http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...vakia_1938.htm

The attitude of the British tended to reflect the view of the majority in Britain at this time. If there was the chance of negotiating a peace, then that chance should be taken. The policy of appeasement has been criticised over the years since 1938, but the fear of war in 1938 was very real. The images shown in the cinemas of the horrors seen in Guernica during the Spanish Civil War terrified many - and Germany had openly displayed the might of the Luftwaffe with its many bombers from 1936 on. It was also German bombers that had caused such devastation in Guernica.

Britain, under Neville Chamberlain, chose to negotiate with Hitler over the Sudenten crisis. Chamberlain knew very well that Czechoslovakia was a land-locked nation and that Britain’s military strength - its navy - could play no part in a conflict here. Britain’s army - though professional - was small. Britain’s air force was far from strong and undergoing change from a bi-planed force to using the new monoplanes which were still not ready for combat.

His military chiefs had advised Chamberlain that over one million people would be killed by bombing raids in just 60 days and that mass graves would be needed as there simply would not be enough wood for timber coffins. Any form of conflict with Germany was fraught with dangers – hence Chamberlain’s desire for a negotiated peace. Many British people supported Chamberlain at the time and before the meetings took place no-one would have known what it would be like negotiating with Hitler. It seemed right that a negotiated settlement should be tried and the attempts to succeed started in September 1938.

The first of three meetings took place at Bertesgaden, near Munich in southern Germany. At this meeting Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland should be handed over to Germany. Without consulting the Czechs, Chamberlain agreed that those areas containing more than 50% Germans within them should be handed back to Germany. Chamberlain managed to get the Czechs and the French to agree to this solution.

On September 22nd, Chamberlain flew to Bad Godesberg to meet Hitler so that the final details of the plan could be worked out. At this meeting Hitler made new demands that took Chamberlain by surprise. Hitler wanted German troops to occupy the Sudetenland. He also demanded that land containing a majority of Poles and Magyars should also be returned to Poland and Hungary. Britain and France rejected these demands and both the French and British governments prepared for war.

At the suggestion of Mussolini, a four-power conference was held to resolve the problems. This was the third meeting which was held at Munich. Germany, Britain, France and Italy were represented - Czechoslovakia was not. Neither was the Soviet Union, which greatly angered its leader, Joseph Stalin.

Without consulting the Czechs, the four powers agreed that the Sudetenland should be given to Germany immediately. The governments of Britain and France made it clear to Czechoslovakia that if the Czechs rejected this solution, they would have to fight Germany by themselves.

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Pics

http://www.thirdreichruins.com/czech.htm

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Although the agreement was to give into Hitler's hands only the Sudentenland, that part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived, it also handed over to the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia's coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power.

http://www.thehaus.net/history.php?event=3470

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http://homepage.tinet.ie/~finnegam/war/peace.htm

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