With the recognisable skills, it wasn't long before he was made Foreign Secretary, a feat he achieved at the age of thirty eight. .
During his first two years in this post, all international affairs that were of main concern to Eden as Foreign Secretary were dominated with extreme and aggressive fascist policies in Europe, all of which he tried to address through the process of negotiation. However, it was at this point in his political uprising, that Eden faced his first personal and political conflict. He had been trying to resolve and calm the problem of fascist policy in Europe through open negotiations however, the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain decided that appeasement was a far better way to deal with this affair. Eden refused that this was the only way to deal with this situation, and to show how strongly he opposed Chamberlain's decision of appeasement; he resigned from his position as Foreign Secretary.
By taking into account his continued rise in the political field during the twenties and thirties, it was very clear that Anthony Eden was a very influential and key figure in British politics. This was also the belief that many had of him up until his demise in the fifties. What I will try to show in this essay are some of Eden's political successes that gave him this positive persona in politics. However, I will also discuss the political failures that occurred in his career, in the hope to help understand his demise in the fifties. .
When Eden resigned as Foreign Minister for the Chamberlain government in 1938, though he remained in background politics, it wasn't until the onset of world war two that he returned to the forefront of British politics. On rejoining the government, Eden had to settle with the role of (Commonwealth) Dominions Secretary, as Winston Churchill was given the seat in Chamberlains war cabinet. This was a frustrating time in Eden's career.
