Munich Peace Agreement 1938
In the spring of 1938, Hitler openly began to support calls from German spokesmen living in 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 Czechoslovakian government hoped that Britain and France would help in the event of a German invasion, but British Prime Minister Chamberlain tried to avoid war. He made two trips to Germany in September and offered favorable agreements to Hitler, but Fuhrer responded to his demands. After Poland learned that populated territories in Poland were to be transferred to Germany, Poland issued a note to the Czechoslovak government regarding the immediate conclusion of an agreement providing for the unquestionable occupation of Polish territory by Polish troops; An agreement on referendums is expected to follow in districts with a large proportion of the Polish population. [75] Before the Munich Accords, Hitler`s determination to invade Czechoslovakia on 1 October 1938 had caused a major crisis in the German command structure. In a long series of memos, Chief of Staff Ludwig Beck protested that he would start a world war that Germany would lose and urged Hitler to get out of the planned war. Hitler called Beck`s arguments against the war “childish calculations of forces.” On August 4, 1938, a secret army meeting was held. Beck read his detailed report to the assembled officers. They all agreed that something had to be done to avoid some catastrophe.
Beck hoped they would all retire together, but no one resigned except Beck. His successor, General Franz Halder, sympathized with Beck and both conspired with several generals, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris (head of the German secret service) and Count von Helldorf (Berlin police chief) to arrest Hitler when he gave the order to invade Hitler. This plan would only work if Britain gave a strong warning and a letter to fight for the preservation of Czechoslovakia. This would help convince the German people that a certain defeat awaits Germany. Agents were therefore sent to England to tell Chamberlain that an attack was planned against Czechoslovakia and by their intention to overthrow Hitler if that were the case. The proposal was rejected by the British cabinet and no such letter was published. As a result, Hitler`s impeachment proposal was not pursued. [62] On this basis, it was argued that the Munich agreement kept Hitler in power, but whether it had been more effective than the 1944 conspiracy.