What was munich agreement of 1938

Chamberlain and M. Daladier ask Hitler what the plebiscite was for and how, without intimidation, he could hope for a Sudeten German majority, in regions where they are known to be a minority? Elections and plebiscites held under Hitler offer many examples of the way in which they can be manipulated. The areas selected for the plebiscite are not quite the same, as in the Godesberg ultimatum. For example, the industrial town and railway junction of Brno is not included.

But the Germans will be so close to this town that it will be at their mercy. Besides, it has a small German minority about 12 per cent of the total population , which, under pressure from Hitler, will be its real administrators.

Any village or township with German majority and there are many such scattered throughout Czechoslovakia and right into Carpathian Ruthenia in regions where the Czechs are the vast majority can, through the device of the plebiscite, be made to become a German stronghold, dominating the surrounding country like the castle of a medieval robber baron.

With the help of the plebiscite Hitler can get control of factories, railways and strategic points. In a short time he can make himself master of Czechoslovakia without war and without any serious opposition from the Western Powers. The question of the plebiscite was the only serious hitch at Munich. German demands and the demand will certainly be satisfied — that all persons who were residents in the area designated for the plebiscite in October, , shall be entitled to vote.

In this way large numbers of former Austrian officials and residents can be drafted into these areas and so help to convert minorities into majorities. It is to be feared that by that time every guarantee, whether German and Italian or French and British, will have lost whatever meaning it might once have been made to have. The economic consequences of the Munich agreement are bound to be very hard for Czechoslovakia. The loss of industries, railheads, junctions and so on, cannot fail to cause heavy loss of trade and unemployment.

Caquet, published by Other Press. Contact us at letters time. Other Press. Related Stories. Already a print subscriber? Go here to link your subscription. Need help? Visit our Help Center. The Sudetenland would join the Reich by October 10, and the fate of other territories would be decided by an international commission. Britain and France put their foot down and told Czechoslovakia that they would have to fight Germany alone or act according to the Munich Agreement.

By December of , the Sudetenland was the most pro-Nazi region in the Reich as half a million Sudeten Germans had taken membership in the Nazi Party.

Daladier was convinced that the agreement would not appease the Nazis and that disaster was yet to come while Chamberlain thought there was cause for celebration, mistakenly convinced that he had achieved peace. The day after the agreement was signed Germany took over the Sudetenland.

The Czechoslovaks did not retaliate. Slovakia had become an autonomous Nazi puppet state a day earlier. Many Sudeten Germans acquired jobs in the Protectorate or as Gestapo agents because they were fluent in Czech. Northern Ruthenia, hoping for independence, was taken over by Hungary.

Not every German was enthusiastic about living in the Reich, however. Before the Occupation approximately 30, Germans and , Czechs fled to the interior of Czechoslovakia. After the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was created, the Communist Party was banned and stripped of its property. Communists were expelled from Parliament, too. The next day, On September 30, , Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season and with it sets a record that would stand for 34 years.

He was the first of eight children, but only he and a sister survived infancy. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.

On September 30, , President Woodrow Wilson gives a speech before Congress in support of guaranteeing women the right to vote. Although the House of Representatives had approved a 19th constitutional amendment giving women suffrage, the Senate had yet to vote on the measure. On September 30, , the Wyoming state convention approves a constitution that includes a provision granting women the right to vote.

Formally admitted into the union the following year, Wyoming thus became the first state in the history of the nation to allow its female Like the fictional Jo March, Alcott was the second of four daughters. She was born in