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Palgrave Macmillan

Appeasing Hitler

The Diplomacy of Sir Nevile Henderson, 1937-39

  • Book
  • © 2000

Overview

Authors:
  1. Peter Neville

    1. University of Wolverhampton, UK

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Part of the book series: Studies in Diplomacy (STD)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. The Emergent Diplomat

    • Peter Neville
    Pages 1-19

  3. A Man with a Mission

    • Peter Neville
    Pages 20-47

  4. The Anschluss

    • Peter Neville
    Pages 48-61

  5. From the Anschluss to the ‘May Scare’, 1938

    • Peter Neville
    Pages 62-77

  6. From the May Crisis to the Nuremberg Rally, May–September 1938

    • Peter Neville
    Pages 78-94

  7. From Nuremberg to Munich

    • Peter Neville
    Pages 95-118

  8. Interlude: October 1938–February 1939

    • Peter Neville
    Pages 119-144

  9. The Polish Crisis

    • Peter Neville
    Pages 145-167

  10. Conclusion

    • Peter Neville
    Pages 168-176

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 177-237
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Keywords

About this book

The origins of the Second World War remain clouded in Churchillian mythology. Sixty years on, Peter Neville's controversial book provides an essential reassessment of the appeasement myths by examining a central yet understudied figure. Sir Nevile Henderson has been vilified as 'our Nazi Ambassador in Berlin' by historians and popular memory alike. He has remained in disgrace despite the widespread historical rethinking of appeasement in recent years. Yet there has never before been a book-length study of Henderson despite his central role as Britain's Ambassador. Peter Neville's important reassessment draws upon primary documents to overturn orthodox interpretations. While Henderson's analysis of the Nazi regime was seriously flawed, history has vastly overstated his influence. In presenting the first full and close analysis of what Henderson himself called 'the failure of a mission', the author has made a pathbreaking contribution to the history of appeasement.

Reviews

'An essential corrective to the image that has been created of Nevile Henderson as an invertebrate appeaser... Written in a lucid and cultured way, and based upon a very wide variety of sources, this is one of the most outstanding contributions to appeasement scholarship in recent years.' - Andrew Crozier, Reader in History, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London

'This important book fills a chronic gap in the historiography of appeasement. Peter Neville's book is the first major study of a subject far too long neglected and slighted. For over fifty years Sir Nevile Henderson, Britain's ambassador to Berlin 1937-9, has been almost uniformly written off by historians and branded as a prime scape-goat for appeasement. For the first time Peter Neville puts the case for Henderson and places him fairly and convincingly in context as an experienced and hitherto well thought-of diplomat attempting to cope in an impossible situation.' - A. Lentin, Reader in History, The Open University

'...well-researched...makes a significant contribution to the still growing literature on the years of appeasement.' - D.J. Dutton, Diplomacy & Statecraft

'...a vibrant and articulate book that deserves to be read.' - N.J. Crowson, Contemporary British History

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Wolverhampton, UK

    Peter Neville

About the author

PETER NEVILLE is Senior Lecturer, Department of History at Wolverhampton University. He is the author of Neville Chamberlain: a Study in Failure?, Winston Churchill: Statesman or Opportunist?, France 1914-69: the Three Republics, A Traveller's History of Russia and the USSR, A Traveller's History of Ireland, and The Holocaust (forthcoming). He has written a number of articles on the history of appeasement for journals including Modern History Review, Journal of Contemporary History and the Review of International Studies.

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