The pact of September 30, 1938, under which the leaders of Great Britain, France, and Italy allowed Nazi Germany to take over part of Czechoslovakia is known as the Munich Agreement, after the city where it was brokered. By 1938 Adolf Hitler was firmly in power in Germany, and the military buildup that led to World War II was well under way. He made no secret of his territorial ambitions in Europe, especially in the east. Austria had been annexed to Germany in March 1938. Next he cast his eyes on Czechoslovakia, which was home to some 3 million people of German origin, mainly in the section called the Sudetenland. Acquisition of this territory was to be the next step in what he considered Germany’s destined march eastward. By May it had become known to other European powers that the German General Staff was drawing up plans for the annexation of Czechoslovakia.
Czechoslovakia was relying on alliances with France and the Soviet Union, in addition to friendship with Great Britain, to keep Hitler from attaining his goal. These powers were in no mood to start a war, however, having so recently been decimated by World War I. To avoid a confrontation, Britain’s prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, went to Germany to consult with Hitler in mid-September. Negotiations and consultations with the French and Czechoslovakians went on for about two weeks. As Hitler’s demands escalated, the situation became explosive. In an effort to avoid war, Chamberlain proposed a four-power conference. On September 29 Hitler and Chamberlain met in Munich with French premier Édouard Daladier and the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The Czechoslovakians were not consulted. Mussolini introduced a plan—actually drawn up by the German foreign office—for the German occupation of the Sudetenland by October 10.
The plan was accepted by all parties on September 30, and Daladier and Chamberlain flew home to the welcome of jubilant crowds. Chamberlain announced that he had achieved “peace with honor,” saying “I believe it is peace for our time.” It was not to be. In March 1939 Germany annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia, and on September 1 Hitler made his move on Poland, thus launching World War II. “Munich” has become a synonym for appeasement in foreign policy.
