Neville
Chamberlain was born in 1869, the son of Joseph
Chamberlain. He is best known for his Munich Pact
treaty of peace with Adolph Hitler in 1938 and
much criticised for placing his trust in this
appeasement policy. After the signing of the Munich
Pact, he arrived in London announcing that he
had secured peace in our time. Whatever our thoughts
on Neville Chamberlain and his appeasement policy
of the time it should be considered in some ways
fortunate that an ill-prepared Britain was given
more time to prepare for war which commenced in
1939 after Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Military support for Poland led Britain into
the war in September. The military disaster
in Norway forced Chamberlain to resign in May
1940 and he was succeeded by Winston Churchill.
Neville Chamberlain died in 1940.
During his lifetime he had spent much of his
time in business before becoming the Lord Mayor
of Birmingham in 1915. In 1917 he was the director
of National Service for conscription and subsequently
elected to Parliament under the Conservatives.
He served as chancellor of the exchequer twice
and as minister of health.
Click here for the short "Peace
in our times" movie clip.
This article is archived. To add comments, amend or update this article
please click on the image below:
