Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier served as French Prime Minister twice in the 1930s and was the French signatory of the Munich Agreement of 1938, alongside Chamberlain, Hitler, and Mussolini. A Radical Socialist who had initially been tougher toward Germany than Chamberlain, he signed Munich reluctantly, reportedly anticipating the crowd's hostile reaction — instead he was met with cheering, which he interpreted with self-awareness as evidence of the French people's own desperate desire for peace. He declared war on Germany in September 1939 and was replaced in March 1940. Arrested by Vichy, he was one of the defendants at the show trial of Riom (1942), intended to blame the Republic's leaders for the defeat; the trial was abandoned when it became clear the defendants were indicting Germany's rearmament rather than their own policy. He survived the war in German custody and returned to French political life after liberation.
- Lived: 1884 CE – 1970 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: prime minister
