Munich agreement and partition of Czechoslovakia. If Benes agreed, it could be like this ...

March 13, 1938 Austria was annexed to Germany. For Hitler, the Anschluss not only created a springboard for an attack on Czechoslovakia, but also became a personal revenge on the Motherland for non-recognition in his younger years.

Bluff in Berchtesgaden

Defeated after the First World War, Austria was annexed to Germany as a result of a referendum. However, Hitler's original plan called for an armed rebellion and the overthrow of the government of Chancellor Guido Schmidt Schuschnigg. Nevertheless, the latter was informed about the "neighbor's" plans. Outraged, he went to Berchtesgaden, the dictator's country residence, where the heads of state in their native German had to come to a definite decision. Hitler greeted the guest outwardly cordially, introducing his three generals who “accidentally happened to be” there. But in a personal conversation, Hitler quickly dropped the mask. Subsequently, Schuschnigg recalled that he argued with a madman for several hours. Adolf shouted at him, insisted that the very existence of Austria was the result of her betrayal “with which he intended to end”, threatened to bring in troops: “You will wake up one morning in Vienna and see that we have descended like a spring thunderstorm. I would like to spare Austria such a fate, since such an action would mean bloodshed." He did not offer, he demanded that Austria sign an agreement with Germany on favorable terms: amnesty for the National Socialists, the appointment of moderate Nazis as ministers, of which Hitler's protege Seyss-Inquart was to become the Minister of the Interior with the right of unlimited control over the country's police forces.
When the first attack did not pass, Hitler resorted to another method, gently hinting that Schuschnigg's stay in Berchtesgaden could end for the latter, at best, imprisonment, at worst, execution, after which the German troops would enter Austrian territory. The bluff was successful, the treaty was signed and ratified in three days.

Allied betrayal

In his desire to preserve the sovereignty of Austria, Schuschning counted on the support of the Entente member countries. After all, the Treaty of Versailles forbade the Anschluss. In 1931, Germany and Austria were even denied a customs union. However, by 1938, defeated Austria was no longer a political force, it was an unviable country that had lost its industrial strength and agricultural land. When Schuschnigg responded to Hitler's threats that Austria was not alone in the world and an invasion of the country would probably mean war, Hitler sneered scornfully: "Do not believe that anyone in the world can prevent this! Italy? I don't worry about Mussolini; I have a close friendship with Italy. England? She won't lift a finger for Austria... France? Now her time has passed. So far, I have achieved everything I wanted!” By themselves, the potential allies of Austria in the Anschluss saw only a guarantee of peace and the pacification of the fascist states, through concessions. At an emergency meeting in London, Chamberlain announced the verdict to Austria: the Anschluss is inevitable, not a single power will say: “If you go to war because of Austria, you will deal with us. In any case, this is not the question now, ”he said, noting that a fait accompli does not matter much.

Uncompromising Bulletin

Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg laid his last hope for the rejection of the Anschluss on a voluntary referendum of the Austrian people, hoping for the nationalist and patriotic sentiments of the masses. It seemed that the people supported the chancellor and were ready to fight for a free, independent Austria. His supporters walked the streets shouting: "Heil Schuschnigg!", "Heil freedom!", "We say yes!". Even Hitler's henchman, Interior Minister Seyss-Inquart, took his side. On the eve of the referendum, the chancellor was sure that victory was in his pocket. However, Hitler's propaganda and beautiful phrases: "One people, one Reich, one Fuhrer!" have already taken root in the minds of the Austrians. And the election process itself was influenced by the fascists, who, in fact, had already established control over the country. As a result, on some of the ballots there was only a column “for” (joining Germany), while on others, the column “JA” (yes) (I agree for joining Germany) was several times larger than the modest line “nein”.

Oath of Mussolini

One of the main opponents of Hitler in the Anschluss issue was, oddly enough, Benito Mussolini, who supported the former government of Austria, headed by Chancellor Engelbert Dollfius. He had already saved Austria once from a German invasion in 1934, after the assassination of the latter. Then a war almost broke out between the two fascist dictators. But times changed, Mussolini lost interest in Austria, much more important for him now was an alliance with Hitler. Therefore, to Hitler's cautious letter, which spoke about anarchy in Austria and the need for German intervention to save the country, the Duce reacted indifferently. Prince Philipp von Hesse relayed his reply to Hitler: “I have just returned from Mussolini,” he informed Hitler. The Duce took the news very calmly. He sends you his regards. The Austrian question no longer interests him.
Hitler was truly encouraged by this news: “Tell Mussolini that I will never forget this! Never! Sign any agreements he proposes. Tell him: I thank him from the bottom of my heart, I will never forget him! When he is in need or danger, he can be sure: I will be with him, no matter what, even if the whole world is against him! And Hitler kept his oath, he stayed with Mussolini when everyone turned away from him. In 1943, he organized a special operation "Oak", which freed the captive dictator in the Gran Sorro mountains in southern Italy, where he was held in the highest secrecy. Hitler's associate Otto Skorzeny entered the hotel and addressed Mussolini. "Duce, the Fuhrer sent me to save you." Mussolini replied: "I always knew that my friend Adolf Hitler would not leave me in trouble."

Maneuvering

Hitler knew how to conduct diplomatic negotiations, he was able to perfectly maneuver between "two fires". For example, he successfully intimidated the British government with his other "secret" ally - the Soviet Union. At a meeting with the British Ambassador Nevil Gendersen on March 3, 1937, when it came to maintaining peace in Europe, the Austrian problem and armaments, Hitler, without giving the ambassador the initiative, went on the offensive. He argued that the Soviet-French and Soviet-Czechoslovak pacts were a threat to Germany, which, in connection with this, was simply forced to arm itself. Any restriction in the army, he said, depended on the Russians: “trusting the good will of such a monster as the Soviet Union is the same as trusting the understanding of mathematical formulas to savages. Any agreement with the USSR is completely useless, and Russia should never be allowed into Europe.” By such a change of thesis, Hitler managed to reduce conversations with the ambassador to zero and avoid the concessions that England hoped for.

sentimental journey

Hitler's triumphant return to his homeland, which was nothing more than the introduction of troops and a demonstration of military power, was more like a "sentimental journey" than a military occupation. By this point, most of the population supported the idea of ​​the Anschluss. The 2nd Panzer Division moved using tourist guides and refueling at local gas stations. The Austrians cordially greeted the soldiers: “They shook hands with us, they kissed us, there were tears of joy in the eyes of many,” General Heinz Guderian later recalled. Austria rejoiced, she saw a new hope in the German troops, not knowing that if the Anschluss was not conquered, these same tanks would drive through its ruins.

Vendetta

Eyewitnesses to Hitler's triumphant entry into Austria noted the madness in which the fascist leader was during his entry into Vienna. He then indulged in sensual speeches, then he began to feel angry. His closest associate Papen recalled that the leader was in “real ecstasy”: “I believe that, by the will of God, the young man left this country and went to the Reich, who raised me, made me the leader of the nation and allowed me to return my homeland to the bosom of the Reich. I give praise to the Almighty, who allowed me to return to my homeland so that I could bring it into the Reich. May tomorrow every German remember this and humbly bow his head before the Almighty God, who has done a miracle for us in three weeks! ”Hitler announced to the people of Vienna. However, already after his departure, he discussed the Austrians with undisguised malice: “Here the Fuhrer began to talk about crowns with boundless, I would say, with incredible anger ... At four in the morning he uttered a phrase that I want to quote now for historical reasons. He said: "Vienna must never be allowed into the alliance of great Germany," said the Nazi governor Balder von Schirach during the investigation.
Soon, Schuschnigg's worst fears came true: Austria left the historical arena. The historical name Osterreich, which meant "Eastern Reich", was even taken away from her, now it was only the "Eastern Mark (Ostmark)", which soon began to be called simply "Earth". Unrecognized in the homeland, the Austrian, who was once not admitted to the Art Academy, having become a dictator, erased his homeland from the political map, deprived it of the once brilliant capital of the remnants of glory and splendor. Austria became just a springboard for a further attack on Czechoslovakia.

