Neville Chamberlain's perfidious game in 1938 deliberately created a monster in the heart of Europe, setting stage for the continent's greatest tragedy in history.
As the crisis between Germany and Czechoslovakia escalated through the summer of 1938, France and Britain ordered the Czech government not to mobilize its troops for fear of provoking Germany. Instead, they pressured Prague to accept the Anglo-French solution to the crisis. But their proposal would only further weaken Czechoslovakia’s security in exchange for vague promises of international guarantees.
The government of President Edvard Beneš protested vigorously and rejected the solution. In their turn, London and Paris rejected the Czech refusal and mounted further pressure on the government in Prague. Neville Chamberlain explained the imperative to force Czechoslovakia’s government to yield:
“The idea of territorial cession would be likely to have a more favorable reception from the British public if it could be represented as the choice of the Czechoslovak Government themselves and it could be made clear that they had been offered the choice of a plebiscite or of territorial cession and had preferred the latter. This would dispose of any idea that we were ourselves carving up Czechoslovak territory.”
To turn up the pressure, France threatened to revoke their alliance and abandon the Czechs to Germany. Finally, on 21 September 1938 the Czech government relented and accepted the Anglo-French dictate.
The very next day, Chamberlain paid Hitler a visit at Godesberg on the Rhine in order to personally deliver the good news. At that meeting, Hitler and Chamberlain formulated the extreme Godesberg Ultimatum – a set of even more exacting demands against the Czechoslovak government and had the British military attaché rush them to Prague. (more...)
Appeasement: the SHOCKING truth about the 1938 Munich Agreement
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