How should Neville Chamberlain's attempt to buy rearmament time be judged with and without hindsight?
Short answerChamberlain was doing his best in a role beyond his abilities, but drawing the line over Czechoslovakia would have offered the Western Allies a more plausible reinforcement problem than guaranteeing Poland.
NotesNeville Chamberlain is described as an ordinary peacetime prime minister facing a crisis beyond his abilities. He was trying to buy time and was neither uniquely malign nor effective enough for the task. A later exchange argues that Czechoslovakia offered a more defensible line than Poland because Britain and France could reach it through southern Europe, while access to Poland was far harder. Italy was also wary of German expansion into Czechoslovakia at that stage, even though the fascist governments were hardly reliable partners. The assessment combines personal limits, political support and reinforcement geography rather than treating hindsight as a complete answer.