Why did France and England agree to sign the 1938 Munich Pact?

Answer 1

Both England and France agreed to the conditions of the 1938 Munich Pact because they believed that Hitler would not try to extend German power in Europe after they agreed to having the Sudetenland be annexed by Germany. As it turned out, Hitler had every intention to expand Germany's power in Europe. The Munich Pact gave hope to England and France that there would be no wars in Europe if they agreed to Hitler's demands.

Answer 2

The Munich Agreemeent, signed in 1938 between the leading great powers of the time, was a prelude to the beginning of World War II. The treaty conceded Nazi Germany's demands to annex "Sudetenland," an area of Czechoslovakia that was predominantly inhabited by German peoples.

British and French leaders were eager to avoid confrontation with Hitler and Mussolini because the memory of the horrors of World War I were still fresh and the aftermath of the Great Depression was still not quite over. Thus, the United Kingdom and France announced to the Czechoslovakian government that they would not intervene should Czechoslovakia resist and Hitler decided to act using force.

Knowing it would be a hopeless fight against Nazi Germany, which had only recently annexed Austria, Czechoslovakia reluctantly agreed to the terms of the treaty.

The Munich Agreement is infamous as a textbook case of unsuccessful appeasement at a diplomatic level since Hitler subsequently invaded Poland the next year. Today, the pact is often regarded by Czechs and Slovakians alike as an act of betrayal, as Czechoslovakia was allied to the United Kingdom and France at the time.