On this day, the Munich Agreement was signed between Hitler and his British and French counterparts. According to it, Czechoslovakians, who here allies of the French and British were made to surrender the frontier regions to the Germans. They did this in order to appease Hitler, so that he won’t unleash a war in Europe. But, as history tells us, Hitler did it nonetheless. WWII was unleashed! Hence, to this day, Munich Agreement is synonymous to appeasement.
To the contrary, back in 19th century, Abraham Lincoln had a similar dilemma. The southern states were trying secede. But Lincoln did not appease them. He went to a civil war. As a result, America solved the problem once and for all and moved on.
History gives us enough examples that appeasement doesn’t work. Yet, back in India our leaders made the same mistake. In 1946-47, to appease certain section of the society, our leaders divided our land. Did it solve our problems? We know the answer. It’s bleeding us dry for the past 75 years. As we near Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, we ought to remember some of the disastrous decisions/policies adopted by him.
P.C. Wikipedia.
