Munich Pact

Munich Pact 1938. In the summer of 1938, Chancellor Hitler of Germany began openly to support the demands of Germans living in the Sudetenland (see Sudetes ) of Czechoslovakia for an improved status. In September, Hitler demanded self-determination for the Sudetenland. Disorders broke out in Czechoslovakia, and martial law was proclaimed. Meetings between Hitler and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain, first at Berchtesgaden and then at Bad Godesberg, failed to achieve a satisfactory agreement. War seemed unavoidable. After appeals by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Benito Mussolini, a conference met at Munich (Sept. 29). Great Britain was represented by Chamberlain and Halifax, France by Edouard Daladier and Georges Bonnet, Italy by Mussolini and Galeazzo Ciano, Germany by Hitler and Ribbentrop. Neither Czechoslovakia nor the Soviet Union, which had offered aid to the threatened country under the terms of a 1935 treaty, was invited to the conference. England and France quickly surrendered to Hitler's demands, and the Munich Pact was signed Sept. 30 (but dated Sept. 29). It permitted immediate occupation by Germany of the Sudetenland, but also provided for plebiscites, which were never carried out. France and Britain guaranteed the new Czechoslovak boundaries. When Chamberlain arrived in London, he announced that he had secured "peace in our time." Abandoned by its allies, Czechoslovakia gave in to the terms, and President Beneš, the target of Hitler's most venomous attacks, resigned. Poland and Hungary, for whose minorities promises had been made at Munich, were allowed to seize, respectively, the Teschen district and parts of Slovakia . The Munich Pact became a symbol of appeasement and shook the confidence of Eastern Europeans in the good faith of the Western democracies. World War II began about one year after its signing.

Bibliography: See J. W. Wheeler-Bennett, Munich: Prologue to Tragedy (1948, repr. 1966); studies by K. Eubank (1963), F. L. Loewenheim, ed. (1965), and D. E. Lee, ed. (1970).

Munich Pact (29 September 1938) The agreement between Britain, France, Germany, and Italy concerning Czechoslovakia. HITLER had long demanded protection for the German-speaking SUDETENLAND and shown readiness to risk war to attain his end. To avert conflict at all costs the British Prime Minister, CHAMBERLAIN, had met Hitler at Berchtesgaden (15 September), and again at Bad Godesberg (23 September), by which time Hitler had extended his demands. He now stipulated the immediate annexation by Germany of the Bohemian Sudetenland and demanded that Germans elsewhere in Czechoslovakia should be given the right to join the THIRD REICH. In a final effort Chamberlain appealed to MUSSOLINI, who organized a conference at Munich where he, Chamberlain, and Hitler were joined by Daladier, the French Premier. No Czech or Soviet representative was invited. Hitler gained most of what he wanted and on 1 October German troops entered the Sudenten-land. As part of the agreement, Poland and Hungary occupied areas of Moravia, Slovakia, and Ruthenia. In March 1939 Bohemia and Moravia were occupied by German troops, and the rest of Slovakia became an independent client state; President BENEŠ had resigned, and he left the country. Germany, which now dominated the entire Danubian area, emerged as the strongest power on the mainland of Europe.

Munich Agreement (September 1938) Pact agreed by Britain, France, Italy, and Germany to settle German claims on Czechoslovakia. Hoping to preserve European peace, Britain and France compelled Czechoslovakia (not represented at Munich) to surrender the predominantly German-speaking Sudetenland to Nazi Germany on certain conditions. Hitler ignored the conditions and, six months later, his troops took over the rest of the country, an action that finally ended the Anglo-French policy of appeasement.