The slogan “About us, without us!” (Czech: O nás bez nás!) summarizes the feelings of the Czechoslovak people (now Slovakia and the Czech Republic) towards the agreement. [Citation needed] With the transition from the Sudetenland to Germany, Czechoslovakia (as the state was renamed) lost its defensible border with Germany and its fortifications. Without it, its independence became more nominal than real. Czechoslovakia also lost 70% of its steel industry, 70% of its electrical energy and 3.5 million citizens to Germany as a result of unification. [61] Sudeten Germans celebrated what they saw as their liberation. The impending war, it seems, had been averted. [silent] An agreement signed at the Munich Conference in September 1938 ceded the German-speaking Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany. The agreement was concluded between Germany, Italy, Great Britain and France. Czechoslovakia was not allowed to participate in the conference. In March 1939, six months after the munich accords were signed, Hitler violated the agreement and destroyed the Czech state. UCLA Film and Television Archive Faced with high tensions between the Germans and the Czechoslovak government, Beneš secretly offered on September 15, 1938 to give Germany 6,000 square kilometers (2,300 square miles) of Czechoslovakia, in exchange for German approval, to admit 1.5 to 2.0 million Sudeten Germans whom Czechoslovakia would expel. Hitler did not respond. [13] The above declaration and the formal act of recognition have guided the policy of Her Majesty`s Government towards Czechoslovakia, but to avoid possible misunderstandings, I would like to state on behalf of Her Majesty`s Government in the United Kingdom that, since Germany deliberately destroyed the agreements on Czechoslovakia concluded in 1938, it has been involved in Her Majesty`s Government in the United Kingdom, Her Majesty`s Government considers itself free from any obligation in this regard.
In the final settlement of the Czechoslovak borders to be reached at the end of the war, they are not affected by the changes made in 1938 and since. During World War II, British Prime Minister Churchill, who rejected the agreement when it was signed, decided that the terms of the agreement would not be respected after the war and that the Sudetenland territories should be returned to post-war Czechoslovakia. On August 5, 1942, Foreign Minister Anthony Eden sent the following note to Jan Masaryk: The “guarantees” of Germany and Italy will not “guarantee” Czechoslovak neutrality until the demands of Hungary and Poland are met – that is, their guarantee will not be given, if at all, until the division of Czechoslovakia progresses. It is to be feared that by then any guarantee, whether German and Italian or French and British, will have lost the meaning it might one day have. Czechoslovakia was informed by Britain and France that it could either resist Nazi Germany alone or submit to the prescribed annexations. The Czechoslovak government, recognizing the desperation of the struggle against the Nazis alone, reluctantly capitulated (September 30) and agreed to abide by the agreement. The colony gave Germany the Sudetenland from October 10 and de facto control of the rest of Czechoslovakia, as long as Hitler promised not to go any further. On September 30, after a break, Chamberlain went to Hitler`s house and asked him to sign a peace treaty between the United Kingdom and Germany. After Hitler`s interpreter translated it for him, he happily accepted. In the spring of 1938, Hitler openly began to support the demands of the German-speaking people of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia for closer relations with Germany. Hitler had recently annexed Austria to Germany, and the conquest of Czechoslovakia was the next step in his plan to create a “Greater Germany.” The Czechoslovak government hoped that Britain and France would come to the rescue in the event of a German invasion, but British Prime Minister Chamberlain was anxious to avoid war.
He made two trips to Germany in September and offered Hitler favorable deals, but the Führer continued to increase his demands. Citing Munich in foreign policy debates is also common in the 21st century. [107] During Secretary of State John Kerry`s negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal, a Texas Republican lawmaker called the negotiations “worse than Munich.” Kerry himself had invoked Munich in a speech in France, in which he advocated military action in Syria saying, “This is our Munich moment.” [108] On September 28 at 10:00.m., four hours before the deadline and without Czechoslovakia`s approval of Hitler`s request, the British ambassador to Italy, Lord Perth, called Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano to request an urgent meeting. [37] Perth told Ciano that Chamberlain had asked him to ask Mussolini to enter into negotiations and urge Hitler to postpone the ultimatum. [37] At 11:00.m., Ciano met Mussolini and informed him of Chamberlain`s proposal; Mussolini agreed and responded by calling the Italian ambassador to Germany and telling him: “Go immediately to the Führer and tell him that whatever happens, I will be at his side, but that I ask for a delay of twenty-four hours before the start of hostilities. In the meantime, I`ll explore what can be done to fix the problem. [40] Hitler received Mussolini`s message during a conversation with the French ambassador. Hitler told the ambassador: “My good friend, Benito Mussolini, asked me to postpone the marching orders of the German army by twenty-four hours, and I agreed. Of course, this was not a concession, as the date of the invasion was set at 1. October 1938. [41] Addressing Chamberlain, Lord Perth Chamberlain thanked Mussolini and Chamberlain for asking Mussolini to attend a conference of the four powers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy in Munich on September 29 to resolve the Sudetenland problem before the deadline of 2:00.m p.m. Mussolini agreed. [41] Hitler`s only demand was to ensure that Mussolini was included in the conference negotiations.
[41] When U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt learned that the conference was scheduled, he telegraphed Chamberlain: “Good Man.” [42] The agreement allowing the annexation of the Sudetenland by Germany was signed on September 29, 1938. Under the Munich Accords, the entire predominantly German territory in Czechoslovakia had to be handed over by 10 October. Poland and Hungary occupied other parts of the country and after a few months, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist and what remained of Slovakia became a German puppet state. Eighty years ago, Neville Chamberlain declared “peace for our time” after Germany, Britain, France and Italy struck a deal that allowed Nazi Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia. As Beneš did not want to sever his government`s ties with Western Europe, he reluctantly agreed. .