[ek_hornbeck]

Keep in mind that in the late 1930's, it wasn't at all apparent that Hitler had ambitions on the entirety of Europe and beyond. Hitler initially only openly claimed Germany's right to regions that were historically part of Germany (Saarland), populated by majority ethnic Germans (Austria and the Sudetenland), or territories that were long points of contention between Germany and its neighbors (Rhineland with France, Danzig corridor with Poland).

Therefore, it wasn't unreasonable to assume that Hitler's goal was the unification of German people and that he wouldn't go beyond that. It was only after his pact with Stalin and his seizure of far more than just the Danzig corridor that Hitler became a clear threat to stability in Europe. That simply wasn't the case two years earlier.

[NFHale]

“...it wasn’t at all apparent ...”

True enough; like I said ... we have the benefit of being able to look back and see the patterns that maybe weren’t obvious at the time...