On March 14, 1939, the occupation of Czechoslovakia passed almost without bloodshed. Only one army unit opposed the German aggression. Czechoslovakia was betrayed and handed over for execution with the tacit consent of the European powers.

Ukrainian script

Initially, Hitler's plans did not include the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Hitler was preparing to create a fascist "Ukrainian" state under the guise of "autonomy" for Carpatho-Ukraine, which could later be used to seize Soviet Ukraine. Propaganda also helped to accomplish Hitler's plans: the fascist magazine Ostland frankly raised the issue of supporting the "independent" Carpatho-Ukraine, which would have to "unite" with Kiev. The fascist "Ukrainian" state was entrusted with an important mission: to become an outpost of the fight against Bolshevism. In his final report at the 18th Party Congress, he gave a contemptuous assessment of the plans to "attach the elephant, that is, Soviet Ukraine, to the booger, that is, to the so-called Carpathian Ukraine." Hitler soon realized this. In all respects, Carpatho-Ukraine was a less favorable "point of application of forces "than Hungary or Slovakia. Carpathian Ukraine did not have significant urban centers and its own railways, so Hitler abandoned his original plans to make it a springboard for advancing to the East. Czechoslovakia remained, the occupation of which was not long in coming.

Annexation of the Sudetenland

The initial stage of the occupation of Czechoslovakia was the annexation of the Sudetenland. German propaganda had prepared the ground well. They talked about the oppression of the Sudeten Germans, who suffered terrible agony from discrimination against them by the Czechs. On April 21, 1938, Hitler and Keitel developed the Grün plan. It was planned to attack Czechoslovakia after a series of diplomatic negotiations. The British and French governments wanted, as she herself formulated it, "to save the world at any cost." This price was Czechoslovakia. The annexation of the Sudetenland took place within the framework of the Munich Agreement, which was signed on the night of September 29-30, 1938. According to it, Germany received the right to annex the Sudetenland, as well as those areas where the German population exceeded 50%. The annexation of the Sudetenland took place on October 1-10, 1938. More than three million Germans lived here. Also, Poland (to the Teszyn region) and Hungary (to the southern regions of Slovakia) presented their territorial claims. This allowed Hitler to assign an international character to the annexation of the Sudetenland.

Lie Serum

The very story of the signing by President Hakh of a document according to which Bohemia and Moravia were officially included in the German Empire, and the national and state independence of Czechoslovakia was completely lost, is full of drama. Immediately after the entry of Nazi troops into Czechoslovakia, President Hakh and Foreign Minister Khvalkovsky came to Hitler. It was the least like diplomatic negotiations. Hitler immediately declared that "anyone who tries to resist will be trampled." After that, he put his signature on the document and left. Gakh and Khvalkovsky remained in the "pleasant" company of Goering, Keitel and Ribbentrop. Estimates of what happened next vary, but according to Ribbentrop's testimony at the Nuremberg trial, it was possible to restore the picture of what happened. The Czech president and minister were subjected to massive psychological pressure. In case of refusal, Ribbentrop threatened to raze Prague to the ground already on the morning of March 15. The forces of the exhausted Czechs were supported by "injections". Their chemical composition is not known, but for a long time there was a version in the European press that they were narcotic substances that suppress the will. This version would seem fantastic if it were not for the well-known love of the Nazis for medical experiments. At 04:30 in the morning, Hácha, exhausted and broken, put his signature under a document that read: "The President of the Czechoslovak State entrusts with full confidence the fate of the Czech people and the Czech country into the hands of the Fuhrer of the German Empire."

Hero Pavlik

The occupation of Czechoslovakia was not bloodless. On March 14, on the first day of the entry of German troops, a battle took place that went down in history as the battle for the Chayankov barracks. On the evening of March 14, 1939, the 2nd Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment of the 8th Wehrmacht Infantry Division entered Mistek. The German column stopped at the Chayankov barracks. Acting according to the agreed scenario, and not assuming at least any resistance, the Germans offered the guards to hand over their weapons and call the officer on duty. The Czech guard responded with shots. The duty officer Martinek announced a combat alert, Officer Karel Pavlik posted his soldiers with machine guns and rifles at the windows of the building and ordered to open fire. They were joined by individual soldiers from other units. Karel Pavlik, although he saw that the forces were unequal, acted very boldly and decisively, encouraging the soldiers. The Czechs would have all died the death of the brave, but the commander of the 8th regiment, Colonel Eliash, contacted the unit. Under the threat of a military court, he ordered an immediate ceasefire and lay down their arms. Karel Pavlik was not going to lay down his arms, but the ammunition was running out, and the Germans were advancing. I had to obey. The fact that Pavlik was not an unexpected hero is evidenced by the fact that he was in the resistance movement, but died in a concentration camp, refusing to follow the order of the guard.

Government in exile

The president of Czechoslovakia, Edward Beneš, who fled to England, created the government of Czechoslovakia in exile in London in 1940 and headed it with the rank of president. He did not recognize the legitimacy of Hitler's power and actively contributed to the resistance movement. Two years later, Benes achieved the recognition of the existence of Czechoslovakia and the annulment of the Munich Agreement by all powers of the anti-Hitler coalition. Already after the end of the war, on October 28, 1945, the interim parliament of Czechoslovakia confirmed Benes' presidential powers, and on July 19, 1946, he was again elected to the presidency by the new parliament. The so-called presidential decrees of Beneš have gone down in history. They talked about the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia and the confiscation of the property of Germans, Hungarians, collaborators and traitors, emergency People's Trials of Nazis and traitors, and the nationalization of large-scale industry and banks.

Jan Opletan

The occupation of Czechoslovakia at first was moderate. The Gestapo acted mainly against the Czech intelligentsia and politicians, but the events that took place on October 28, 1939 changed everything. Students took to the streets to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the country's independence. They protested against the occupation. The action was severely suppressed. When fire was opened on the demonstrators, one of the student leaders was seriously injured. His name was Jan Opletal. On November 15, his funeral took place, resulting in a new protest with the participation of thousands of people. The Nazis responded with cruel measures: on November 17, 1939, all Czech universities were closed, nine students were executed in prison dungeons in the Prague district of Ruzyn, about 1800 were sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

In memory of those events during the war, this day (November 17) became International Students' Day.

English "help"

Contrary to their promises, neither England nor France prevented the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Even more: English banks have seriously got hold of the Czechoslovak mountain. The total value of the gold owned by the National Bank of Czechoslovakia at the time of the occupation was £5.6 million - today it is about £736 million. The British Central Bank helped Nazi Germany smuggle Czechoslovakia's gold to London and then sell it while maintaining "neutrality". The published records of the Bank of England show that in May-June 1939 this gold was sold and shipped to the USA. All this happened on the eve of the declaration of World War II. Nazi Germany was fueled by British bankers.

Anything you can put on
your bloody hand, hold on tight, gentlemen!
Wellington, Colonel in the British Colonial Army

Wars don't start so easily - there must be reasons for war. In addition to reasons, there must be pretexts: you must explain why you are forced to fight.

Every big war begins with the fact that the aggressor checks whether he can go unpunished? It's one thing to talk about "living space" and demand the unification of the Germans in Greater Germany, it's another thing to try in practice. For "practice" you can get on the head.

