When the statesmen returned, all the details of the Munich Agreement, by which they allowed Germany to take control of Sudeten territory from Czechoslovakia, were not yet known in a failed attempt to avoid World War II, and it seemed that they had wrested real concessions from Hitler and at least saved face. The fact that public support for Chamberlain after Munich was due to both a facilitating reflex and confidence in his policies is confirmed by the comprehensive analysis of historian Daniel Hucker, whose conclusion is as follows: „In many ways, the `turning point` for public opinion was not the Prague putsch [the German invasion in March 1939], but the Munich Agreements themselves. Hitler had already begun to rearm Germany in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936 and annexed Austria in 1938. He was now determined to conquer the Sudetenland, which was in Czechoslovakia but had a considerable German population and significant industrial resources. It was clear that he would do it by force if necessary, and that the Czechs alone had no hope of resisting him. He had told his generals in May that he intended to „break Czechoslovakia with military action in the near future,“ although some of his confidants felt he did not want a general war at the time. Between Chamberlain`s trips to Berchtesgaden and Godesberg, the leaders of the British Liberal Party, Sir Archibald Sinclair, and the Labour Party, Clement Attlee, publicly spoke out against any further appeasement of Hitler. Churchill issued his own simultaneous warning. „The division of Czechoslovakia under pressure from England and France amounts to the complete capitulation of Western democracies to the Nazi threat of violence,“ he said. „Not only is Czechoslovakia threatened, but also the freedom and democracy of all nations.“ The areas chosen for the referendum are not quite the same as in Godesberg`s ultimatum. For example, the industrial city and the brno railway node are not included. But the Germans will be so close to this city that it will be at the mercy of their grace.
Moreover, it has a small German minority (about 12% of the total population) which, under pressure from Hitler, will be its true administrators. Any village or municipality with a German majority (and there are many scattered throughout Czechoslovakia and as far as Carpathian Ruthenia) in areas where Czechs are the vast majority can be turned into a German fortress by referendum, dominating the surrounding lands like the castle of a medieval robber baron. With the help of the referendum, Hitler was able to take control of factories, railways and strategic points. In a short time, he could make himself the lord of Czechoslovakia without war and without serious resistance from the Western powers. On September 22, Chamberlain flew back to Germany and met Hitler at Bad Godesberg, where he was dismayed to learn that Hitler had tightened his demands: he now wanted the Sudetenland to be occupied by the German army and the Czechoslovaks to be evacuated from the area on September 28. Chamberlain agreed to present the new proposal to the Czechoslovaks, who rejected it, as well as to the British cabinet and the French. On the 24th, the French ordered a partial mobilization; The Czechoslovaks had ordered a general mobilization the day before. With one of the best-equipped armies in the world, Czechoslovakia was able to mobilize 47 divisions at that time, 37 of which were destined for the German border, and the mainly mountainous line of this border was heavily fortified. On the German side, the final version of „Case Green“, approved by Hitler on May 30, showed 39 divisions for operations against Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovaks were ready to fight, but could not win alone. One aspect of the enormous turmoil of the past two weeks must affect anyone thinking about its history.
In the three most powerful states of Central and Eastern Europe, people were not allowed to know what was being said and done outside. In Russia, there seems to have been very little news. In Germany and Italy, news was deliberately falsified if it was not suppressed. The German people were not allowed to know President Roosevelt`s message. The Italian people were led to believe that Chamberlain agreed with Hitler and was only concerned with putting pressure on Benes. They were given a bad version of one of his speeches. On 28 and 29 April 1938, Daladier meets British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in London to discuss the situation. Chamberlain, who did not see how Hitler could be prevented from destroying Czechoslovakia as a whole if that was his intention (which Chamberlain doubted), argued that Prague should be pressured to make territorial concessions to Germany.
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