ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

European foreign policy of the Chamberlain ministry

Okay kiddo, let me explain what the European foreign policy of the Chamberlain ministry was all about.

Back in the old days, there were a lot of countries in Europe and they didn't always get along. One country, called Germany, wanted to be really powerful and take over other countries. This made a lot of other countries worried and scared, especially Britain who was pretty powerful too.

Winston Churchill, who was the British leader at the time, warned everyone that Germany was a big problem and they should stop them before it was too late. But another British leader, called Neville Chamberlain, wanted to avoid a big war. He thought that if Britain tried to be friendly with Germany and made some agreements with them, then maybe they could avoid a war.

So, in 1938, Chamberlain met with the leader of Germany, Adolf Hitler, and they made an agreement called the Munich Agreement. This agreement said that Germany could take a part of another country called Czechoslovakia without starting a war. Chamberlain thought this would make Hitler happy and avoid a big war.

But here's the thing, little one. Hitler didn't really care about the agreement and he still wanted to take over other countries. So, just a year later, he invaded another country called Poland. This caused Britain and other countries to declare war on Germany, starting a big war called World War II.

So, the European foreign policy of the Chamberlain ministry was all about trying to avoid a big war with Germany by making agreements with them. But ultimately, it didn't work and it actually led to a bigger war.