CHAPTER THIRTY
"Good afternoon class!
Today we will be discussing a time for Europe in which the horrors of war may have been avoided had fear of war not frozen national leaders into appeasement, the Sudetenland Crisis and the subsequent Treaty of Munich.
As you all know from your reading for today’s class, the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia was ethnically German in which the German minority was in actuality the majority of the population. Following the success of the
Anschluss Österreich and the creation of
Großdeutschland, Herr Hitler began using the Nazi Party members in the Sudetenland to stir up discord and begin clamoring for joining the
Großdeutschland. Naturally, the Czech’s were quite opposed to letting the Sudetenland out of their grasp, as you all will recall, the region contained not only the huge armament factory complex of Škoda Works, which is still headquartered in the city of Plzeň, known to the Germans as Pilsen, but what else? Miss Julia?"
"The majority of the Czech’s border defensive fortifications against Germany?"
"Very good Miss Julia, I’m glad to see you’ve come prepared to class today. Right then, we have the Czech’s main armament company’s factories in the region as well as their only realistic defenses against a German invasion, as well as having a large ethnic minority creating an outcry about wishing to join their brothers, with their land remember, in the neighboring nation. Not a good combination for any nation to be in, wouldn’t you say?
Being a democracy, and thus having certain inherent weaknesses, the Czechs truly stood no chance, despite their brave attempt at saving themselves. At first, the Czech government went out of their way to placate the German minority, giving them all sorts of concessions. Not wanting concessions in personal rights and what not but wanting the land itself, Hitler and his propaganda machine began creating issues. To begin with, the leading Nazi in the Sudetenland, Konrad Henlein, went on a speaking tour of the region inflaming the Sudeten Germans while the press in German, following the format that worked in Austria, began spreading reports of oppressive attacks by Czechs and similar such things.
After several days of these shenanigans, Herr Hitler made a pronouncement that unless the Czech government released the Sudetenland to Germany, Germany would have no choice but to send in the Wehrmacht in order to protect the oppressed Germans in the Sudetenland. Naturally the Czech President, Edvard Beneš, refused to cave to Hitler’s demands and ordered the Army to mobilize.
Now, here is where things begin to become distasteful, class, so pay attention. With the mobilization of the Czech Army, the Czech government sent pleas to its two allies, France and the Soviet Union, for assistance against Hitler’s rabid aggression. Unfortunately for the Czechs, neither of their allies where prepared for war, nor were willing to go to war. The newly reconstituted French government under Marshal Pétain was not only still coming to grips with its new power, but the French Army, still scarred by horrors of the First World War, had no plans for any offensive operations, so no military expedition would be forthcoming from the French. Meanwhile, Soviet Russia, or in other words Josef Stalin, while enjoying the benefits of the alliance in the receipt of superior products from Czechoslovakian industries, was quite adverse to actually honor any “capitalist” alliance that might jeopardize the well being of Mother Russia.
Just when things began to look hopeless for the Czechs, King George VI intervened and let it be known that the British Empire would not allow such naked aggression to see the light of day without reaction. This public pronouncement, along with the well known and obvious build up of Imperial forces over the previous months, shocked all the involved parties into a pregnant pause. While the nations of the West did not want another war in their midst, and the Soviets did not want to fight for a capitalist democracy, and Hitler felt that his Wehrmacht could easily crush his opponents, the King’s pronouncement rattled not only the high command of the Wehrmacht who felt that the state of their own recently built up forces could not stand a combined attack, but it also concerned Italy’s Benito Mussolini who was totally unprepared for a Europe-wide conflict due to still consolidating his recent absorption of Abyssinia.
Now class, by use of guile and pleading, Hitler was convinced by Mussolini and members of his own government to conduct a conference to discuss the situation, and a meeting was held in Munich on October 1. This conference, however, was a very sour affair as the Germans invited the Soviets, the French, the Italians and the British to attend. Upon arriving in Munich, Foreign Secretary Eden discovered that the Czechs themselves had not only been not been invited, but that the other nations in attendance agreed with the situation. After a brief telephone conversation with King George, the British delegation left the conference in protest. Despite the withdrawal, the conference continued and hammered out an agreement that gave Germany the Sudetenland starting October 15, and de facto control over the rest of Czechoslovakia as long as Hitler promised to go no further.
Publicly, both the British and Czech governments refused to honor what they called Munich Dictate, but by October 4, both governments ceased their discussions with each other and President Beneš announced that Czechoslovakia would agree to the Munich agreement. Who can tell me from your readings as to why that occurred? Yes, young master Valentine?"
"It was due to both the Empire and the Czechs being told by the French that if the situation came to war, the French would prohibit forces from either nation from having access to France, as well as the Empire coming to the realization that it’s military nor the military of the Viking Alliance would be able to adequately conduct offensive operations against Germany without the assistance of France."
"Very good, Master Valentine, very good. Interestingly after the Dictate took effect, the French approached the Empire and asked to initiate a new round of staff conferences between the two nations while they also began to send even more troops to their Maginot Line as well as begin work on increasing the Line’s fortifications. And what was the British response? Miss Francis?"
"The Empire, Doctor, after Prime Minister Churchill spoke to Parliament and stated, “Not only has Europe betrayed our Czech friends, but that guttersnipe in Berlin has been given new slingshots.” not only meet with the French, they also began conducting more naval, air and ground exercises as well as calling up more regiments for service, namely the Light Dragoons Regiment and the Royal Dragoon Guards on October 8 and the Yorkshire Hussars on October 19."
"Excellent, Miss Francis. And to which Commands were these Regiments assigned?"
"The Yorkshire Hussars went to the Imperial Grenadier Army under the newly promoted General Sir Neil Ritchie, and both Dragoon Regiments went to General Sir Alan Brooke’s British Army of North Africa in Alexandria, Egypt."
General Sir Neil Ritchie, Imperial Grenadier Army
General Sir Alan Brook, British Army of North Africa
"Outstanding! I am so glad to find that you are all reading up on your texts between classes and understanding that recalling the details of history will help you recall the details of more mundane things in every day life. That’s all for today, but for next class be sure to read the next three chapters of all three of your texts… and be prepared for a small exam."
Dr. Ian Rifkind-Major
Visiting Professor of History
British University of Chicago
Next: some more technical udpates
