Munich agreement facts for kids
The Munich Agreement was an agreement between France, Italy, Nazi Germany and Britain. After Germany invaded the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, the British and French prime ministers tried to get Hitler to agree not to use his military in the future in return for the land he had taken. Hitler agreed. At first, people thought the agreement was a success, but Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939, which led to the start of the Second World War.
Contents
Background
Czechoslovakia was an independent country in 1938. It was formed in 1918 after the first World War with international agreement. Hitler wanted Lebensraum (it means "living space"). He wanted to have all Germans in Czechoslovakia united with Germany. As most of the German speaking population of Czechoslovakia was in the Sudetenland, Hitler set his sights there first. He knew that most of the industrial strength of Czechoslovakia would be lost with the Sudetenland leaving Czechoslovakia. Britain, France and the USSR had all agreed to support Czechoslovakia if it came to war.
Crisis Point
On September 12th 1938 Hitler told Sudeten Germans that he would support them. On 15th, Chamberlain met with Hitler in a last ditch attempt to avert war. Hitler moderated his demands, saying he was only interested in parts of Czechoslovakia, and Chamberlain thought it reasonable, and that Hitler would be satisfied. However, on the 22nd, Hitler changed his demands saying he wanted the whole of the Sudetenland. The British Navy mobilised and war seemed imminent.
29th September
Mussolini persuaded Hitler to attend a four power peace conference in Munich on the 29th September. The conference was held between four leaders, Hitler for Germany, Mussolini for Italy, Chamberlain for Britain, and Daladier for France. The Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia were not invited.
At the conference Mussolini put forward a plan (really written by the German Foreign Office) that the Sudetenland was to become part of Germany immediately. The German army was to march into the Sudetenland the following day and claim it as German territory. Britain and France agreed, Czechoslovakia was not even consulted and the USSR was horrified. Chamberlain returned to Britain to receive a hero's welcome as he had achieved "peace for our time" with his appeasement policy.
Benes, the Czech president, resigned. He felt betrayed after Britain and France's promises to help Czechs. On the 1st October, Germans walked into the Sudetenland, and Hungary and Poland also helped themselves to land in Czechoslovakia where people of that nationality had been living.
Images for kids
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Czech districts with an ethnic German population in 1934 of 20% or more (pink), 50% or more (red) and 80% or more (dark red) in 1935
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Konrad Henlein, leader of the Sudeten German Party (SdP), a branch of the Nazi Party of Germany in Czechoslovakia
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Edvard Beneš, president of Czechoslovakia and leader of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile
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Czechoslovakia built a system of border fortifications from 1935 to 1938 as a defensive countermeasure against the rising threat of Nazi Germany.
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Hitler greeting Chamberlain on the steps of the Berghof, 15 September 1938
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Chamberlain greeted by Hitler at the beginning of the Bad Godesberg meeting on 24 September 1938
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Czechoslovak Army soldiers on patrol in the Sudetenland in September 1938
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Chamberlain with Benito Mussolini, September 1938
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Czechs refugees from the Sudetenland
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Admiral Horthy during the Hungarians' triumphant entry into Košice, November 1938
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Poland annexed the Zaolzie area of Czechoslovakia inhabited by 36% of ethnic Poles in 1938.
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"For 600 years we have been waiting for you (1335–1938)." An ethnic Polish band welcoming the annexation of Zaolzie by Poland in Karviná, October 1938
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Adolf Hitler on his visit to Prague Castle after the establishment of a German protectorate, 15 March 1939
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Map of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
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See also
In Spanish: Acuerdos de Múnich para niños
