The Munich Agreement And The Anglo German Declaration

This essay analyses the origins of the Second World War by briefly summarizing the events from 1919-1939. However, most emphasis is put on the amount of responsibility the Treaty of Versailles deserves for the outbreak of war. Other than analysing the Treaty of Versailles on its own, it also analyses the effects of the 1929 Wall Street Crash on the world, the rise of Fascism and Nazism, as well as the rise of Adolf Hitler, the failure of the League of Nations and the appeasement of the Fascist and Nazi regimes by Britain and France throughout the 1930s. Hence the Treaty of Versailles plays a

Case Study 2: A Review of Comments of the German Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference on the Conditions of Peace (October 1919)

Munich Conference-1938 - Hitler wanted to annex the Sudetenland, a portion of Czechoslovakia whose inhabitants were mostly German-speaking. On Sept. 29, Germany, Italy, France, and Great Britain signed the Munich Pact, which gave Germany the Sudetenland. British Prime Minister Chamberlain justified the pact with the belief that appeasing Germany would prevent war.

In 1939 the world was plunged into World War II because of the Munich Agreement. The Munich Agreement was an agreement regarding the Sudetenland Crisis between the major powers of Europe after a conference held in Munich in Germany in 1938. The Sudetenland was an important region of Czechoslovakia. The Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty created as a result of six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, which put an official end to World War I between the Allies and Central Powers. The Munich Agreement caused many disagreements between European countries. Collective security was a more effective response to aggression than appeasement because more European countries disagreed than agreed

After the First World War, many countries saw political, social and economic changes. The world was plunged into World War 2 because of the Munich Agreement, an agreement regarding Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders. This agreement caused many issues between European countries. Many people of the “Big Four” had different views on dealing with aggression. Collective Security was a more effect response to aggression than appeasement.

The Munich Agreement, signed by the leaders of Germany, France, Great Britain, and Italy, agreed to let Germany take the Sudetenland, and that no further territorial claims shall be made; this is how they appeased Hitler. Document 8 states that we were never prepared to fight until the very last moment. He broke the rules of the agreement by invading the rest of Czechoslovakia, and nobody was ready for war. An excerpt from Duff Cooper, a member of Parliament, includes, “We were always told that on no account must we irritate Herr Hitler.” If the Allied countries or other nations had put a stop to Hitler at the beginning of his reign, he would not have risen to power, and the war, most likely, would not have

The appeasement policy was not ideal for Europe. It proved to allow Hitler opportunities to gain control over most of Europe. Winston Churchill, a politician and army leader, stated that, “I have always held the view that the maintenance of peace depends upon the accumulation of deterrents against the aggressor, coupled with a sincere effort to redress grievances.”(Document B). Churchill believed that if France or Britain put in an effort to strategize and stop Germany, they would have prevented Germany from invading Czechoslovakia. Churchill also further states that, “... I ventured to … pledge that in conjunction with France and other powers they would guarantee the security of Czechoslovakia … and I still believe that if that course had been followed events would not have fallen to this disastrous state…”(Document B). This shows how Europe had many chance to stop Hitler by working together.

Appeasement was arguably the only realistic option for British policy towards Germany between 1936 and 1938 when considering the fact that appeasement permitted Britain to rearm, thus preparing her more effectively for war, whilst also giving her the moral high ground. Nevertheless, for some “appeasement has become a dirty word, synonymous with weakness and defeatism in the face of naked aggression” since Britain’s policy of appeasement succumbed to Nazi aggression and failed to actually prevent war. Subsequently many historians argue that alternatives including a ‘Grand Alliance’ and military intervention in the Rhineland (1936) and Czechoslovakia (1938) would have been better options. However, when considering the several hindrances to these alternatives including political and public stance, financial difficulties and the depth of pacifist objection, it appears that appeasement was the only realistic option.

Appeasement may be regarded as a philosophy of the maintenance of peace; in political terms it refers to policy of conciliation with a potential aggressor, often with implications of sacrifice of principles (Oxford Dictionary). The policy of appeasement is one in which both Britain and France and many other nations took towards Nazi Germany and its expansionist aims during the late 1930s, it is one of the most controversial and criticized foreign policies in history (Gelernter D 2002:22). This paper argues that the appeasement policy was for most nations around the world in the 1930s a less challenging way to deal with the problem of Hitler. Nowadays it is a common view that if Britain and France would have taken a harder line against the

"Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, taking into consideration the agreement, which has been already reached in principle for the cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory, " Source 3 from The Munich Pact. The United States made the right descision to stay isolated because they would get more negative effects than positive effects. Britain and French should have not let Hitler do what he would do and do something about it. Britain and French practiced appeasement because they gave Hitler everything he asked for. The U.S. practiced isolationism due too the loss of 100,000 americans soldiers lost in WW1, so they decided to stay out wars, etc.

Perhaps the greatest failure to fully grasp the true intentions of Hitler's regime was the signing of the Munich Pact. The Munich Pact or Munich Agreement was signed by the leaders of Germany, Italy, Britain, and France on September 30, 1938. The backdrop to the Munich Agreement is Adolf Hitler’s rise to power and Germany’s remilitarization. Hitler moved aggressively to jumpstart a foundering German economy and to jettison the constraints that had been imposed on the German military after World War I. European leaders nervously looked the other way as he ran roughshod over the security provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and reasserted German power in central Europe. One goal of Hitler’s policies was to create Lebensraum, or greater living

In 1948 three countries, USA, France and UK, held conference, where they discussed the issue of Germany and what to do next. They tackled issues such as the future of Germany, the control of the Ruhr area and the payment of reparations (Douglas R, 2013) A new conference of the three countries occurred in Frankfurt, where still dealt with the issue of Germany and came to an agreement on the division of it. In Washington was another meeting of ministers of the three countries, where they signed a document which confirmed the occupation policy of the three powers in Germany. (Douglas R, 2013)

These initial aims were not clearly outlined and matched by all of the countries involved in the Munich Pact and led to Hitler gaining more power, ignoring the agreement and invading the whole of Czechoslovakia. When negotiating one has to constantly look at possible short term and long term outcomes, which did not seem to happen in

above all helped arm his men with the aid of the Skoda Works which was now

It was 1945 when the treaty to officially end the second world war was signed but that was just the beginning. Europe was still in ruin. Even though Adolf Hitler was dead his army could still be felt across the continent. It was now time to rebuilt. This wasn’t just the rebuilding of cities and lives, it was the rebuilding of order. Hitler had tipped the delicate scale of order and balance and the scale had to be fixed. This fix came in the form of the Treaty of Paris (1951) which was also known as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Treaty. The original purpose of this treaty wasn’t to unify Europe but in a few years that was its effect.