In the Soviet Union, Lenin died in 1924, and following an internal power struggle that lasted several years, Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (who adopted the name Stalin, meaning 'man of steel') became Lenin's successor.
In 1929, the Wall Street stock market crashed leading to a crisis in Western economies and the Great Depression. Unemployment soared, factories closed and food queues appeared everywhere from the USA to Britain, France and central Europe.
In the United States in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president. He pledged a new deal for the American people. In 1933, the USA finally offered diplomatic recognition to the USSR, the last major power to do so.
Conditions in Germany were bad too. Unemployment was running at 6 million, the country was bankrupt, and it still had to comply with the strict terms of the Versailles Treaty including payments for war reparations. This first republic setup after the First World War began to crumble. In January 1933, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazis, the National Socialist German Workers Party (the largest elected party in the Reichstag) was appointed Chancellor.
On the 14th October 1933, Germany left the League of Nations (the unsuccessful precursor to the United Nations).
On the 25th July 1934, the Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfus was executed by Nazi supporters in Austria.
Following Tomáš Masaryk's resignation, Edvard Beneš was elected president of Czechoslovakia on the 14th of December 1935.
Having seen the League of Nations take little action against other invasions around the world (Japan took over a part of China in 1931 and Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935), Hitler built up his forces and re-occupied the Rhineland on the 7th March 1936. This was a German territory along the River Rhine which under the Treaty of Versailles was supposed to be kept free of German armed forces.
In 1937, Adolf Hitler revealed his intention to annex Austria and the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia.
In Britain, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was very reluctant to present a strong challenge to Hitler's aggression because he feared becoming embroiled in a war with Germany. Together with France he was willing to concede revisions of European boundaries in order to appease the Germans, so long as British and French territory was not infringed.
On the 12th March 1938, German troops marched into Austria, one day before a scheduled plebiscite by Von Schuschnigg, giving the population the choice of whether they wanted to remain independant or join with Germany. The Germans were welcomed by local NAZI supporters and on the 13th March the Union of Austria with Germany was declared.
Great Britain and France protested but did not take any action.
Hitler demanded the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. The Czechs refused to hand over the Sudetenland and appealed to their allies for help. The Czech President Edvard Beneš had hoped that the Soviet Union and France would honour their treaties to defend Czechoslovakia. However, the Soviets were not prepared to act without France, and France refused to be involved without Britain's assistance.
With Chamberlain having already decided against involvement, Hitler had the confidence to boast that he would unite the Sudeten Germans even if it meant war.
Sept 15th 1938, 22nd September 1938 previous meetings with Chamberlain and Hitler.
To avoid war, Britain, France, Germany and Italy aggreed to meet in Munich in September 1938. to discuss the issue of the Sudetenland.
On the 27th September 1938, before leaving for Munich, Chamberlain famously broadcast to the nation by radio saying: How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing!
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Hitler refused to allow the Soviets to take part in the negotaiations, Czechoslovakia was not invited, Italy acted as arbitrator and with the British dealing direct with the Germans, the French were effectively sidelined as bystanders.
Hitler assured the parties that the Sudetenland was the last piece of land he wanted, and guaranteed that he would not seek further territorial revisions of the Treaty of Versailles. In return an immediate German occupation of the Sudetenland was agreed to. All parties signed the agreement on the 29th September (Chamberlain, Hitler, Mussolini and Daladier) and the borders were redrawn with other areas of Czechoslovakia being allocated to Hungary and Poland.
Neville Chamberlain returned to Britain from Munich on September 30th feeling victorious because his conciliatory approach had avoided war. In front of 10 Downing Street he said ... for the second time in our history, a British Prime minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time
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The Czech Ambassador to Britain, Jan Masaryk (son of Tomáš Masaryk) was horrified at the actions of the allies. He said to Chamberlain and the Foreign Secretary: If you have sacrificed my nation to save the peace of the world, I will be the first to applaud you. But if not, gentlemen, God help your souls
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The German army marched into the Sudetenland on the 1st October 1938.
On the 1st November 1938, Poland invade a small part of Northern Moravia in Czechoslovakia, with a Polish speaking majority. They close all Czech Schools and ban all Czech associations.
Hungary takes an area of Southern Slovakia and Ruthenia. The remainder of Slovakia declares autonomy and the name is changed to Czecho-Slovakia.
A map of Czechoslovakia in 1939
| Area | Description |
|---|---|
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Czechoslovak territory ceded to Germany under the Munich Agreement signed on September 30th 1938 |
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Czechoslovak territory given to Hungary by Germany and Italy at Vienna on 2nd October 1938 |
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Czechoslovak territory annexed by Poland on 1st November 1938 |
Areas of Czechoslovakia lost to neighbouring countries in 1938
In his book Czechs and Balances
, Ben Kuras provides a quote that satiricly describes Czechoslovakia as now resembling A corpse gnawed at by hyenas and cut in two
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Edvard Beneš resigned as president of Czechoslovakia on the 5th of October 1938.
On the 14th March 1939, the Czechoslovak President and Foreign minister were summoned to Berlin where they were informed by Adolf Hitler that Prague would be immediatetly destroyed by bombing if they did not surrender Czech territories to Germany. President Hácha and foreign minister Chvalkovský had no choice but to submit to Hitlers demands.
The very next day, on the 15th March, German troops occupied Prague and declared Bohemia and Moravia, a German Protectorate. Slovakia became a puppet state. Britain and France were worried. It was apparent that Hitler would not easily be contained as he set his eyes on the Danzig Corridor and Poland.
Neville Chamberlain was cornered into guaranteeing Poland against attack.
On the 23rd March, Hitler forced Lithuania to surrender Mennel.
Britain was furious, the only territory that had been taken from Germany in 1919 and not yet re-occupied by the Germans was in Poland. Britain ended her appeasement policy and started making preparations for a possible war. She made a pact with Poland agreeing to come to the defense of Poland if Germany attacked and shifted much of her industry to making war materials.
On the 1st September 1939, German troops invaded Poland. Chamberlain set a deadline of 11am on Sunday the 3rd of September for Germany to stop all aggressive action and begin to withdraw from Polish territory.
Most of Britain listened silently to their wireless sets, and at 11:15am Chamberlain famously announced: I have to tell you that no such undertaking has been received, and consequently this country is at war with Germany.
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