From the very beginning, Hitler's national revolution clashed with the policies of the victors in the First World War.

After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria began the life of an independent national state. Willy-nilly. The Austrian Germans did not want to be separated from Germany. On October 30, 1918 in Vienna, the Provisional National Assembly decided to annex Austria to the rest of Germany. But the victorious powers banned reunification - "Anschluss". They did not want the strengthening of Germany.

On September 10, 1919, Austria signed the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty with the British Empire, France, the USA, Japan and Italy. Article 88 of the treaty expressly forbade the Anschluss.

In Austria, there was the same sluggish civil war as in Germany. Even sharper, because there were more political forces: communists, social democrats, fascists, national socialists. The Social Democrats, fascists and Nazis had armed organizations, no worse than the Rot Front, and fought each other. Losses are called different - from 2-3 thousand people to 50 thousand.

Chancellor of Austria Engelbert Dollfuss

In 1933, the new chancellor of Austria, Engelbert Dollfuss, a Catholic and pro-fascist, banned the communist and Nazi parties, disbanded the Schutzbund armed formations of the Social Democrats. He increased the number of fascist militias, the Heimwehr, to 100,000, dissolved parliament, and proclaimed an "authoritarian system of government" modeled on Mussolini's Italy. He crushed the Communists and Social Democrats with an armed hand, and at the same time signed the Rome Protocols, declaring the creation of the Italy-Austria-Hungary axis.

On July 25, 1934, Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss is assassinated by the Nazis. In a number of cities, armed detachments of the Nazis act, demanding the "Anschluss".

And lean Mussolini hastily mobilizes four divisions, orders them to approach the border, to the Brenner Pass. The Italians are ready to go to the aid of the Austrian government. Mussolini is counting on the support of Great Britain and France - but just these powers have done absolutely nothing.

Mussolini speaks to the press: “The German Chancellor has repeatedly promised to respect the independence of Austria. But the events of recent days have clearly shown whether Hitler intends to respect his rights before Europe. It is impossible to approach with the usual moral standards a person who, with such cynicism, tramples on the elementary laws of decency.

Tellingly, the prospect of a war with Italy was enough for Hitler to retreat and not send troops into Austria. Without German support, the coup failed.

Mussolini Benito

Everything changed when, in October 1935, Italy launched a war against Ethiopia. The West protests: since November 1935, all members of the League of Nations (except the United States) undertake to boycott Italian goods, refuse loans to the Italian government, and prohibit the import of strategic materials into Italy. And Germany supports Italy.

On May 8, 1936, in connection with the victory in Ethiopia, Mussolini proclaimed the rebirth of the Roman Empire. King Victor Emmanuel III assumed the title of Emperor of Ethiopia. The West does not recognize these seizures. You never know that India is ruled by the viceroy as a possession of Britain! It is possible for Britain, but for some Italy it is impossible. Hitler supports the idea of ​​a second Roman Empire and sends congratulations.

Mussolini absolutely does not want the communists to win the civil war in Spain. He sends serious help to General Franco - people, planes, money, equipment. Hitler is also fighting in Spain. Since 1936, the rapprochement between Mussolini and Hitler begins.

True, even after that, Mussolini had to persuade for a long time. January 4, 1937 Mussolini in negotiations with Goering refuses to recognize the Anschluss. He declares that he will not tolerate any change in the Austrian question.

Applause to Hitler in the Reichstag after the announcement of the Anschluss of Germany with Austria. By annexing Austria, Hitler received a strategic base for the capture of Czechoslovakia and a further offensive in South-Eastern Europe and the Balkans, sources of raw materials, human resources and military production. As a result of the Anschluss, the territory of Germany increased by 17%, the population - by 10% (by 6.7 million people). The Wehrmacht included 6 divisions formed in Austria. Berlin, March 1938.

Only on November 6, 1937, Benito Mussolini declared that he was "tired of defending the independence of Austria." But even after that, Mussolini is trying to prevent the creation of a "Greater Germany". Again, no specific statements were made by the UK or France. Italy again alone confronts Germany... And the international situation has changed.

Now Hitler is sure that Italy will not go to war over Austria. On March 12, 1938, the 200,000-strong army of the Third Reich crosses the Austrian border. The West was silent again. The USSR proposes to "discuss the Austrian question" in the League of Nations. The answer is silence. Do not want.

Sudetenland issue

According to the Treaty of Saint-Germain, Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia were recognized as parts of a new country - Czechoslovakia. But Czechoslovakia is not one, but three countries: the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Carpatho-Russia. In addition, many Poles live in the Tenishev region in the north of Czechoslovakia. There are many Germans in the Sudetenland. Many Hungarians live in Carpatho-Russia. In the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this did not matter, but now it really does.

The Hungarians wanted to join Hungary. Poles - to Poland. The Slovaks wanted to have their own state. It was calmest in Carpatho-Russia, but even there there were many supporters of leaving under Hungary: Hungary has long-standing ties with Transcarpathian Rus, since the times of Galician Rus.

In fact, Czechoslovakia is the empire of the Czechs. There were fewer street fights than in Germany and Austria, but even in this country there was a sluggish civil war.

Since 1622, the Czech lands were part of the Austrian Empire. In the Sudetenland, the Germans predominate. They want to enter Germany, and Hitler supports them.

Czechoslovak authorities ban the National Socialist Party (NSDAP). But then the Sudeten German Party appears. At its congress in Carloni Vari in April 1938, this party demands the widest possible autonomy, including the right to secede from Czechoslovakia and join Germany.

The Nazis cannot refuse to annex the Sudetenland: they will not be understood either in Germany or in the Sudetenland. Millions of Germans are closely watching their policies. They want a national revolution.
But as soon as the Nazis enter Czechoslovakia, Britain and France will start a war with it. After all, these countries are the guarantors of the independence of Czechoslovakia.

And suddenly something amazing happens: the Western countries themselves persuade Czechoslovakia to capitulate. In April 1918, at a Franco-British conference, Chamberlain said that if Germany wanted to occupy Czechoslovakia, he saw no means of preventing her from doing so.

In August 1938, the special commissioner of Britain, Lord Runciman, and the US ambassador to Germany, G. Wilson, came to Prague. They persuade the government of Czechoslovakia to agree to the transfer of the Sudetenland to the Third Reich.

At a meeting with Hitler in Bertechshaden in September, Chamberlain agreed to Hitler's demands. Together with French Prime Minister Daladier, they persuade Prime Minister Benes to agree to the dismemberment of the country.
In September 1938, the French government declared that it was unable to fulfill allied obligations to Czechoslovakia. Hitler, on September 26, declares that the Third Reich will destroy Czechoslovakia if it does not accept his conditions.

All this against the backdrop of the German uprising in the Sudetenland, which had already begun on September 13, 1938, and the uprisings of the Slovaks.

The Sudeten woman, unable to hide her emotions, dutifully greets the triumphant Hitler, who is a serious tragedy for millions of people who are forcibly forced to "Hitlerism" and while maintaining "submissive silence."

The Munich Agreement of September 29-30, 1938 only crowns these efforts of the Western countries.
During these two days in Munich, Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler and Mussolini agreed on everything. Without the participation of the Czechoslovak government, they signed an agreement on the transfer of Germany to the Sudetenland, the Teszyn region to Poland and Transcarpathian Rus to Hungary. They obliged the Czechoslovak state to satisfy claims against it within three months. France and Britain acted as guarantors of the "new borders of the Czechoslovak state."

