I’ve read a lot about Chamberlain and I just don’t get how he ever stayed in office as long as he did.
I’m not of the camp that believes that the war could have been avoided without appeasement, but I do believe that it ultimately made the early years of the war a lot worse for the UK.
Chamberlain was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died in 1940, but before his diagnosis he actually believed that it would be a short war and that he would become PM again after the war.
I think it was the Parliament that did it. He went along because he wanted to stay PM but his heart was not in war. He stayed in office by doing what the majority wanted but just barely. As little as possible. That was the ‘phony war’ I guess.