Conference held in Munich on September 28--29, 1938, during which the leaders of Great Britain, France, and Italy agreed to allow Germany to annex certain areas of Czechoslovakia.
The Munich Conference came as a result of a long series of negotiations. Adolf Hitler had demanded the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia; British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tried to talk him out of it. When Hitler would not back down, and even extended his demands, Chamberlain decided to follow a policy of "appeasement" and give in to Hitler on this issue, in the hope that Hitler would not make any more demands. Thus, Chamberlain, French leader Eduard Daladier, and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini met in Munich with Hitler and officially agreed to the annexation of the Sudeten region to Germany. Czechoslovakia was not invited to attend. Chamberlain returned to Britain and announced that he had achieved "peace in our time." However, just five months later, Hitler broke the spirit of the agreement by dismembering the rest of Czechoslovakia. Hitler's true intentions for Europe were made very clear, and France and Britain ended up looking foolish and being discredited. Forever after, the term "Munich" became a symbol of appeasement that only hurts in the long run.