The consequences are obvious. Already on October 1, the Third Reich sends troops to Czechoslovakia. Slovakia instantly secedes. On October 2, Poland sends troops to the Teszyn region, and the Hungarians begin the occupation of Transcarpathia. Since then, the National District of the Carpatho-Russians has been part of Hungary.

Soon the Nazis take over the rest of the Czech Republic, proclaiming the creation of the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia." They are trying to return to the times of the Austrian-German occupation of the country and begin its systematic Germanization. Hitler declares that part of the Czechs are Aryans, they need to be Germanized, and the rest destroyed. On what basis to Germanize and destroy, he does not specify. Goebbels suggests that blondes should be Germanized, and brunettes should be destroyed ... Fortunately for the Czechs, this strong idea remains a theory, it is not used in practice.

On March 13, an independent Slovak state arises in Slovakia under the leadership of Tiso. It declares itself an ally of the Third Reich.

The Beneš government is fleeing abroad. Until the end of the war, it is in London.
Why?!

In the USSR, the Munich agreement was explained very simply: the Anglo-American and French bourgeoisie conspired with Hitler in order to incite him against the USSR.

In France, the Munich shame was explained by the lack of strength.
In Britain - the unwillingness to shed the blood of the British because of the Czechs.

There is some truth in the latter: after the incredible, monstrous losses of the First World War, Western countries are trying to avoid any military clashes. The idea of ​​"pacifying the aggressor" even at the cost of "surrendering" the allies in Eastern Europe seems to them more attractive than war.

English! I brought you peace! yells Chamberlain as he walks down the steps of the plane on his return to Britain.
Churchill on this occasion said that Chamberlain wanted to avoid war at the cost of shame, but received both shame and war. Fair enough, because the Munich Treaty of 1938 became a kind of mandate for the redivision of the world. It could not have taken place if not for the psychological consequences of the First World War and its incredible losses.
But there are two more simple, quite rational reasons.

In the partition of Czechoslovakia, everything is completely different from what we were taught. The Third Reich does not act at all as an aggressor, but as a fighter for justice. Hitler wants to unite all Germans... He is doing the same task that Garibaldi and Bismarck did. Hitler rescues the Germans who do not want to live in a foreign state, in Czechoslovakia.

But Czechoslovakia is an empire! The Czechs in it impose their language and their customs on the Slovaks, Germans, Poles, Carpatho-Russians. This strange state has no long tradition. It has a very distant relation to the Bohemian Kingdom of the Middle Ages. It arose only in 1918, on the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on the money of another empire - the Russian.

The Bolsheviks took the gold reserves of the Russian Empire to Kazan, fearing a German offensive in 1918. There, the gold reserve was captured by officers of the B.O. Kappel. Admiral A.V. was in charge of this gold. Kolchak as Supreme Ruler. But the Czechs guarded him ... And when the smell of fried, they easily "grabbed" the gold and handed over the admiral to the Bolsheviks.

In December 1919, the Bolsheviks set a condition for the command of the Czechoslovak Corps: they would release the Czechs with all the gold of the Russian Empire, with all the loot ...

Such a state did not command much respect and was deprived of legitimacy in the eyes of the West.
The second reason is that the Nazis are revolutionaries and socialists. This was greatly appreciated in France - a country with a long tradition of the socialist movement. In the same 1919, the French Corps had to be withdrawn from the south of Russia, because the Bolsheviks were very actively agitating it.

Let me remind you that the Munich Agreement was signed by the same Edouard Daladier, who personally presented the gold medal to Leni Riefenstahl. For the documentary film Triumph of the Will.

In general, the position of the Third Reich and Hitler seemed to the West both more attractive and even nobler than the position of Czechoslovakia and Beneš.

The position of the USSR

The USSR is on the side of poor Czechoslovakia. On September 21, he raises the "Czechoslovak question" in the League of Nations. The League of Nations is silent.

Then, on behalf of the Soviet government, the head of the Czech Communists, K. Gottwald, conveyed to President Benesch: if Czechoslovakia begins to defend itself and asks for help, then the USSR will come to its aid.

Noble? Beautiful? Probably ... But how could the USSR imagine such "aid"? The USSR did not then have a common border with Czechoslovakia. In this case, Gottwald clarifies: the USSR will come to the rescue even if Poland and Romania refuse to let the Soviet troops through.

If Benes agreed, it could be like this...

The Third Reich strikes, brings in troops. The Czechoslovak army is trying to stop the aggressor. Naturally, Poland and Romania are not allowed by Soviet troops. Soviet troops enter Poland and Rumania ... If they do not even reach Czechoslovakia, but get bogged down in a war with these countries, a hotbed of war arises. Moreover, as the future has shown, the Western world is ready to stand up for the freedom of Poland.

Done: World War II has begun, with the West acting together with the Third Reich against the USSR.
The second option: Soviet troops instantly crushed the Polish units, reached the borders of Czechoslovakia ... Yes, just in time for the Slovak state, which is not at all eager to become one of the Soviet republics. And the Nazi tankers are already pulling the levers, pointing the gun barrels ...

And in this case, the West is on the side of Hitler.

In general, the most disastrous variant of the beginning of the war. Two hypotheses are possible:

1) Stalin understood from the very beginning that he would be refused. A noble gesture will remain in the memory of peoples as a noble gesture.

2) Stalin expected that at first all the participants in the events would get bogged down in the war and bleed each other. After all, it is not at all necessary to fulfill an allied duty right now ... For the time being, diplomatic showdowns will continue, while the noble position of the USSR will be brought to the attention of the whole world ...

Czechoslovakia will begin to resist, and a war with the Third Reich, and with Poland, and with Hungary "shines" for it ... And the communists in all these countries immediately begin to fight both with an external enemy and with their own governments.
A bloody mess, where nothing can be disassembled ... And in a month or two nightmares, a fresh Red Army will fall on all participants in the events ...

Munich Agreement 1938(in Soviet historiography usually Munich agreement) is an agreement drawn up in Munich on September 29, 1938 and signed on September 30 of the same year by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. The agreement concerned the transfer of the Sudetenland by Czechoslovakia to Germany. The following day, a declaration of mutual non-aggression was signed between Great Britain and Germany; a similar declaration by Germany and France was signed slightly later.

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The situation in Central Europe by 1938

The government took a number of measures to ensure the representation of the Sudeten Germans in the National Assembly, local self-government, education in their native language, but the tension could not be removed. Based on these statements, Hitler in February 1938 appealed to the Reichstag with an appeal "to pay attention to the appalling living conditions of the German brethren in Czechoslovakia."

First Sudeten Crisis

Hitler moved on to negotiations. Negotiations were conducted between Henlein and the Czechoslovak government through the mediation of a special representative of Great Britain, Lord Runciman (see Mission of Runciman).

On May 21, Lukasiewicz, the Polish ambassador in Paris, assured US ambassador to France Bullitt that Poland would immediately declare war on the USSR if it tried to send troops through Polish territory to help Czechoslovakia.

On May 27, in a conversation with the Polish ambassador, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet stated that "Goering's plan for the division of Czechoslovakia between Germany and Hungary with the transfer of Cieszyn Silesia to Poland is not a secret."

Second Sudeten Crisis

The agreement signed in Munich was the culminating point of the English "appeasement policy".

One part of historians considers this policy an attempt to rebuild the crisis-ridden Versailles system of international relations through diplomacy, through the agreements of the four great European powers, and to preserve peace at any cost. So Chamberlain, returning from Munich to London, at the gangway of the plane said: "I brought peace to our generation."

