Munich Agreement
Britain, France, Germany and Italy agreed at Munich on 30 September 1938 to transfer the Sudetenland to Germany, and Czechoslovakia was not in the room. The Sudetenland was the mountainous German-speaking rim of Bohemia and Moravia, containing about three million German speakers and — the fact that mattered — the entire Czech border fortification system and much of its heavy industry. Hitler had spent the summer escalating demands through Konrad Henlein's Sudeten German Party, which had standing instructions to reject any concession offered so that no settlement could be reached. Chamberlain flew to Germany three times, at sixty-nine and having never flown before. At Berchtesgaden he accepted the principle of transfer; at Bad Godesberg he was told the terms had changed and immediate occupation was required; and Munich was Mussolini's proposal for a four-power conference to avoid the war that seemed imminent. The terms conceded almost everything Godesberg had demanded, with a phased timetable. Czechoslovakia was informed and told that if it refused it would face Germany alone. It had a well-equipped army of 35 divisions, and the Soviet Union had a treaty obliging it to assist if France did. Chamberlain came back with a separate paper Hitler had signed and read it at the airport, and again in Downing Street, calling it peace for our time. Germany took the rest of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, which ended the argument in Britain. The word Munich has meant one thing in diplomacy ever since. Whether Britain and France were buying time they used well, or throwing away an ally they should have fought alongside, is argued to this day.
- Year: 1938 CE
- Category: Diplomatic
