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Question: What happened during the czechoslovakian crisis in 1938!?
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The crisis was caused when Germany demanded Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland!. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister édouard Daladier urged Czechoslovakia to concede to Germany's demand for the Sudetenland, which had a population of about 3!.2 million ethnic Germans!.

However, Czechoslovakian head of state Eduard Benes was unwilling to give up a region that made up about a quarter of his nation's population and much of its industrial belt!. In addition the Sudetenland provided a natural mountainious defensive zone against Germany and Czechoslovakia had built extensive fortifications in the area to defend against a German attack!. Those defensive attributes were lost when Germany occupied the Sudetenland, leaving Czechoslovakia defenseless against further German aggression!.

An impasse over the Sudetenland led to Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, under the strong influence of his friend German Chancellor Adolph Hitler, suggesting that the leaders of Germany, Italy, France and Great Britain meet in Munich to resolve the issue!. Benes, nor any other Czechoslovakian leader, was invited to the meeting!.

At the meeting, Chamberlain and Daladier conceded the Sudetenland to Hitler in return for his pledge that he would not seek further territory in Europe!. The agreement was announced Sept!. 30, 1938, a year before WW2 would break out!. When the Czechoslovakian government expressed its displeasure to Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister told Benes that England was not prepared to go to war over the Sudetenland!.

Without France and Britain to back it against Germany, Czechoslovakia withdrew from the Sudetenland!. On Oct!. 1, 1938, German troops occupied the Sudetenland without any resistence!. Chamberlain returned to London, declaring that he had succeeded in getting "peace for our time" and was lauded for the Munich Agreement!.

On March 15, 1939, Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia, creating a new war crisis on the European continent!. This crisis, though, would not be negotiated away as the Sudetenland crisis was!. Britain and France both signaled Hitler that any moves against Poland would be met with a declaration of war!. The damage, though, had been done, not to Czechoslovakia, but to Hitler's belief that Britain and France would actually do anything to oppose him!. There were few people more surprised than Hitler when France and Britain followed through on their threat and declared war following his invasion of Poland!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

As usual, the British and the French got blamed for the problem!. As was proved later, neither were actually able to do anything about their own defence, let alone anyone elses!. The French got overrun in a matter of days and the English were driven back to their little island which had a water barrier which may have acted to save them but was also a barrier to their own efforts!. Let alone the many miles of enemy country they would have had to fight across!.

The reality was, if the Czechoslovakians were not able to defend themselves, no one else was in a position to do it for them (the same applies to the Poles later in the conflict)!. Under the circumstances (but not with hindsight) it looked as though a peaceful takeover was better than a violent one!.

Except for the brutalities of the German occupation in Bohemia and Moravia (and, after the Slovak National Uprising in August 1944, also in Slovakia), Czechoslovakia suffered relatively little from the war!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The Germans (third Reich) claimed that part of Czechoslovakia was essentially German and therefore ought to be part of Germany!.
The Czechoslovakians were too weak to resist HItler on their own!.
The British prime minister negociated a treaty that would deliver Czechoslovakia to Hitler while giving "peace in our time" to Brittain!.
Looking back, it seems that the CZ's were basically betrayed!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Everybody forgot how to spell their Countries name!.Www@QuestionHome@Com