Another part of historians believes that the real reason for pursuing this policy is an attempt by capitalist countries to crush an alien system at their side - the USSR, which abandoned the idea of ​​a world revolution, which certainly affects the interests of the population of the whole world, but did not put forward its plans with the aim of making an agreed peaceful decision on discussion of the League of Nations, of which he was a member. Such assumptions were expressed by some Western politicians.

For example, British Deputy Foreign Secretary Cadogan wrote in his diary: “Prime Minister ( Chamberlain) declared that he would rather resign than sign an alliance with the Soviets. The slogan of the Conservatives at the time was: "For Britain to live, Bolshevism must die."

Quotes

How terrible, fantastic and implausible is the very idea that we should dig trenches and try on gas masks here, at home, only because in one distant country people quarreled among themselves about whom we know nothing. It seems even more impossible that a quarrel already settled in principle can become the subject of war.

Original text (English)

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. It seems still more impossible that a quarrel which has already been settled in principle should be the subject of war.

Consequences of the Sudeten Crisis

The rejection of the Sudetenland was only the beginning of the process of dismemberment of Czechoslovakia.

Germany's next steps after the resolution of the Sudeten crisis in Munich were not discussed. The parties did not object to Slovakia's exercise of the right to self-determination, and the preservation of the remainder of Czechoslovakia - the Czech Republic - was guaranteed by the Munich Agreement.

Poland and partition of Czechoslovakia

The policy of England led to the fact that Hitler could no longer stop in the implementation of his expansionist intentions. In this, Poland became his ally for a while.

Original text (German)

Der Führer und Reichskanzler hat heute in Gegenwart des Reichsministers des Auswärtigen von Ribbentrop den tschechoslowakischen Staatspräsidenten Dr. Hacha und den tschechoslowakischen Außenminister Dr. Chvalkovsky auf deren Wunsch in Berlin empfangen. Bei der Zusammenkunft ist die durch die Vorgänge der letzten Wochen auf dem bisherigen tschechoslowakischen Staatsgebiet entstandene ernste Lage in voller Offenheit einer Prüfung unterzogen worden. Auf beiden Seiten ist übereinstimmend zum Ausdruck gebracht worden, daß das Ziel aller Bemühungen die Sicherung von Ruhe, Ordnung und Frieden in diesem Teile Mitteleuropas sein müsse. Der tschechoslowakische Staatspräsident hat erklärt, daß er, um diesem Ziele zu dienen und um eine endgültige Befriedung zu erreichen, das Schicksal des tschechischen Volkes und Landes vertrauensvoll in die Hände des Führers des Deutschen Reiches legt. Der Führer hat diese Erklärung angenommen und seinem Entschluß Ausdruck gegeben, daß er das tschechische Volk unter den Schutz des Deutschen Reiches nehmen und ihm eine seiner Eigenart gemäße autonome Entwicklung seines Lebens gewährleisten wird.

On the same day at Prague Castle, Hitler declared: "I am not boasting, but I must say that I did it really elegantly." England and France accepted what had happened as a fait accompli, since they set themselves the task of delaying the war as long as possible. Hitler, on the other hand, received a new ally (Slovakia) and significantly increased his raw material and industrial potential.

Germany received significant stocks of weapons from the former Czechoslovak army, which made it possible to equip 9 infantry divisions, and Czech military factories. Before the attack on the USSR, out of 21 Wehrmacht tank divisions, 5 were equipped with Czechoslovak-made tanks.

Danzig problem

Now it's Poland's turn.

On January 5, Hitler gave the Polish Foreign Minister Beck an honorary reception in Berchtesgaden, declaring the complete coincidence of interests of both countries in relation to the USSR, and noted that in view of the obvious danger of an attack from the USSR, the existence of a militarily strong Poland was vital to Germany. According to Hitler, each Polish division saves one division for Germany. To this, Beck replied that Poland, although it was anti-communist, would nevertheless not take part in any measures directed against the USSR, and would reject Germany's demands, since it did not have any guarantees from England and France in this matter. Thus, the war between Poland and Germany became inevitable.

On March 21, Hitler offers Poland, in exchange for recognizing the western borders of Poland, the Danzig corridor, the free harbor in Danzig and claims to Ukraine, to agree to the resettlement of the German population in the free city of Danzig and enjoying the right of extraterritoriality of the strip along the roads to East Prussia. The Polish government did not agree.

Chamberlain finally realized his mistake: the "policy of appeasement" pursued by him since 1937 did not justify itself. Hitler used England to strengthen Germany and began to threaten Eastern Europe.

On March 31, 1939, in his speech in the House of Commons, Chamberlain declared that in the event that the independence of Poland was threatened, the Government of England intended to guarantee this independence by all means at its disposal.

England and France accelerated the process of their armament. In France, the law on two-year compulsory military service, adopted back in 1935, came into full force.

In the same years, the United States violated its traditional non-interference in European affairs (the Monroe Doctrine). On April 14, 1939, after the entry of Italian troops into Albania, President Roosevelt addressed Mussolini and Hitler with a proposal in the form of an ultimatum, urging them to promise to refrain from attacking the states listed in his appeal for ten years, in which he directly asked: “We are ready can you give a guarantee that your armed forces will not be used against the next independent states? ..” And then followed a list of names of 31 countries, including Poland, Finland, the Baltic countries, Yugoslavia and the USSR

Munich Agreement 1938(in Soviet historiography usually Munich agreement; Czech Mnichovska dohoda; Slovak Mnichovska dohoda; German Munchner Abkommen; fr. Accords de Munich; ital. Accordi di Monaco)) - an agreement drawn up in Munich on September 29, 1938 and signed on September 30 of the same year by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. The agreement concerned the transfer of the Sudetenland by Czechoslovakia to Germany.

background

In 1938, 14 million people lived in Czechoslovakia, of which 3.5 million were ethnic Germans living compactly in the Sudetenland, as well as in Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine (Carpathian Germans). The industry of Czechoslovakia, including the military, was one of the most developed in Europe. From the moment of occupation by Germany until the start of the war with Poland, the Skoda factories produced almost as much military products as the entire military industry of Great Britain produced during the same time. Czechoslovakia was one of the world's leading exporters of weapons, its army was superbly armed and relied on powerful fortifications in the Sudetenland.

The Sudeten Germans, through the mouth of the head of the national-separatist Sudeten-German Party, K. Henlein, constantly announced the infringement of their rights by the Czechoslovak government. The government took a number of measures to ensure the representation of the Sudeten Germans in the National Assembly, local self-government, education in their native language, but the tension could not be removed. Based on these statements, Hitler in February 1938 appealed to the Reichstag with an appeal "to pay attention to the appalling living conditions of German brethren in Czechoslovakia."

First Sudeten Crisis

After the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938, Henlein arrives in Berlin, where he receives instructions on how to proceed. In April, his party adopted the so-called Carlsbad Program, which contained demands for autonomy. In May, the Henleinists activate pro-German propaganda, put forward a demand for a referendum on the annexation of the Sudetenland to Germany, and on May 22, the day of municipal elections, prepare a putsch in order to turn these elections into a plebiscite. At the same time, the Wehrmacht was advancing to the Czechoslovak border. This provoked the first Sudeten Crisis. Partial mobilization took place in Czechoslovakia, troops were brought into the Sudetes and occupied border fortifications. At the same time, the USSR and France declared support for Czechoslovakia (in pursuance of the Soviet-French treaty of May 2, 1935 and the Soviet-Czechoslovak treaty of May 16, 1935). Even Italy, Germany's ally, protested against the forceful resolution of the crisis. An attempt to tear away the Sudetenland based on the separatist movement of the Sudeten Germans this time failed. Hitler moved on to negotiations. Negotiations were conducted between Henlein and the Czechoslovak government through the mediation of England.

