How was the policy of appeasement to blame for many of Hitlers early successes?

In the
mid-1930s, European leaders, especially the French and the British, wanted desperately to avoid
another war. World War I had ended fewer than 20 years before and was a vivid and traumatic
memory in most people's minds. Nobody wanted to relive that experience.

European leaders, therefore, chose to give into appeaseHitler rather than possibly
provoke a war. They let him simply take more and more territory, accepting his rationale that
these areas were meant to be part of the German homeland. They chose to believe him as he
promised over and over that this was the last time he would take a territory and that he didn't
want a war. He did want a war and was both incredulous and delighted that he was able to amass
so much territory ahead of time without losing one soldier.

Appeasement was
a terrible mistake. Hitler had a very small army, as dictated by the Treaty of Versailles, and
Germany was very weak when Hitler began his land-grabs. Appeasing him gave him time to build up
a...