What happened at the Munich Confrence and why?

Answer 1

Here is information leading up to the Munich Conference & then how it played out:

CzechoslovakiaCrisis-Manufactured-1938

Ø The Austrian Anschluss effectively out-flanks Czechoslovakian defensive fortifications (facing Germany proper) and leaves it vulnerable.

Ø Immediately, Hitler manufactured a political crisis with the new nation of Czechoslovakia over its border areas (in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia), where more than 3 million ethnic Germans lived inside the 'Sudetenland', because of redrawn post-Great War borders. Inside the German speaking area of Czechoslovakia, the Sudeten German Party (SdP), a branch of the German Nazi Party, has become the second largest political party in Czechoslovakia.

Ø Czechoslovakia was allied with France & Britain. However these allies had no military capability to defend Czechoslovakia from a German attack. The only French & British military option was an attack on Germany from the west.

Ø Josef Stalin offered military assistance to Czechoslovakia, however the Soviet Union did not have a border with Czechoslovakia. Soviet troops and supplies would have had to cross through Poland and/or Rumania to reach Czechoslovakia. Neither of those two nations would have allowed that scenario. Additionally, the appearance of Soviet troops (or rumor of it) would have most certainly offered Hitler the perfect provocation to immediately invade Czechoslovakia.

Ø Hitler makes territorial demands and threatens to invade Czechoslovakia over his (false) claims of their 'persecution' of Germans.

Ø The British & French governments, out of fear of a new general European war, asked Czech President Edvard Beneš to concede to Hitler's demands, however he resisted this advice.

Ø 20 May 1938: Czechoslovakia starts a partial military mobilization. Hitler orders planning for an invasion to "smash Czechoslovakia" militarily without "provocation", during "a particularly favorable opportunity" or after "adequate political justification".

Ø 8 June 1938: Hitler signed a secret directive, to the Wehrmacht, for war against Czechoslovakia to begin no later than Saturday, 1 October. The planned invasion was code-named Fall Grün (Case Green).

Ø The Czechoslovak Army is modern, well trained & equipped. It had an excellent system of frontier fortifications and is prepared to fight.

Hitler's Masterpiece Theater & British Panic

Ø The German military (Wehrmacht) is very much alarmed by the possibility of a war with France & Britain and that they are not sufficiently prepared to win it. Unknown until after the war, several high ranking Generals planned a coup to remove Hitler from power if war came then. The coup plotters did not act and were not discovered until after the later 20 July 1944 coup attempt.

Ø However, Hitler was not as reckless as his Generals thought. His actual goal was to get the British to buckle under the pressure and withdraw their support of Czechoslovakia. Then the French, lacking British support, would also drop their support of Czechoslovakia. Then Hitler would invade and conquer all of Czechoslovakia in a short but intense war.

Ø Hitler skillfully used a similar strategy to the 1933 Disarmament Talks with the British & French. He made proposals that would appear reasonable & acceptable to the British, which were unacceptable to the Czechs. One of the tactics employed was an elaborate deception campaign that painted the Czechs as the aggressors, committing horrors against ethnic Germans & unwilling to compromise.

Ø August-September 1938: Hitler increased pressure on Czechoslovakia by making outrageous and false claims of atrocities against Germans, Hungarians, Poles & Slovaks inside Czechoslovakia. This served intentionally to antagonize the Czechs and weaken the moral resolve of the British. It also made the French wary of voicing further public support of the Czechs at a time when the British appeared to be going soft.

Ø September 1938: The British government's efforts to avoid war had the look of obvious panic, as British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain made three trips to Germany in that month to see Hitler. This successful effort to manipulate the British government & public opinion must have amused Hitler. It also most certainly would have caused Hitler to doubt British resolve a year later, when he threatened war against Poland.

Ø 18 September 1938: Italy's Duce Benito Mussolini declared Italy's support for Germany in the crisis.

Ø 21 September 1938: Czechoslovakia agreed to accept the German demands and communicated this to the British & French.

Ø 22 September 1938: British Prime Minister Chamberlain met with Hitler for the 2nd time that month to announce the Czech concessions. Chamberlain was stunned when Hitler rejected the agreement, and instead announced that he wanted Czechoslovakia to be completely dissolved and its territories redistributed to Germany, Poland, and Hungary, and he further told Chamberlain to take it or leave it.

Later in the meeting, a prearranged staged act by the Germans was performed to put increased pressure on Chamberlain: one of Hitler's aides entered the room to inform Hitler of more Germans being killed in Czechoslovakia, to which Hitler screamed in response "I will avenge every one of them. The Czechs must be destroyed." The meeting ended with Hitler refusing to make any concessions to the Allies' demands.

However, later that evening, Hitler worried that he had gone too far in pressuring Chamberlain, and telephoned Chamberlain at his hotel, to say that he would accept annexing only the Sudetenland, with no designs on other territories, provided that Czechoslovakia began evacuating the German majority territories by 26 September at 8:00am. Chamberlain requested, and Hitler agreed to postpone the deadline to 1 October.

Ø 23 September 1938: In Czechoslovakia, a general mobilization order was issued as they prepared for war.

Ø 24 September 1938: Chamberlain returned to Britain and announced that Hitler demanded the annexation of the Sudetenland without delay. Many British & French leaders became angry as they were willing to confront Hitler's Germany and support Czechoslovakia.

Ø 26 September 1938: Chamberlain sent a hand-delivered personal letter to Hitler declaring that the Allies wanted a peaceful resolution to the Sudeten crisis. Later that day, Hitler in a speech in Berlin, gave Czechoslovakia a deadline of 28 September at 2:00pm to cede the Sudetenland to Germany or face war.

