#OTD20 | September 30, 1938
'Peace In Our Time': Neville Chamberlain and the Munich Agreement
September 30, 1938: It is a day of both relief and historical irony as British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returns from Munich, waving a piece of paper and declaring it to represent "peace in our time."
In an effort to avoid what seemed like an inevitable descent into another world war, Chamberlain had just signed the Munich Agreement, a pact that allowed Adolf Hitler to annex the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia in exchange for a promise of no further territorial aggression.
The agreement is highly controversial, not least because it is made without Czechoslovakia's involvement or consent. The term "appeasement" becomes synonymous with this diplomatic maneuver, and will be widely critiqued as a failed strategy in the years that follow.
Despite Chamberlain's optimistic pronouncement, "peace in our time" proves to be tragically short-lived. Less than a year later, World War II erupts when Hitler's Germany invades Poland.
The Munich Agreement remains a cautionary tale in international relations, demonstrating the potential pitfalls of appeasement and underscoring the complexities of diplomacy in times of escalating tension.
The Guardian
Chamberlain and the Munich Agreement are chronicled in part one of our World Word II series, "World War II - The Road to War."
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