Second Sudeten Crisis

On September 12, 1938, after the failure of negotiations, a second Sudeten crisis was provoked. The Henleinites organized mass demonstrations in the Sudetenland, which forced the government of Czechoslovakia to send troops into the German-populated areas and declare martial law there. Henlein, avoiding arrest, fled to Germany. The next day, Chamberlain sent a telegram to Hitler of his readiness to visit him "for the sake of saving the world." September 15, 1938 Chamberlain arrives for a meeting with Hitler in the city of Berchtesgaden, in the Bavarian Alps. During this meeting, the Fuhrer announced that he wanted peace, but was ready for war because of the Czechoslovak problem. However, war can be avoided if Great Britain agrees to the transfer of the Sudetenland to Germany on the basis of the right of nations to self-determination. Chamberlain agreed with this.

On September 18, Anglo-French consultations were held in London. The parties agreed that territories inhabited by more than 50% of Germans should go to Germany, and that Great Britain and France would guarantee the new borders of Czechoslovakia. On September 20-21, the British and French envoys in Czechoslovakia told the Czechoslovak government that if it did not accept the Anglo-French proposals, the French government would "not fulfill the treaty" with Czechoslovakia. They also reported the following: “If the Czechs unite with the Russians, the war may take on the character of a crusade against the Bolsheviks. Then it will be very difficult for the governments of England and France to stand aside.” The Czech government refused to comply with these conditions.

September 22 Hitler issues an ultimatum: do not interfere with Germany in the occupation of the Sudetenland. In response, Czechoslovakia and France announce mobilization. On September 27, Hitler, before the threat of the outbreak of war, backs down and sends Chamberlain a letter in which he says that he does not want war, is ready to guarantee the security of the rest of Czechoslovakia and discuss the details of the agreement with Prague. September 29 in Munich, at the initiative of Hitler, he meets with the heads of government of Great Britain, France and Italy. However, contrary to the promise in the letter to Chamberlain, the Czechoslovak representatives were not allowed to discuss the agreement. The USSR was denied participation in the meeting.

Munich Agreement

The meeting in Munich at the Führerbau took place on September 29-30. The basis of the agreement was the proposals of Italy, which practically did not differ in any way from the requirements put forward earlier by Hitler at a meeting with Chamberlain. Chamberlain and Daladier accepted these proposals. At one in the morning on September 30, 1938, Chamberlain, Daladier, Mussolini and Hitler signed the Munich Agreement. After that, the Czechoslovak delegation was admitted to the hall where this agreement was signed. The leadership of Great Britain and France put pressure on the government of Czechoslovakia, and President Benes, without the consent of the National Assembly, accepted this agreement for execution.

Consequences

The rejection of the Sudetenland was only the beginning of the process of dismemberment of Czechoslovakia.

Poland took part in the division of Czechoslovakia: on September 21, 1938, in the midst of the Sudeten crisis, Polish leaders presented an ultimatum to the Czechs about the "return" of the Teszyn region, where 80 thousand Poles and 120 thousand Czechs lived. On September 27, another demand was made. Anti-Czech hysteria was being whipped up in the country. On behalf of the so-called "Union of Silesian Insurgents" in Warsaw, recruitment into the Cieszyn Volunteer Corps was quite open. Detachments of "volunteers" then went to the Czechoslovak border, where they staged armed provocations and sabotage, attacked weapons depots. Polish planes violated the border of Czechoslovakia daily. Polish diplomats in London and Paris advocated an equal approach to solving the Sudetenland and Cieszyn problems, while the Polish and German military, meanwhile, were already agreeing on the line of demarcation of troops in the event of an invasion of Czechoslovakia. On the same day with the conclusion of the Munich agreement, on September 30, Poland sent another ultimatum to Prague and, simultaneously with the German troops, brought its army into the Teszyn region, the subject of territorial disputes between it and Czechoslovakia in 1918-1920. Left in international isolation, the Czechoslovak government was forced to accept the terms of the ultimatum.

Under pressure from Germany, the Czechoslovak government decides on October 7 to grant autonomy to Slovakia, and on October 8 to Subcarpathian Rus.

On November 2, 1938, Hungary, by decision of the First Vienna Arbitration, received the southern (flat) regions of Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine (Podcarpathian Rus) with the cities of Uzhgorod, Mukachevo and Berehove.

In March 1939, Germany occupied the rest of the territory of Czechoslovakia, incorporating it into the Reich under the name "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia". The Czechoslovak army did not put up any noticeable resistance to the invaders. Germany received significant stocks of weapons from the former Czechoslovak army, which made it possible to equip 9 infantry divisions, and Czech military factories. Before the attack on the USSR, out of 21 Wehrmacht tank divisions, 5 were equipped with Czechoslovak-made tanks.

March 19 - The government of the USSR presents a note to Germany, where it declares its non-recognition of the German occupation of part of the territory of Czechoslovakia.

The agreement signed in Munich was the culminating point of the English "policy of appeasement". One part of historians considers this policy an attempt to rebuild the crisis-ridden Versailles system of international relations through diplomacy, through agreements between the four great European powers. Chamberlain, returning from Munich to London, at the gangway of the plane said: "I brought peace to our generation." Another part of historians believes that the real reason for this policy is an attempt by capitalist countries to crush an alien system at their side - the USSR. For example, British Deputy Foreign Secretary Cadogan wrote in his diary: “Prime Minister ( Chamberlain) declared that he would rather resign than sign an alliance with the Soviets. The slogan of the conservatives at the time was:

On the eve of Chamberlain's meeting with Hitler, on September 10, 1938, Sir Horace Wilson, the prime minister's closest adviser on all political matters, invited Chamberlain to declare to the German leader that he highly appreciated the opinion that "Germany and England are the two pillars that maintain peace of order against destructive pressure of Bolshevism", and that therefore he "desires not to do anything that could weaken the rebuff that we can together give to those who threaten our civilization."

Thus, the “appeasement policy” pursued since 1937 did not justify itself: Hitler used England to strengthen Germany, then captured almost the entire continental Europe, after which he attacked the USSR.

Quotes

Czechoslovakia and its neighbors in 1918-1938. 1 - Czech Republic; 2 - Moravia; 3 - Slovakia; 4 - Transcarpathia (Subcarpathian Rus)

A little more than 70 years ago, Western democrats, entering into an agreement with Hitler, actually handing over Czechoslovakia to him, thought that they were bringing peace to their peoples and Europe as a whole. Today, the states that were involved in the events of those years are more fond of philosophizing about the fight against world terrorism, about promoting democracy, but they forget the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the bombing and occupation of Iraq. It is forgotten that instead of peace with the Munich Agreement, Europe entered the path of the Second World War.

BACKGROUND OF THE QUESTION

Czechoslovakia was a strong supporter of the Versailles system, in foreign policy it relied on cooperation with France and on its own alliance - the Little Entente, which also included Romania and Yugoslavia. In the 1930s, Czechoslovakia also became one of the main supporters of the collective security guaranteed by the League of Nations.

It should be noted that Versailles dealt a serious blow to Germany, which was successively broken by defeat, revolution, inflation, economic depression and dictatorship. Great Britain and France gained nothing from weakening their opponents. They sacrificed the flower of the nation - the younger generation - for a peace that made the enemy geopolitically stronger than before the war.

Actually, Versailles nurtured the idea of ​​revenge in Germany. Therefore, Adolf Hitler put forward a plan to create a German superstate in fulfillment of the idea he had declared about the national self-determination of the Germans and for the sake of "correcting" the shortcomings of the Versailles Treaty.

