Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement provided only temporary relief from the agony
When Neville Chamberlain landed at Heston, the crowds so thronged the streets that the 14-mile journey back to London took him 90 minutes. The prime minister had brought them peace for their time, and they were joyous. Or were they simply delirious with relief?
New research covering letters, diaries, mass observation records and more has revealed the extent of national anxiety 85 years ago in the autumn of 1938. There was an epidemic of suicide and other mental health crises over the threat of another war, though they were likely to refer to it with the term “nerves”.
