Adolf Hitler had always said he wanted to unite all Germans into one nation. In September 1938 he turned his attention to the three million Germans living in part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland - see map above. Sudeten Germans began protests and provoked violence from the Czech police. Hitler claimed that 300 Sudeten Germans had been killed. There was no truth in this but he used it as an excuse to mass German troops along the Czech border. The Czech army prepared to defend their country. French troops were mobilised. War seemed likely.

In this situation the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, flew to meet Hitler at his private mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden. The first three documents here are extracts from Chamberlain's own record of the meeting. The other two documents are useful evidence of the kind of advice Chamberlain was getting at home in Britain.

Extracts from the Minute of the conversation between Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden on September 15^th, 1938.

1a. Read Source 1a
Write a summary of this part of the meeting by adding one sentence to each of these three starters:

Hitler said: "...

Chamberlain queried: "...

Hitler replied: ".....

2. Read Source 2

2a. What did Nevile Henderson want the British press to do about Hitler?

3. Read Source 3

3a. What does General Ismay, writing in September 1938, assume will happen to Czechoslovakia? (Remember that at this time Czechoslovakia was still an independent country which included the Sudetenland.)

3b. What effect does he think the German conquest of Czechoslovakia will have on German military strength?

3c. Does he recommend that Britain should fight Germany now, or later?

3d. What are his reasons?

3e. How might General Ismay's views affect what Chamberlain did when he met Hitler later, at Munich on September 29^th?

(ii) "Chamberlain's appeasement policy bought a valuable year for Britain to get ready for the war which was bound to come."

(iii)"Chamberlain was totally taken in by Hitler."

(iv) "The Munich agreement was a disgraceful sell-out of the Czech people."

Which of these four comments do you think is the most accurate description of appeasement?

This is a big question: it will need a planned answer. Build up your answer in this way: write what there is to say in support of each of these statements. Then write what you would say against each statement. Finish with your own judgement of which statement you think is nearest to the truth, and why.

The Treaty of Versailles, made in 1919 at the end of the First World War, was intended to make a lasting peace. One of its key ideas was the right of people of different nationalities to rule themselves -self-determination. Accordingly, several new countries were established in Europe: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. However, in many areas populations were so mixed that it was hard to draw lines on the map which followed national distinctions. It was also true that the treaty was generally punitive towards Germany. Many German-speakers were left under the rule of non-German governments, notably the 3 million Germans in the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia.

Adolf Hitler was powerfully driven by racial politics. In his book, Mein Kampf, written in 1924, he had said: "People of the same blood should be in the same Reich.When the territory of the Reich embraces all Germans.then the moral right will arise to acquire foreign territory." His policy was therefore two-stage: to unite all Germans and then to conquer foreign lands.

He was also quite open about his refusal to accept many of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Soon after he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 he began to re-arm the country, breaking the restrictions placed on German armed forces by the Treaty. In 1936, he sent German troops into the Rhineland and in March 1938 he joined Germany and Austria. Both these moves were specifically forbidden by the terms of the Treaty. A glance at the map will show that Czechoslovakia was the logical next step for his aggression. German Nazis in the Sudetenland were told to stir up the trouble which led to the crisis examined here.

Britain had been one of the architects of the Treaty of Versailles, but by the 1930s many people were of the opinion that it was a big mistake. They felt that it had caused terrible resentment in Germany on which Hitler had been able to play in order to achieve power. The government believed that Hitler and Germany had genuine grievances, but that if these could be met ("appeased") Hitler would be satisfied and become less belligerent. This policy of appeasement was the basis of British dealings with Hitler up to 1939. It was based on a number of beliefs:

• War was so horrible it had to be avoided at almost any cost.
• Communism was almost as bad as (some said worse than) Nazism.
• Hitler is a reasonable man who can be negotiated with and whose word is to be trusted.

Afterwards

Chamberlain's flight to Berchtesgaden was followed by another to Godesberg a week later and then another to Munich on September 29^th. At Munich he got an international agreement that Hitler should have the Sudetenland. Chamberlain said it was "Peace in our time". Hitler said he had "No more territorial demands to make in Europe." On October 1^st German troops occupied the Sudetenland: Hitler had got what he wanted without firing a shot.

Six months later, in March 1939, German troops took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. Appeasement had failed utterly.

Poland seemed to be the next most likely victim of Nazi aggression and Chamberlain made an agreement with the Poles. Hitler decided that the only country who could stop him taking Poland was the USSR so concluded the Nazi-Soviet Pact with them. He did not think Britain would go to war over Poland, having failed to do so over Czechoslovakia. He sent his soldiers into Poland in September 1939. Britain declared war on Germany. Chamberlain struggled on as Prime Minister until May 1940 when he resigned and Winston Churchill, a bitter critic of appeasement, took over. Chamberlain died soon afterwards.

For more Snapshots on Hitler before the war, see Adolf Hitler and The Rhineland, 1936

Do some more research at the following websites:

Causes of the Second World War

Biographies of personalities involved in the build up to war

Documents relating to the Munich Agreement