Which Was the Original Agreement of the Munich Conference

Under the Munich Accords, the entire predominantly German territory in Czechoslovakia had to be handed over by 10 October. Poland and Hungary occupied other parts of the country and after a few months, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist and what remained of Slovakia became a German puppet state. 6. The final definition of the limits shall be made by the International Commission. The Commission will also be entitled, in exceptional cases, to recommend to the four Powers, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, minor changes to the strictly ethnographic definition of territories to be transferred without a referendum. The Manchester Guardian covered every angle of history – from details of the deal, Chamberlain, who appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, to unease among other nations. One editorial considered the piece of paper he had brandished on his return to Britain to be almost worthless. In 1933, Sudeten German leader Konrad Henlein founded the Sudeten German Party (SdP), which was „militant, populist and openly hostile“ to the Czechoslovak government and quickly received two-thirds of the vote in districts with large German populations. Historians disagree on whether the SdP was or developed into a Nazi front organization from the beginning. [9] [10] Until 1935, the SdP was the second largest political party in Czechoslovakia, as German votes were concentrated on this party and Czech and Slovak votes were divided among several parties. [9] Shortly after the annexation of Austria to Germany, Henlein met on 28 August. In March 1938, he was charged with Hitler in Berlin and was tasked with making demands that would be unacceptable to the Democratic Czechoslovak government of President Edvard Beneš.

On April 24, the SdP issued a series of demands to the government of Czechoslovakia, known as the Karlovy Vary program. [11] Henlein demanded, among other things, the autonomy of the Germans living in Czechoslovakia. [9] The Czechoslovak government responded that it was willing to grant more minority rights to the German minority, but was initially reluctant to grant autonomy. [9] The SdP received 88% of the votes born in Germany in May 1938. [12] As most of the border defense was on the territory ceded by the Munich Agreements, the rest of Czechoslovakia, despite its relatively large stockpiles of modern weapons, was completely open to further invasions. In a speech to the Reichstag, Hitler expressed the importance of the occupation in strengthening the German army, noting that thanks to the occupation of Czechoslovakia, Germany received 2,175 field guns and cannons, 469 tanks, 500 anti-aircraft artillery guns, 43,000 machine guns, 1,090,000 military rifles, 114,000 pistols, about a billion rounds of small arms ammunition and three million anti-aircraft ammunition. This could then arm about half of the Wehrmacht. [93] Czechoslovak weapons then played an important role in the German conquest of Poland and France, the latter of which had urged Czechoslovakia to surrender in the Sudetenland in 1938.

Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons said: „We owe a sincere debt of gratitude to all those responsible for the outcome and greatly appreciate the efforts of President Roosevelt and Signor Mussolini to organize the Munich Conference of Powers, during which a common desire for peace was demonstrated.“ [55] In the spring of 1938, Hitler openly began to support the demands of the German-speaking people of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia for closer relations with Germany. Hitler had recently annexed Austria to Germany, and the conquest of Czechoslovakia was the next step in his plan to create a „Greater Germany.“ The Czechoslovak government hoped that Britain and France would come to the rescue in the event of a German invasion, but British Prime Minister Chamberlain was anxious to avoid war. He made two trips to Germany in September and offered Hitler favorable deals, but the Führer continued to increase his demands. In the meantime, the British government has asked Beneš to ask for an intermediary. As Beneš did not want to sever his government`s ties with Western Europe, he reluctantly agreed. The Sudeten Germans were ordered by Hitler to avoid any compromise,[25] and the SdP organized demonstrations on September 7 that provoked a police action in Ostrava during which two of his deputies were arrested. [23] The Sudeten Germans used the incident and false accusations of other atrocities as a pretext to break off new negotiations. [23] [26] All the misery and indignation that followed the German occupation of Vienna will surely follow the German occupation of the Sudetenland. Prague has already begun to fill up with refugees – Sudeten German socialists, Jews, not to mention The Czechs – which is of course enough considering that German newspapers, the wireless newspaper and Hitler himself have been describing czechs for months in terms that have long been an incitement to violence and oppression. 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. .