Basic HTML Version
-
reach agreement on Septe.mber 18 on
il
pIan for
Czechoslovakia.
This
is :
(I)
Transferring to Ger–
many areas with over
50
pet cent. Sudeten inhabi–
tants.
(2)
Renunciation of FranCO-Czech and
Czech-Soviet Treaties.
Pressure is put on Czechoslovakia to accept
these terms. Mr. Winston Churchill declares:
"The partition of Czechoslovakia under Anglo–
French pressure amounts to a complete surrender
by the Western democracies to the Nazi threat or
force."
But even these .concessions are .not enough.
On
~eptember
22,
Mr. Chaml>erlain flies to
Gode.sberg to eontinue his
talks
with Hitler. He
, finds ,that
in,
the interval Hitler has raised
his· '
demands, and now demandS the complete cession
of the Sudetenland. He rejects the Anglo-French
plan. Mr. Chamberlain returns to London.
The Czechs are warned and begin mobilising.
The crisis approaches its climax. Hitler delivers
an ultimatum to Czechoslovakia. In a
spee~
at the
Berijp. SPQits Palace he .gives Czechoslovakia
until OGtober _
I
to evacuate Sudeten territory.
"And now the last problemwhich must be
~olved,
,- and which
will
be solved confronts us. It is the
last territorial
claim
which I have to 'make
in
Europe," he says.
-
"
-
Britain suddenly realises she may be at war in a
few days. Frantic preparations begin. Territorial
units are called up.
Gas
masks are distributed.
The evacuation of London is begun. The Fleet is
mobilised.
, Parliament is called for September
28.
It meets
in gloom, fully expecting to hear that war is about
to be started. . But 85 minutes .after he has begun
his
speech, Mr. Chamberlain breaks offto announce
that he has just had a telegram from Hitler inviting
him
to Munich. The House cheers wildly.
September 29-30, 1938
The Munich Pact.
Hitler, MussoJ.4ri, Daladier and
Chambe~
lain meet at Munich on September 29. At 1.30
in the morning of September 30, agreement is
reached. The Sudeten areas are to be
ceded
by
October 1. The
fiIial
determination of frontiers
is to be agreed by an international commission,
which
will
also determine areas
in
which -a plebis–
cite.should be held.
--Intense pressure is put on the
Czechs
to accept
these terms without discussion. It is made clear
that
if
they resist, Britain and France
will
not
&Upport
them.
On
the afternoon of September 30,
the Czechs give in.
The same day, Mr. Chamberlain returns with
,-
this
declaration signed by
himself
and Herr
Hitler: "We regard the ' agreement signed last
night and the Anglo-German Naval agreement as
symbolical of the desire of our two peoples never
, to go to war with one another again."
In a speech to the grateful and cheering crowd
in Downing Street the Premier says : "This is the
second time that there has come back from
Germany to Downing Street 'peace with honour.'
1
belie~e
it is peace' for our time."
October, 1938-March, 1939
The Munich Pact does not
bring
respite.
Early in March, 1939, German pressure on
the remainder of Czechoslovakia intensifies. Under
German encouragement, Slovakia breaks away
and forms an independent state under German
protection. Hungary acquires Ruthenia.
wl\ftrft
ISr499#).
i i
p
res
5 • C 0
m
~ffltl":;Zmry
fla
15