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Sudeten land question?
How was Chamberlain able to grant Hitler the Sudenten land and declare peace in our time? Is it purely due to the strength of the British that they were simply able to dictate to the Czechs....this bit of your country is no longer going to be part of your country?
9 Answers
- MoravianEagleLv 76 years agoFavorite Answer
Britain itself could not dictate anything to the Czechoslovakia, but it had significant weight in the interwar Europe. Czechoslovakia had two sets of military agreements ,one with France only as guarantor of independence and second was Little Entente with Yugoslavia and Romania against Hungary. Czechoslovakia did not have military agreement with Britain or USSR, it had only pacts of good friendship and cooperation with them. Czechoslovakia had military doctrine tied to France, and accordingly built its defense fortification, weaponry, and military organization.
France did not want to honor its military agreement with Czechoslovakia, and Britain only played advisory role among European powers during this crisis. British diplomats played negotiation role between Germany and Czechoslovak governments. Czechoslovak republic was faced with extremely difficult position; there was a huge dedication to fight German, on the other hand it was threatened by Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Britain that it would be responsible for starting European war. Czechoslovak military planning expected invasion from the north as was the traditional routes of past Prussian invasion of Bohemia and Moravia (1742, 1756, 1866), but not from the west from Bavaria, which was German plan. Either way, Czechoslovakia would be conquered in less then week.
Britain was more sympathetic to the Germany in 1938 and handed the note from Germany to Benes to surrender the German speaking territories. France was rather embarrassed, and did not respond to any Czechoslovak inquiries. Based on the recommendation of Britain, facing international isolation, and prevent destruction of the country, Czechoslovakia accepted Munich agreement.
- ?Lv 76 years ago
The Czechs could not realistically hold out for long against a German attack. They would have needed allies among the great powers of Europe to militarily prevent the annexation of the Sudetenland. What the Munich Agreement did was to formalize an agreement between Nazi Germany, Britain and France, which agreed that Hitler would only annex the westernmost part of Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland, and that France and Britain would not oppose him in doing so. Czechoslovakia was still free to try and fight the German invasion of course, but without help from a major power they would lose, and fighting back would possibly give Germany an excuse to invade and occupy the rest of the country. So the Czechs reluctantly chose to acquiesce to the annexation. Of course, all of this was for naught as Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia about six months after the Munich agreement.
- Anonymous6 years ago
He refused to support the Czechs. And the Czechs didn't want a war with Germany where they were fighting alone.
Interestingly enough, there is a good chance that Germany could have been given a bloody nose had Benes decided to fight. The Sudetenland was well fortified, and Czech military equipement, largely from the Skoda works, was as good as German, if not better. Trouble is, the Czech air force was horribly outclassed.
- 6 years ago
Well the French werent prepared to support the Czechs without the British.The British didnt want war at any price as at the time they were just starting to see the german threat and going through rearmament.The sudeten germans were ethnically german and had been cobbled in with Czechs slavs etc to create a hotch potch of a country in 1918.The czechs decided not to fight without the backing of France and Britain and agreed to german demands.Hitler wasnt happy he wanted a war then and there.
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- TrevorLv 56 years ago
Chamberlain had talks with Hitler on 3 occasions. Chamberlain granted Hitler to occupy the Sudetandland providing Hitler stooped Occupying any more countries in Europe. From these meetings, he had a signed agreement from Hitler that he would comply with Chamberlains request. Not to seek any more expansion in Europe. But we know now that Hitlers agreement was not worth the paper it was written on. Later Hitler Invaded Poland and brought The Uk and commonwealth troops into WW". The Sudetanland was a German colony which was taken from Germany after WW1 as part of the Punishment for Germany starting WW!. It was at the time Hitler took it over, occupied by a population of 90% germans.
- Tim DLv 76 years ago
Britain and/or France were the only powers that were potentially capable of preventing Hitler from annexing Sudetenland, with both USSR and USA were studiously looking in the other direction. And, when Britain and France declined, the Czechs had no option but to accede.
- yet-knish!Lv 76 years ago
He didn't grant it, he just didn't do anything (militarily) to stop Hitler when Hitler moved his army into the Sudetenland. The British could have stopped the Germans very easily at that point.
- 6 years ago
It was called an appeasement. They thought that if they let him have it then he'd be content. Obviously that didn't happen.
- Guru HankLv 76 years ago
Czechoslovakia was an artificial country, which now no longer exists. It should never have been made, and it was set up in violation of the principles of the Versailles Treaty. If they had been applied properly, the Sudetenland would have been German after WWI.