Chamberlain, (Arthur) Neville (1869–1940)

Seen here on 30 September 1938, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain has just returned to London, England, from a meeting with German chancellor Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany. He holds the piece of paper with which he claimed to have won ‘peace in our time’. Within a year, Britain was at war with Germany.

British Conservative politician, son of Joseph Chamberlain. He was prime minister 1937–40; his policy of appeasement toward the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and German Nazi Adolf Hitler (with whom he concluded the Munich Agreement in 1938) failed to prevent the outbreak of World War II. He resigned in 1940 following the defeat of the British forces in Norway.

In 1938 Chamberlain went to Munich, Germany, and negotiated with Hitler on the Czechoslovak question. He was ecstatically received on his return and claimed that the Munich Agreement brought ‘peace in our time’. However, Germany advanced against British allies and within a year Britain was at war.