The most famous case of appeasement is the Munich Pact, in which Britain and France, under the leadership of Chamberlain, conceded Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany. The hope was that it would stop the aggression of Hitler and the Nazis, but it did not, and was largely seen as giving Germany a free pass.
Due to those failures, the policy today has a very negative connotation, along with a related concept “peace at any price.” Defense hawks regularly accuse opponents of appeasing the enemy.
Der Spiegel outlines how the strategy failed in the 1930s.
Use of “Appeasement” in a sentence
NBC News: “Former President Joe Biden has accused the Trump administration of 'modern-day appeasement' in its dealings with Vladimir Putin.”
Atlantic Council (February 20, 2023): “All those currently calling for compromise with the Kremlin in Ukraine would be wise to recall that policies of appeasement toward Hitler were widely popular at the time among populations desperate to avoid another world war.”