By the way, in modern history, the Third Reich is the only plan to create a superstate that has been implemented. Hitler took the name "Third Reich" from a book published in 1923 by an obscure German nationalist historian. Hitler, along with the author of the book, believed that the new German state should become the successor to the previous empires - the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806) and the German Empire (1871-1918).

1933 - the Nazis came to power in Germany and created a direct threat to Czechoslovakia. The Nazis did not hide their revanchist plans for the defeat in the First World War, and they soon put forward territorial claims to Czechoslovakia.

The government of Czechoslovakia was forced to look for a way to ensure the defense of the state against a surprise attack. On the recommendation of France, it was decided to start building a powerful border fortification. At that time, the border with Germany was 1,545 km long, and it was decided that it would be fortified along its entire length.

Since Poland and Hungary also put forward territorial claims against Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovakia had to strengthen the border with Hungary with a length of 832 km and with Poland - 984 km.

The first step towards the expansion of Germany was the annexation of the Saar region - German territory, which, under the Treaty of Versailles, passed to France. It happened peacefully - on January 13, 1935, France held a referendum in which the majority of the population voted for inclusion in Germany. The continuation of the expansion policy was the Anschluss of Austria on March 12, 1938 in the south of the Third Reich.

SUDENET GERMANS

3.2 million Germans lived on the territory of Czechoslovakia in the Sudetenland. The German minority had several political parties. The activities of the German Nationalist and German National Socialist Workers' Parties were suspended in April 1935 due to contacts with organizations of Nazi Germany and activities aimed at destabilizing the situation in Czechoslovakia.

After that, adherents of these parties, led by Konrad Henlein, based on the Sudeten German Patriotic Front that had existed since October 2, 1933, created the Sudeten German Party in 1935. Initially, this party was loyal to the government, but the Nazis gradually began to enter its leadership. Gradually, this party turned into Hitler's "fifth column".

The German press and propaganda, spreading descriptions of the "martyrdom" of the Sudeten Germans (remember the recent processes in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo and the actions of the Western media), subjected to harassment and discrimination by the Czechs, as well as provocations and riots organized by the Sudeten German Party, dangerously thickened the atmosphere around the Sudetenland, giving Hitler the opportunity for unrestrained attacks on Czechoslovakia.

Already on April 21, 1938, Hitler and Keitel developed the Grün plan, which was to attack Czechoslovakia after a series of diplomatic negotiations that would lead to a crisis.

The Karlovy Vary program was prepared in close contact with Hitler. For the Germans, the main thing was to find out the position of England and France regarding the support of Czechoslovakia. British and French politicians considered it unsafe to send the Czechoslovaks to resistance and recommended that they negotiate.

April 28-29 Chamberlain, Halifax, Daladier and Bonnet met in London. The French government, considering itself bound by the French-Czech treaty, sought in vain to obtain clear guarantees from England, on which the Soviet Union actively insisted. On May 30, 1938, at a meeting of the generals in Uteborg, Hitler announced the armed seizure of Czechoslovakia no later than October 1, 1938 (Operation Grün), and in September, at the NSDAP congress, in the speeches of Hitler and Goebbels, there were unequivocal warnings about the "liberation of the oppressed Germans" and liquidation of the Czechoslovak state.

The hostility of Germany grew all the time also due to the fact that Czechoslovakia received all anti-fascist emigrants.

Indeed, France and England were the generators of peace in Europe, they wanted to avoid a war, for which, despite numerous assurances, they were not ready, so they exerted powerful pressure on Czechoslovakia.

They wanted to satisfy Adolf Hitler at the expense of a friendly country whose security France had guaranteed. The British and French governments, instead of helping Czechoslovakia, launched activities to "save" the world "at any cost", in this case, at the cost of dismembering Czechoslovakia.

BERCHTERSGADEN - PROLOGUE TO MUNICH

On September 15, 1938, Chamberlain went to negotiate with Hitler in Berchtersgaden. During the "negotiations" Chamberlain promised to convey to the Czechoslovak government Hitler's demands for the transfer of the Sudetenland to Germany.

On September 18, the British and French governments agreed to transfer a number of Czechoslovak territories to Germany. The next day, the President of Czechoslovakia, E. Benes, was presented with an ultimatum on the transfer of German-populated territories to Germany, which he accepted on September 21. The Soviet Union declared its readiness to fulfill its obligations to defend Czechoslovakia without taking into account the position of France, but subject to the consent of Poland or Romania to the passage of units of the Red Army through their territory. Poland refused and put pressure on Romania, and Benes himself refused the help of the USSR: apparently, he preferred to accept the ultimatum of the Western powers.

On September 23, Czechoslovakia carried out a successful mobilization. The Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia after mobilization included four armies, 14 corps, 34 divisions and 4 infantry groups, mobile divisions (tank + cavalry), as well as 138 battalions of fortress garrisons that were not part of the divisions, 7 aviation squadrons, numbering 55 squadrons ( 13 bomber, 21 fighter and 21 reconnaissance squadrons) and 1514 aircraft, of which 568 are first-tier aircraft.

Czechoslovakia placed 1,250,000 men under arms, of which 972,479 were deployed in the first echelon. The army consisted of 36,000 trucks, 78,900 horses and 32,000 wagons. It was a fairly powerful army: even alone, it could resist Germany. Apparently, Hitler was also afraid of her, so he forced events. The Czechoslovak army was simply disarmed, without any resistance. Hitler received mountains of weapons without a war, which he actively used in the war against the countries of Europe.

MUNICH AGREEMENT

The most dramatic event of 1938 took place on September 29, when four statesmen met at the Fuhrer's Munich residence to redraw the map of Europe. The three distinguished guests at this historic conference were British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier and Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini. But the main figure was the hospitable German host Adolf Hitler.

Opening it, Hitler made a speech, bursting into abuse against Czechoslovakia. He demanded "in the interests of the European world" the immediate transfer of the Sudetenland and stated that under any conditions, his troops would be brought into the border areas on October 1. At the same time, the Fuhrer again assured that Germany had no other claims in Europe. He defined the task of the conference as follows: to give the entry of German troops into the territory of Czechoslovakia a legal character and to exclude the use of weapons.

By the middle of the day, two representatives of Czechoslovakia arrived, who were placed in one of the rooms under reliable guard. The Czechoslovak delegation was not admitted to the negotiations. The speeches of the participants in the conspiracy were not taken in shorthand, because the deal was clearly not subject to publicity.

Formally, the basis for signing the agreement was the infringement of the rights of the German minority (3.2 million) living in Czechoslovakia in the Sudetenland and other areas with a predominantly German population.

The Munich Agreement was signed on the night of 29/30 September 1938. Under this agreement, Germany received the right to annex the Sudetenland, as well as those areas where the German population exceeded 50 percent. German troops entered the Sudetenland. In return, the two powers gave "guarantees" of the new borders of Czechoslovakia. What these guarantees cost is evidenced by the further development of events.

The loneliness of Czechoslovakia was to some extent voluntary, since the Franco-Soviet-Czechoslovak agreement also provided for unilateral assistance, but on condition that one of the parties asked for it herself. The President of Czechoslovakia, Benes, not only did not demand help from the Soviet Union, but did not even insist on inviting a representative of the USSR to Munich.

The joint coercion of Czechoslovakia to give up its territories by the efforts of Hitler and Mussolini on the one hand and the "Western democracies" led by Chamberlain and Deladier (the United States also supported the Munich deal) - on the other, became a landmark. In exchange, Germany signed declarations with England (September 30) and France (December 6), which, in fact, were non-aggression pacts.

