There it is. Neville Chamberlain saved the world. With that world-view you are a lock for Barry's next big National Security job.
If you look at the actual history, you'll have no choice but to agree. You have to make foreign policy decisions with your brains, not your balls. Sometimes circumstances force you to choose between two very bad choices. In 1938, Chamberlain's choices were appeasement or annihilation.
In 1940, the RAF held of the Luftwaffe by the skin of their teeth. They were literally days from collapse. The Germans had their invasion force in France ready to go, and if the RAF had been beaten they would have gotten across and crushed the tiny British Army easier than they crushed Poland.
In 1938, the RAF was nowhere near the force it was in 1940. This was their main fighter:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Bristol_Bulldog.1.jpgMeanwhile, the Germans were flying this:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-487-3066-04%2C_Flugzeug_Messerschmitt_Me_109.jpgWhich do you think would win?
Not only did the Luftwaffe have far better fighters, but they had a lot more of them. The Bf-109 was available in numbers and had already seen combat in the Spanish Civil War.
In between 1938 and 1940, the Chamberlain government oversaw a massive surge in modern fighter production, while the Germans largely sat on their hands. This allowed the RAF to dramatically close the gap to the Germans by the Battle of Britain. When the war finally started, the Germans were still flying the same planes they had in 1938, while the RAF had re-equipped with modern Hurricanes and Spitfires.
Yet this new, modern RAF of 1940 barely held off the Germans. The RAF of 1938 would have had no chance. The Germans would have crushed them in a week and conquered Britain within a month. If Churchill had been PM at the time he would have run away to India while the British people suffered the horrors of a German occupation.
From the German perspective, 1938 was the optimal moment to go to war. Hitler knew this, so did Chamberlain. Contrary to popular belief, Hitler didn't go to Munich to get the Sudetenland, he went to Munich to provoke a war. All accounts of those close to him say that he was absolutely furious that Chamberlain prevented him from starting a Europe-wide war right then.
As for Chamberlain, he swallowed his pride and bought an extra year that saved Britain. He didn't get lucky, he knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that Britain was in no shape to go to war in 1938. He knew the French wouldn't support him because they were in worse shape than he was. He also knew that, with some extra time, Britain's war preparations would bear enough fruit to keep the country safe. When the time for war came, he didn't hesitate to join in. But that time wasn't 1938.
The irony is that by 1940, when Chamberlain's efforts of the previous two years were bearing fruit and saving Britain, his time as leader had indeed passed. Churchill was the best man for the job in 1940. As a war leader there have been few better in history. But just because Churchill was the man of the hour in the dark days of 1940 doesn't mean that he would have been the best man for the job in 1938.
So yes, Neville Chamberlain saved the world.