What did Prime Minister Chamberlain expect at the conclusion of the Munich Conference?

Answer 1

He more or less came home with what he had expected to get - a deal with Hitler that after Czechoslovakia, Germany would promise to put a stop to its territorial ambitions.

It is less amazing than it seems that Britain was OK with Germany's territorial claims so far. But you have to remember that practically all Hitlers 'land grabs' until Munich were pieces of what used to be parts of Germany before 1918 (The Rhineland, Sudetenland) and that had been annexed by others after WW 1 or 'given away' to newly formed States like Czechoslovakia.

The so-called "Anschluss"with Austria was something that the Austrians had asked for themselves in 1919, but had been refused by the Allies; and it had wide popular support in Austria in 1938.

Moreover, Chamberlain knew that he stood utterly alone. The USA was firmly isolationist and stayed totally out of European affairs at the time, France only thought of defense and of of doing nothing to provoke Germany, Russia was deeply mistrusted (as it turned out, for good reason) and the other European countries only wanted to stay out of harm's way and be neutral, poorly armed as they were. And those countries that were well-armed, were fascist and friendly to Germany. Chamberlain also knew that while he had a strong Navy, his land army would be no match for Germany's - as was proven correct in 1940.

His appeasement policy has been much reviled later, but realistically Chamberlain had no other option at the time. His country also had no reason to feel threatened: almost all of Hitler's 'lebensraum'-ambitions were directed to the east, where it could be expected that they might finally lead to armed conflict with the Communist USSR. Most British politicians at the time - and the Foreign Office - looked at such a conflict as a case of killing two dangerous birds with one stone.

Answer 2

Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement to try and avoid war. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful because Germany invaded Poland which broke the terms of the agreement.

Answer 3

To serve their country wherever or however their services could be most useful.