THE MUNICH AGREEMENT, 1938 Term paper

The Munich Agreement was the most important in a series of events leading to World War II. Before Munich, Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, moved Germany back into the ranks of major powers through several bold moves. In 1935 Germany announced its intention to rearm. The following year the German army moved into the Rhineland, a part of Germany that had been demilitarized by the Versailles Treaty (following World War I) and the Locarno Agreements (1925).

Early in 1938 Germany annexed Austria. Then Hitler turned to Czechoslovakia and the Sudetenland issue. This concerned an area of Czechoslovakia whose population was primarily German. Although Czechoslovakia treated its minorities well, many Sudeten Germans complained about discrimination. Hitler encouraged Konrad Henlein, the leader of a Sudenten German party sympathetic to Nazi goals, to make demands Czech leaders could not meet. Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, sought ways to negotiate a settlement between Germany and Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain believed that Germany had legitimate grievances stemming from the Versailles Treaty and that Hitler should be encouraged to settle these through negotiation. When it looked in mid-September 1938 like war was likely, Chamberlain flew to Hitler’s mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden to meet Hitler. He acceded to Hitler’s demand for separation of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. When he met Hitler again, however, Hitler had new, unacceptable terms. Now the separation of the Sudetenland had to take place within three days, and German troops had to enter the area immediately. At the last minute, Benito Mussolini, the leader of Fascist Italy, proposed a conference in Munich that would involve Germany, Britain, France and Italy. Hitler accepted the proposal. Czechoslovakia was not invited. Neither was the Soviet Union. The participants agreed to transfer the Sudetenland to Germany, and, in turn, Hitler guaranteed the integrity of Czechoslovakia. The Munich Agreement managed to delay war about a year. It became a synonym for appeasement, which came to mean a foolish attempt of weak men to satisfy the insatiable demands of dictators.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. Hitler seemed determined to use force to gain the Sudetenland. Survey Nazi foreign policy and military preparations between 1936 and 1938 and determine to what extent Hitler’s tactics and strategy were changing in this period.
2. What did Neville Chamberlain hope to accomplish with what is now termed appeasement?
3. Investigate the history of Czechoslovakia in the interwar period and assess its successes and failures as a new state by 1938.
4. Some historians believe it would have been better to challenge Hitler in 1938, rather than in 1939, after he attacked Poland. Review the evidence in support of this opinion and write an essay on why you believe or do not believe war should have come in 1938. 5. France had an obligation under a treaty with Czechoslovakia to come to its aid in case of attack. Why did France decide to follow the British lead and force Czechoslovakia to give in on the Sudetenland issue?
6. Why did Mussolini suggest the Munich Conference, and what role did he play there?

Research Suggestions

In addition to the boldfaced items, look under the entries for “The Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939” (#29), “Kristallnacht (‘The Night of Broken Glass’), 1938” (#31), and “The Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939” (#32). Search under Stanley Baldwin, Anthony Eden, Edouard Daladier, and The Franco-Soviet Pact.

SUGGESTED SOURCES

Primary Sources

Churchill, Winston S. The Gathering Storm. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1948. Churchill’s classic account of the coming of World War II.

Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939. Third Series, Vol. 1, 1938; Vol. 2, 1938, and Vol. 3, 1938–1939. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1949, 1950. Helpful in reconstructing the development of British policy.

Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, from the Archives of the German Foreign Ministry. Series D (1937–1945), Vol. 2, Germany and Czechoslovakia, 1937–1938. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1949. How the German Foreign Ministry saw events in 1938.

Hitler, Adolf. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922–August 1939. 2 vols. Edited by Norman H. Baynes. London: Oxford University Press, 1942. Useful background material.

Secondary Sources

Adamthwaite, Anthony P. France and the Coming of the Second World War, 1936–1939. London: Frank Cass, 1977. An important book on the French involvement in Munich and other events leading up to World War II.

Bullock, Alan. Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives. New York: Random House, 1993. A good review of this period with useful comparisons between Hitler and Stalin.

Charmley, John. Chamberlain and the Lost Peace. Chicago: I. R. Dee, 1990. A defense of Chamberlain’s efforts to secure a negotiated settlement.

Eubank, Keith. Munich. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. An older but still useful study.

Gilbert, Martin, and Richard Gott. The Appeasers. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1963. An excellent introduction to the controversy.

Kaiser, David E. Economic Diplomacy and the Origins of the Second World War: Germany, Britain, France, and Eastern Europe, 1930–1939. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980. An important study of the economic context of diplomacy.

Large, David Clay. Between Two Fires: Europe’s Path in the 1930s. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991. Contains a chapter on the Munich Conference. An excellent book to consult first.

Mommsen, Wolfgang J., and Lothar Kettenacker. The Fascist Challenge and the Policy of Appeasement, 1937–1940. Boston: G. Allen and Unwin, 1983. An excellent collection of chapters on aspects of the issue of appeasement.

Murray, Williamson. The Change in the European Balance of Power, 1938–1939: The Path to Ruin. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984. An assessment of the military context within which diplomatic discussions took place.

Taylor, A.J.P. The Origins of the Second World War. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1961. A controversial and entertaining book. Taylor asserts that Hitler was just another German statesman. Well worth reading but should be matched by a more conventional account.

Taylor, Telford. Munich: The Price of Peace. New York: Random House, 1979. A comprehensive account that asserts that the Western powers should have tried to stop Hitler in 1938.

Weber, Eugen. The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994. A readable history of France in the 1930s. Helpful in providing context for the French role in the Munich Conference.

Weinberg, Gerald L. The Foreign Policy of Hitler’s Germany: Starting World War II, 1937–1939. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1994. The best discussion available of Hitler’s intentions.

World Wide Web

“History of the United Kingdom—Primary Documents.” http://library.byu.ed/rdh/eurdocs/uk.html. Links to the Munich Pact and Neville Chamberlain’s “Peace for Our Time” speech. Part of the large and very useful “EuroDocs: Primary Historical Documents from Western Europe” Web site.