Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 23 September 1938
- Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, a typical English gentleman, was at the age of 70, and certainly didn’t act like Hitler. Chamberlain’s peaceful diplomatic methods were not the methods of Hitler, and the whole thing went wrong.
On this day in 1938, nearly a year before the beginning of World War II, British Prime Minister Chamberlain met with German Chancellor Hitler.
They tried to peacefully resolve the situation. Chamberlain was known for his compromises, and thought he would satisfy Hitler, which would provide peace. His activities have been remembered as one of the worst failures in diplomacy.
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, a typical English gentleman, was at the age of 70, and certainly didn’t act like Hitler. Chamberlain’s peaceful diplomatic methods were not the methods of Hitler, and the whole thing went wrong. Hitler asked for more compromises, and an entire state was dismembered – Czechoslovakia.
During the meeting, Hitler demanded that a large part of the Czech Republic become part of the German Reich. It was the Sudeten area, inhabited by the Germans. That was dangerous because Hitler could also want the other areas inhabited by Germans in Central and Eastern Europe, and there were many such areas.
Nevertheless, Chamberlain agreed. Hitler tricked Chamberlain. Namely, he ordered one man to come during their meeting and say that the Czechs killed another member of the German minority. This happened, and Hitler shouted: “I will repay each of them. The Czechs must be destroyed.”
