The One that Never Was

The following is a Thesis proposal that was written up but never saw the light of day and was duly scrapped for a better and more rounded. As it was never used I decided to post it here, it may give somebody a thought or two.

Rationale: “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience!” Man and the Superman, George Bernard Shaw. This dissertation aims to examine the politics of the British government from signing the Versailles Treaty in 1919 to the beginning of World War II in 1939 focusing on their relations with the rise of Nazi Germany. This dissertation hopes to pinpoint the policies which allowed the Nazis’s to consolidate power and implement an aggressive foreign policy. The blame for the Second World War is pointed solely at Hitler. While he committed atrocities in power maybe these could have been prevented and that’s where the blame falls on the allies. “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” Newton’s Third Law.


Defining the Topic: There are a few key questions that this dissertation hopes to answer. What was the role of the Versailles Treaty? Did it help cause the rise of fascism? The people who really suffered from the Treaty did they really do anything to deserve it? The Versailles treaty is the beginning of World War II, only by understanding its role can such a “farce” be avoided again. What was the role of Appeasement? and the Munich Agreement? How much are Britain to blame for causing World War II? Another key question, which may be controversial, is how did Hitler come to power and what was the role of Britain in helping Nazi’s gain control? What was the affect of the Versailles treaty and what British government did during Hitler’s slow ascent to power? Did the Versailles Treaty back Germany into a corner where they looked for a strong leader to help them? Did the appeasement policies failure still have heavy influence in British politics?

Literature Review: There are many documents and books about the subject area. Two of the best primary sources are The Gathering Storm by Sir Winston Churchill and Guilty Men by “Cato”. Guilty Men was written in 1940 under a pseudonym by Michael Foot, Frank Owen and Peter Howard. The book is an attack on the men the authors believe to be responsible for poor policies and action against Nazi Germany. However the book is not very objective in its outlook and is very critical of the men it believes are guilty. It is a good starting point and gives a good insight into the views of people at the time.

From this a more objective view but still a primary source is Sir Winston Churchill’s book Second World War. The first volume The Gathering Storm deals directly with the lead up to World War II. This book comes to the same conclusion as Guilty Men which is that the policies were inadequate. Where the two books differ is in their approach, this book is more objective. These two books are good starting point into the topic and give great first hand insight into events. Therefore when secondary source books are used in the dissertation a fuller view can be obtained.


The Thesis: There are three main sources that will be used to research the topic. The primary sources will include government documents, treaties and other official documentation e.g. speeches etc. Primary Source books on the subject areas will be used. Books such as Churchill’s Second World War book specifically the First Section The Gathering Storm and Guilty Men by “Cato”. The last source will be Secondary Source books written after War. The dissertation will be broken into four different sections. Each section will focus on one specific incident that led to World War II. After and introductory section about the purpose and aim of the dissertation, the section will centre on the Versailles Treaty and the impact that it had on Germany and the involvement of the UK in its drafting and signing. From this the policy of appeasement will be studied. What is the policy? What affect it had on the UK domestically? What did the parliament and citizens think of the policy at the time? This section will also look at what Germany was doing at this time in terms of armament and other growth. The next two sections study appeasement in action, firstly the UK response to the Rhineland and German policy of Lebensraum. The UK’s response will be compared with the French reaction and policies as well as the German reaction to the UK’s response. Following this three incidents will be reviewed that led directly to World War II. Firstly the Munich Agreement and the breaking of the agreement, what it was and its implications and then the strain it put on foreign relations specifically with France. The final incident was the Anglo-Polish military pact and the invasion of Poland by Germany that led to the beginning of World War II. The final section of the dissertation will be an analysis of the information in the dissertation and will end with a conclusion.