Ø At the request of the British, Mussolini got Hitler to postpone the deadline for 24 hours, so that Hitler & Mussolini could meet, in Munich on 29-30 September, with the British & French leaders to solve the crisis.

The Munich Conference & Betrayal of Czechoslovakia

Ø 29-30 September 1938: Munich Conference/Munich Agreement: Meeting in Munich, without the Czech government, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier publically appeased Hitler. They allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland and incorporate it into the Reich "for the sake of peace." In exchange for this, Hitler gave his word that Germany would make no further territorial claims in Europe.

Ø Czechoslovakia was told by Britain and France that it could either resist Hitler alone or submit to the prescribed annexations. The Czech government, realized the hopelessness of fighting alone, reluctantly agreed. The settlement gave Germany the Sudetenland starting October 10th, and de facto control over the rest of Czechoslovakia as long as Hitler promised to go no further.

Ø 30 September 1938: Upon his return to Britain, Chamberlain delivered his famous "peace for our time" speech to happy crowds:

At Heston Aerodrome:

The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you: ... ' ... We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.'

At

10 Downing Street :

My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.

Ø FDR sent a congratulatory telegram to Chamberlain. The British Royal family was also happy with the settlement. Apparently at the time, only a few saw this as an 'appeasement' of Hitler.

Ø French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier, a veteran of the Great War, was much more concerned about Hitler's ultimate goals then the British leaders at the time. On his return to Paris, Daladier, who was expecting a hostile crowd, was instead cheered. He then commented to his aide: "Ah, les cons (the fools!)".

Earlier in April, he had tried to warn the British that Hitler's aim was to secure "a domination of the Continent in comparison with which the ambitions of Napoleon were feeble…Today, it is the turn of Czechoslovakia. Tomorrow, it will be the turn of Poland and Romania. When Germany has obtained the oil and wheat it needs, she will turn on the West. Certainly we must multiply our efforts to avoid war. But that will not be obtained unless Great Britain and France stick together, intervening in Prague for new concessions but declaring at the same time that they will safeguard the independence of Czechoslovakia. If, on the contrary, the Western Powers capitulate again, they will only precipitate the war they wish to avoid."

German Occupation of Sudetenland & Hitler Triumphant Again

Ø Saturday, 1 October 1938: German troops begin the occupation of the Sudetenland, which contained 3.5 million citizens, the border fortifications, 70% of Czechoslovakia's iron & steel manufacturing and 70% of the nation's electrical power output.

Ø German military leaders were elated and marveled at Hitler's skill in handling the British & French, again.

Ø Ironically, Hitler having successfully out-maneuvered the British & French on support for the Czechs, was very angry that his planned invasion to seize all of Czechoslovakia had been thwarted by Chamberlain's last-minute diplomacy.

Ø Josef Stalin was upset by the results of the Munich conference. The Soviets, who had a mutual military assistance treaty with Czechoslovakia, felt betrayed by France, which also had a mutual military assistance treaty with Czechoslovakia. Stalin likely concluded that the French & British had actively colluded with Hitler, causing concern that they might try do the same to the Soviet Union in the future. This may have led Stalin to reorient its foreign policy towards a rapprochement with Germany, which eventually led to the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939.

Ø October-November 1938: Taking advantage of the situation, Poland and Hungary made territorial demands (supported by Germany & Italy) on the Czechs. Poland received Zaolzie, an area with a Polish plurality. Hungary occupied border areas (southern third of Slovakia and southern Carpathian Ruthenia) with Hungarian minorities.

Appeasement of Hitler: Myths & Reality

Ø After the start of the Second World War, and up through the present day, many politicians, leaders and historians would loudly proclaim that the cowardly "appeasement" of Hitler was the primary & obvious reason for emboldening Hitler to embark on a war of conquest.

Ø The reality based on Hitler's writings, meeting & conversations: Hitler needed no encouragement to start the war. By early 1938 he strongly desired an early start to the war(s) of conquest that he had planned for over a decade, and prepared the German military for since August 1934. Hitler believed that Germany's on-going war preparations in 1938 were a few short years ahead of his enemies' preparations and wanted to take immediate action while this window of opportunity was open.

Ø Hitler had successfully removed British & French support for the Czechs and was very angry that his planned invasion of Czechoslovakia had been frustrated by Chamberlain's last-minute diplomacy.

Ø On the other hand, the German public and its military leaders were elated and marveled at Hitler's skill in handling the British & French, while avoiding war. All this served to increase support for Hitler in Germany, and suitably amaze his friends & enemies in Europe.

Ø The British & French were not prepared militarily or psychologically to fight this war in 1938. This appeasement delayed the war by 11 months gaining time for Britain & France to rearm.

Ø As a legacy of the Great War, the French government & people have come to believe that any future war with Germany would end in defeat unless they had strong allies on the continent. The French did not believe that any British ground force would be large enough to help stop a future German attack. They would seek to arrange continental alliances to counter-balance German strength.

Ø Likewise as a result of experiences in the Great War, British leaders hoped to avoid the deployment of a large British army to the continent. The British never considered themselves to be a continental power, and the Great War experience reinforced that belief. Instead they depended on the size & power of the French Army to resist German aggression on the continent. They would provide naval & air support.

Ø Contrary to popular myth, this latest appeasement was popular with the public and many leaders in Britain & France. The British Royal family and the US President Roosevelt also congratulated Prime Minister Chamberlain. A notable exception in Britain was Winston Churchill.