appeasement
Peace through concessions
Appeasement is the act of calming or pacifying someone, especially by giving in to their demands.
The word carries a strong negative connotation from its association with British and French efforts to satisfy Hitler's territorial ambitions in the late 1930s, a policy now widely regarded as having enabled rather than prevented war.
Today, accusing someone of appeasement suggests they are making dangerous concessions to an aggressor: Critics called the treaty appeasement rather than diplomacy.
Discussion seeking mutual accord
- conciliationResolving disputes through dialogue
- mediationIntervention to resolve conflict
- dialogueSpoken exchange between parties
- treatyBinding pact between nations
summit · détente · ambassador · envoy · bilateral · multilateral · statecraft · foreign relations
Yielding a point
- surrenderCease resistance, yield
- yieldingBending under pressure
- submissionYielding to another's will
- acquiescenceUnresisting acceptance
weakness · capitulation · placation · caving · backing down · giving in · kowtowing · ceding
Pleasure from satisfying desires
- contentmentPeaceful satisfaction with circumstances
- fulfillmentState of achieved purpose
- pleasureHappy, satisfied feeling
- reliefEasing of distress
comfort · satiation · indulgence · mollification · placation · pacification · soothing · calming
Complete yielding to demands
- cowardiceAbsence of bravery
- weaknessDeficiency in force
- selloutCompromiser of integrity
- betrayalBreaking of trust
spinelessness · naivety · folly · mistake · backlash · controversy · debate · hindsight
Manager of household affairs
- HitlerNazi Germany's totalitarian leader
- SudetenlandCzech border territory, 1938
- betrayalBreaking of trust
- failureLack of success
naivety · miscalculation · prewar · Czechoslovakia · umbrella · lesson · blunder · shortsightedness
negotiation
Discussion seeking mutual accord
- conciliationResolving disputes through dialogue
- mediationIntervention to resolve conflict
- dialogueSpoken exchange between parties
treaty · summit · détente · ambassador · envoy · bilateral · multilateral · statecraft · foreign relations · protocol
concession
Yielding a point
- surrenderCease resistance, yield
- yieldingBending under pressure
- submissionYielding to another's will
acquiescence · weakness · capitulation · placation · caving · backing down · giving in · kowtowing · ceding · accommodation
gratification
Pleasure from satisfying desires
- contentmentPeaceful satisfaction with circumstances
- fulfillmentState of achieved purpose
- pleasureHappy, satisfied feeling
relief · comfort · satiation · indulgence · mollification · placation · pacification · soothing · calming · reassurance
capitulation
Complete yielding to demands
betrayal · spinelessness · naivety · folly · mistake · backlash · controversy · debate · hindsight · cautionary
Chamberlain
Manager of household affairs
- HitlerNazi Germany's totalitarian leader
- SudetenlandCzech border territory, 1938
- betrayalBreaking of trust
failure · naivety · miscalculation · prewar · Czechoslovakia · umbrella · lesson · blunder · shortsightedness · enablement
- conflict responsesavoidance, confrontation, compromise, accommodation, aggression
- peacemakingnegotiation, mediation, mediate, pacifying, negotiate
- foreign policydiplomacy, diplomatic negotiations, sanctions, containment, deterrence
- 1930sNew Deal, Hitler, Nazi Germany, Great Depression, Shirley Temple
- 20th Century EuropeWorld War I, interwar, Nazi Germany, Holocaust, Berlin Wall
- Interwar EraLeague of Nations, Weimar Republic, Treaty of Versailles, Treaty of Trianon, Versailles Treaty
appeasementconfrontation
Direct hostile encounter
resistance · opposition · defiance · containment · deterrence
appeasementprovocation
Act that triggers response
aggravation · irritation · antagonism · agitation · annoyance
appeasementaggression
Hostile or attacking behavior
assertiveness · intransigence · hardball · escalation · coercion
- appeasement policySatisfying aggressors through concessions