Arthur Neville Chamberlain was the
British Prime Minister from May 28, 1937 to May 10, 1940. He
resigned his political career because of ill health at the end of
September 1940.
Chamberlain is best known for his policy
of appeasement toward Italy and Germany right before
World War
II.
Case in point was Chamberlain's optimistic little
statement he
delivered on September 30, 1938, after coming home from a meeting
with nut
Adolf Hitler.
Chamberlain stepped off his aircraft and gave what became known
his
Peace in Our Time speech. Some call it the Peace for our
time speech, and these individuals are mistaken.
Earlier that day, Hitler and Chamberlain
had signed an understanding that assuring peace was in the interest
of both their countries and that both men would aim to resolve their
disagreements by discussing them.
The day before, on September 29, 1938,
Chamberlain, Hitler,
Mussolini,
and Daladier had signed the Munich Agreement, allowing Hitler
to annex part of Czechoslovakia.
Not all of Chamberlain's countrymen
agreed with his course of action.
Winston Churchill for one
thought that this was not the right time to pussyfoot around.
Hitler's invasion of Poland on September
1, 1939, was quite the eye-opener. Later that day, Chamberlain gave
a speech to the House of Commons, calling for
Action Rather Than Speech.
On September 3, 1939, at 11.15 AM,
Chamberlain announced:
I am speaking to you from the
Cabinet Room of 10 Downing Street.
This morning the British Ambassador
in Berlin handed the German government a final note, stating
that unless we heard from them - by 11 o'clock - that they were
prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state
of war would exist between us.
I have to tell you now that no such
undertaking has been received and that, consequently, this
country is at war with Germany.
Here is the full radio speech:
The above mentioned British Ambassador
in Berlin was Sir Nevile Henderson.
Greco-Persian Wars
Also called the
Persian Wars, the Greco-Persian Wars were
fought for almost half a century from 492 to
449 BC. Greece won against enormous odds. Here
is more:
