the Spanish Civil War
Yvon Delbos, French Foreign Minister, 1936-1938
Charles de Gaulle and French war preparations
Labor unions in France and foreign policy
French military planning
Italy as a factor in international relations.
The Vatican in European diplomacy
The Spanish Civil War as a "prelude to World War II".
French Communism and the Soviet Union.
Various key pacts, such as the Franco-Soviet Pact of 1935 or the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939.
Ideology and foreign policy: the cases of Germany, Britain, and the USSR.
STUDENTS HAVE CHOSEN THESE TOPICS PREVIOUSLY:
The crisis over Poland in 1939.
Communism and the French Press.
Great Britain and the Spanish Civil War.
The Pacifism of Léon Blum.
Non-Intervention in the Spanish Civil War: France and Italy.
Pacifism in Great Britain.
The French Communist Party and the Soviet Union.
Hitler and Czechoslovakia.
Churchill in the 1930's.
Chamberlain's motives.
Léon Blum as Political Leader and Statesman.
British Military Thinking and British Foreign Policy.
The Roots of the Vichy Regime.
Stalin's Foreign Policy in the 1930's.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact.
Italy and Great Britain: The Breakdown of the Relationship.
Spanish Neutrality in World War II.
Antisemitism in France and Britain.
Mussolini.
The Nazi Economic Recovery in the 1930's.
British Rearmament and Foreign Policy.
Chamberlain and Munich.
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -11Charles Maurras in the 1930's.
German Rearmament.
British Intelligence Services and Munich.
The German Victory of 1940.
The Sudeten Question.
Soviet Foreign Policy in the 1930's.
Economic Developments: France in the early 1930’s
Von Neurath and German Diplomacy
Mussolini, Hitler, and Spain
Daladier, Chamberlain, and Czechoslovakia
Mussolini and Hitler: the Relationship
French Communism, 1932-1936
French Fascism, 1934-1936
The British Foreign Ministry: the Professionals
Poland, 1938-1939
The Nazi-Japanese Alliance
Comparative Rearmament
Neville Chamberlain
Non-Intervention in the Spanish Civil War
Intervention in the Spanish Civil War
Hungary in International Affairs in the 1930s
Winston Churchill
The Spanish Civil War
The German Military and Hitler’s Plans
Benes, France, and Britain
Churchill in the 1930s
The Hitler-Mussolini Relationship
The Formation of the French Popular Front
Hitler’s Symbols
Policies of Appeasement
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
Vansittart and the British Foreign Office
Mussolini and Hitler
Ambassador Joseph Kennedy
Teachers and Pacifism in France
The German-Japanese Alliance
Von Neurath and the German Foreign Ministry
Hitler’s Invasion of the Soviet Union
Manual Azaña and the Spanish Republic
British Perspectives on the USSR
Hitler and the Anschluss
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -12Spanish Neutrality during World War II
Chamberlain and Churchill
The Fall of France 1940
Chamberlain and Hitler 1938
Planning Hitler’s Invasion of Poland
Georges Bonnet, French Foreign Minister 1938
Stalin and the Spanish Civil War
Churchill's Naval Strategy
Journalism and the Spanish Civil War
French Film and the Popular Front
British Labour and Appeasement
Hungary in the 1930s
Mussolini and the Spanish Civil War
Mussolini and Hitler
Hitler's Invasion of Poland, 1939
Lord Halifax, 1937/1938
French Alliances
The Vatican and Hitler
French Views of Disaster
Chamberlain and Churchill
Chamberlain and Eden
British Fascism
Edward Benes
Stalin and Hitler
Hitler's Propaganda
Franco-British Relations 1936-1938
France and non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War
Italy Conquers Ethiopia
The Soviet Union and the Spanish Civil War
Chamberlain and the Munich Conference
Changes in British Policy, September 1938 - March 1939
Neville Chamberlain and Appeasing Hitler
German Rearmament
Origins of the Spanish Civil War
The Hossbach Memorandum
HISTORY 158, APPEASEMENT, FALL, 2014 -13The Relationship Between Hitler and Mussolini
Hitler's Planning in 1939
War Cabinet Crisis: Churchill vs Halifax
Japan and Nazi Germany
International Reaction to the Fall of France, 1940