Quick questions on Appeasement and the road to war: HSC Modern History Core Study

2short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.

What is the logic of appeasement?

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Appeasement was the policy of conceding to Germany's revisionist demands in the hope that a satisfied Germany would not start a general war. The policy was driven by several factors.

What is the Nazi-Soviet Pact (23 August 1939)?

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Negotiated by Foreign Ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov, the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact stunned the world. Secret protocols divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence: Estonia, Latvia, Finland, eastern Poland, and Bessarabia to the USSR; western Poland and Lithuania to Germany. Stalin's logic was strategic: Anglo-Soviet talks earlier in 1939 had stalled, Munich had shown the west would not fight, and the pact bought time to rearm after the Purges. Hitler's logic was tactical: avoid a two-front war.

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