In 1939 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier and Adolf Hitler signed the Munich Agreement.
On the 12th of February 1938 Hitler bullied Austrian leader Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg demanding that Austria be given to Germany or taken by force. This meeting had the desired affect, and one month later on the 12th of March Germany had successfully annexed Austria into the Reich.
Dr Schuschnigg agreed to the meeting with Adolf Hitler in the hope of coming to a peaceful agreement and to stop the Nazi agitators in Austria. Dr Schuschnigg was met at the Austro-German border by Germany’s former ambassador the Austria, Franz von Papen and they headed for Hitler’s mountain top retreat. On the way Papen mentioned that in the meeting Hitler would be accompanied by three high ranking officers, which through the mild mannered Austrian Chancellor. On meeting Hitler, Schuschnigg remarked on the great view and was cut off by Hitler saying "We did not gather here to speak of the fine view or the weather!" He continued to explain that the history of Austria was nothing but an act of treason against Germany and he will settle the problem himself. Hitler continued the assault claiming that they could do nothing to stop them annexing Austria and no country would come to their aid. By the end of the meeting Schuschnigg had been bullied into signing Hitler’s demands which placed many Nazi’s into high ranking positions in Austrian Government or ready for full assimilation.
Hitler had also wanted to take Czechoslovakia for a long time but he had been warned that the natural defences and strong army made it almost impenetrable by his generals. There were even plans in place to assassinate Hitler if he attempted such a foolish act, but the biggest powers of Europe would soon make a massive mistake.
In September 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler at his Mountain top retreat. Hitler said he would invade Czechoslovakia unless Britain supported his plans to take Sudetenland (an area of Czechoslovakia around its border with Germany and full of German loyalists). Chamberlain discussed the situation with French leader, Edouard Daladier, and they met with Hitler on the 29th of September 1938 to sign the Munich Agreement. This Agreement said that Britain and France would support Germany’s take over of Sudetenland on the understanding that Germany makes no more attempts of expanding its borders. Chamberlain claimed that the move would promote “peace in our time” but once Hitler was given Sudetenland he continued on to take the whole of Czechoslovakia and would continue to take many more European countries.
Neville Chamberlain was a diplomat, but diplomacy doesn’t work unless all parties are true to their word. Chamberlain may have been a good Prime Minister but he was not the right person to take on Hitler and the Munich Agreement was evidence of this. On the 10th of May 1940 Chamberlain lost a vote of confidence in the House of Commons and subsequently resigned. His replacement was Winston Churchill, who took over at a time when many European Nations had been forced to surrender (including the other “Allied Nations”, France and Poland) and Britain stood alone in Europe against the Axis powers (Germany, Russia, Italy and Japan (Japan joined a few months later on the 27th of September 1940) with only commonwealth members (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Newfoundland and South Africa) giving military support. Churchill proved to be the strong leader required to fight Axis powers determined that Britain would never surrender. Initially Russia was part of the Axis powers but after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union on the 22nd of June 1941 Stalin switched sides and began to repel the German advance. On the 8th of December 1942 the United States were attacked by Japan and they too declared war on the Axis Powers.
