Throughout history, the decision of war or peace has been difficult for any given country and for any given national leader. For example, in the 1930s, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek found himself in a dilemma. As head of the Republic of China, Chiang was obligated to resist foreign aggression when the Japanese invaded the Chinese Northeast. Yet Chiang could not afford a full-scale resistance because the country was not militarily prepared for war. To strengthen China‟s national defense would require a considerable amount of time. Therefore, Chiang decided to make compromises with the Japanese, a strategy known as appeasement. Owing to the “Shame of Munich” of 1938, many people in the West regard appeasement as inappropriate under every conceivable set of circumstances despite the fact that there are historical precedents in which wars have been averted as a result of an appeasement policy.This article examines the historical background of and the rationale behind appeasement in ancient China, modern China, and modern Europe. The argument put forward in this article demonstrates that when Chiang Kai-shek pursued appeasement, he did it in the full conviction that appeasement was the lesser of two evils. War, he thought, was the greater evil.