A new issue of “History Lessons” is now available. This time, I am investigating the signing of the Munich Agreement in the early morning hours of 30 September 1938. (The agreement itself is dated September 29, 1938.) In the video, I discuss the origins of the Sudetenland crisis, what British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain believed he could achieve in his negotiations with Adolf Hitler, and why the Munich Accords did not bring “peace for our time.” The economic consequences of the Munich Agreement will be very harsh for Czechoslovakia. The loss of industries, railways, knots, etc. can only lead to serious losses in trade and unemployment. There is also no doubt that Czechoslovakia will become the object of quasi-colonial exploitation for Germany. London, FridayThe Munich Accords give Hitler everything he wants (at first), except that they may not allow him to get it as quickly as he would have done under Godesberg`s unstopping ultimatum. He will begin tomorrow the invasion of Czechoslovakia, as he threatened in his speech of 12 September. It is free to occupy all regions where Sudeten Germans are in the majority, and to do so in rapid stages.
Chamberlain`s flight to Berchtesgaden was followed a week later by another to Godesberg and on 29 September to Munich. In Munich, Chamberlain received an international agreement that Hitler should have the Sudetenland in exchange for Germany no longer making land demands in Europe. Chamberlain said it was “peace for our time.” Hitler declared that he had “no more territorial claims to make in Europe.” The 1. In October, German troops occupied the Sudetenland: Hitler had gotten what he wanted without firing a single shot. When Chamberlain returned from Munich, he told an excited crowd at Heston Airport, “This is peace for our time,” waving the agreement he had signed with Hitler. This was the culmination of the policy of appeasement. Six months later, Hitler broke his promises and ordered his armies to invade Prague. In less than a year, Britain and France were at war with Germany. The Manchester Guardian covered every aspect of the story – from the details of the deal to Chamberlain`s appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to the unease between other nations. One editorial considered the piece of paper he had brandished on his return to Britain to be almost worthless.
Six months later, in March 1939, German troops seized the rest of Czechoslovakia. Poland seemed to be the next most likely victim of Nazi aggression, and Chamberlain struck a deal with the Poles to defend them in Germany. Hitler did not believe that Britain would go to war for Poland after failing to do so for Czechoslovakia. In September 1939, he sent his soldiers to Poland. On the same day, Britain declared war on Germany. One aspect of the enormous turmoil of the past two weeks must affect anyone looking beyond their history. In the three most powerful states of Central and Eastern Europe, people were not allowed to know what was being said and done outside. In Russia, there seems to have been very little news. In Germany and Italy, news was deliberately falsified if it was not suppressed. The German people had no right to know anything about President Roosevelt`s message.
The Italian people were led to believe that Chamberlain agreed with Hitler and was only concerned with putting pressure on Benes. They received a bad version of one of his speeches. All the misery and indignation that followed the German occupation of Vienna will surely follow the German occupation of the Sudetenland. Prague has already begun to fill up with refugees – Sudeten German socialists, Jews, not to mention the Czechs – which is of course enough considering that german newspapers, Wireless and Hitler himself have been referring for months to the Czechs in terms that were prolonged incitement to violence and oppression. .