Munich Agreement

THe Munich Conference was held in Munich Germany in 1938 between the major powers of Europe. Its purpose was to discuss the future of Czechoslovakia. The conference ended up surrendering much of Czechoslovakia to the Nazies.

In March 1938 Germany annexes Austria, the Anschluss. It is widely known that Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland with its substantial German population would be Hitler's next demand. France and the Soviet Union both had alliances with the Czechoslovaks, but both were unprepared for war. None of the powers in western Europe wanted war. They severly overestimate Hitler's military ability at the time, and while Britain and France had superior forces to the Germans they felt they had fallen behind. Hitler, on the other hand, was in just the opposite position. He far exagerated German power at the time and was desperatly hoping for a war with the west which he thought he could easily win. He was pushed into holding the conference, however, by Mussolini who was totally unprepared for a Europe wide conflict, and was also concerned about the growth of German power. The German military leadership also knew the state of their armed forces and did all they could to avoid war.

In the lead up to the conference the gret powers of Europe mobilized their forces for the first time since World War I. Many thought war was inevitable and that a peace that would satisfy everyone would be impossible.

A deal was reached, however, and Nevile Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, finally remarked that there would be "peace in our time." The settlement gave Germany the Sudentenland, and defacto control over the rest of Czechoslovakia as long as he promised to go no further. The British and French were delighted, as were the German military and diplomatic leadership. Hitler, however, was furious. He felt like he had been forced into acting like a Bourgeois politician by his diplomats and generals.

Satiln was also very upset by the resluts of Munich. The Soviets had been represented at the conference and felt they should be aknowledged as a major power. The British and French, however, mostly used the Soviets as a threat to dangle over the Germans. Stalin was also distressed by the readiness of the west to hand over an ally to the Nazies. He worried they would do the same to him in the future. Thus Stalin switched his alleigance from an anti-fascist alliance with the British and French and in 1939 signed the Moltov-Ribentrop Pact allying the USSR with Germany.

The Czechoslovakians were also less than delighted with the settlement.