“It was clear to me from the very beginning,” Hitler admitted to his generals after the “Munich agreement,” that the Sudetenland-German region would not satisfy me. This is a half-hearted decision."

In the period from October 1 to 10, 1938, Germany annexes the Sudetenland with an area of ​​30 thousand square meters. km, in which more than 3 million people lived, border fortifications and important industrial enterprises were located. Poland (to the Teszyn region) and Hungary (to the southern regions of Slovakia) presented their territorial claims, which allowed Hitler to whitewash the annexation of the Sudetenland with the “international” nature of the demands on Czechoslovakia.

HOMEBROWN AGGRESSORS

Taking advantage of Germany's preparations for the capture of Czechoslovakia and the Munich policy of "appeasement" of the aggressor, the Horthy government of Hungary in August 1938 demanded that the Czechoslovak regions with the Hungarian national minority be transferred to it.

The role of arbiter was assumed by Germany and Italy, represented by Foreign Ministers Ribbentrop and Ciano. By a decision made on November 2, 1938, the southern regions of Slovakia and the region of Ruthenia (Podcarpathian Rus) with a total area of ​​11,927 square meters were transferred to Hungary. km with a population of 772 thousand people.

On September 21, the Polish government denounced the 1925 Polish-Czechoslovak treaty on national minorities and officially demanded the transfer of Teszyn and Spis. The Polish demands were accepted by the Prague government. Czechoslovakia ceded to Poland the area of ​​​​the Teshin and Spis regions, where 80 thousand Poles and 120 thousand Czechs lived.

However, the main acquisition was the industrial potential of the occupied territory. At the end of 1938, the enterprises located there produced almost 41% of the pig iron smelted in Poland and almost 47% of the steel.

As Churchill wrote about this in his memoirs, Poland "with the greed of a hyena took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state." An equally flattering zoological comparison is given in his book by the previously cited American researcher Baldwin: "Poland and Hungary, like vultures, tore off pieces of a dying divided state." So, in 1938, no one was going to be ashamed. The capture of the Teshin region was seen as a national triumph. After the signing of the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia, having satisfied the territorial claims of Poland and Hungary, lost its border fortifications, rich coal deposits, part of light industry and some railway junctions.

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Everything that happened after the conclusion of the Munich Agreement showed the illusory hopes of European politicians who believed that Hitler could be "appeased." Berlin immediately set about preparing a solution to the problem of Czechoslovakia as a whole.

On March 14, the Slovak Autonomous Sejm, in accordance with Hitler's demands, declared the sovereignty of the Slovak state. Summoned to Berlin, Hacha was informed of the impending invasion and on the night of March 15 signed the said agreement on the need to "entrust the fate of the Czech people and the country itself into the hands of the Fuhrer and the German Reich", thereby liquidating Czechoslovakia as a state. German troops at that time had already entered Czechoslovakia and at 9 o'clock in the morning on March 15 occupied Prague. The German occupation of the Czech lands began.

Czechoslovakia after the Munich Agreement - Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (March 15, 1939 - May 8, 1945). 1 - Protectorate; 2 - Slovak state

On March 16, 1939, Hitler established the regime of the so-called protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in order to pseudo-legally formalize the colonial dependence of the Czech lands on the “Great German Reich”. The protectorate was headed by state president Emil Hacha and the government. In fact, power was exercised by the Reich Protector and his administration, where the Sudeten German Karl Hermann Frank had a decisive vote.

WAR PROLOGUE

The Munich Agreement and the capitulatory position of the government of Czechoslovakia led to the fact that:

The country ceased to exist as an independent and sovereign state, and its territory was divided between Germany and the new aggressors - Poland and Hungary;

The large and well-armed Czechoslovak army was excluded from the ranks of potential opponents of the Third Reich: 1582 aircraft, 2676 artillery pieces, 469 tanks, 43,000 machine guns, 1 million rifles, huge stocks of ammunition, various military equipment and the military-industrial complex of Czechoslovakia, which until the end war worked for Germany. The industry rebuilt by the Nazis in a military fashion was very effective: only the Skoda factories in the Czech Republic in 1940 produced as much weapons as the entire British industry.

If Hitler carried out the Anschluss of Austria under the cover of a referendum, then the occupation of Czechoslovakia was actually sanctioned by the "peacekeepers" Chamberlain and Deladier, forgetting about the guarantees that were given to Czechoslovakia before. Moreover, they encouraged Hitler's aggressive policy and sought to "sewage" German aggression to the East and put the world in danger of unleashing a world war.

Here is what the American magazine Time wrote on January 2, 1939 in the article “Man of the Year 1938 Adolf Hitler”: “When Hitler, without bloodshed, reduced Czechoslovakia to the status of a puppet of Germany, achieved a radical revision of European defensive alliances and received freedom of action in Eastern Europe after guarantees of non-intervention from England (and then France), he, without a doubt, became the "Man of the Year-1938".

According to some estimates, 1133 streets and squares, such as the Rathausplatz in Vienna, acquired the name of Adolf Hitler. He dealt with two rivals: the President of Czechoslovakia, Benes, and the last Chancellor of Austria, Kurt von Schuschnigg, sold 900,000 copies of Mein Kampf in Germany, which was also widely sold in Italy and insurgent Spain. His only loss was his sight: he began to wear glasses for work. Last week, Herr Hitler threw a Christmas party for 7,000 workers building the giant New Chancellery in Berlin, telling them: "The next decade will show these countries with their patented democracies where the real culture lies."

To those who watched the events of the end of the year, it seemed more than likely that "Man of the Year 1938" could make the year 1939 memorable.

Time made the right decision. Indeed, the year 1939 became memorable not only because Hitler finally “swallowed” Czechoslovakia, but also because he unleashed the Second World War. But Joseph Stalin became the man of 1939, you can read about this in Time magazine (Jan. 1, 1940). By the way, he was the man of the year in 1942.

Interestingly, the magazine contains the maxim of I. Stalin "One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is statistics."

Another thing is interesting: why did Joseph Stalin become the man of the year in 1939? According to Time, the Nazi-Communist "non-aggressive" treaty signed in the Kremlin on the night of August 23-24 was, in fact, a diplomatic demarche, literally destroying the world. In fact, it was signed by German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov. But Comrade Stalin had to give his blessing to this treaty, and he did it. With this treaty, Germany broke through the British-French "encirclement", freeing itself from the need to fight on two fronts. Another thing is also clear: without the treaty, the German generals, of course, would not have felt the desire to start hostilities. With this, World War II began. From Russia's point of view, the treaty at first seemed like a brilliant move in the cynical game of power politicians. It was expected that the smart Joseph Stalin would lie basely, allow the Allies and the Germans to wage a war of attrition, after which he might have collected some parts of the territory.

In reality, Comrade Stalin received something much more:

More than half of defeated Poland was simply handed over to him without war;

The three Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were calmly informed that after that (in the future) they should turn to Moscow, and not to Berlin. They all signed "mutual assistance" treaties, turning them into real protectorates of the Soviet Union;

Germany gave up any interest in Finland, thus giving the Russians carte blanche in the war with the Finns;

Germany agreed to recognize some Russian interests in the Balkans, Romanian Bessarabia and Eastern Bulgaria.

Let me remind you that Molotov said about the signing of the Soviet-German treaty: “The Soviet-German treaty was subjected to numerous attacks in the Anglo-French and American press. They go so far as to accuse us of the fact that, you see, there is no clause in the treaty stating that it will be denounced if one of the contracting parties becomes involved in the war under conditions that may give someone an external reason to qualify her attacker. Is it difficult for these gentlemen to understand the meaning of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, by virtue of which the USSR is not obliged to be drawn into the war either on the side of England against Germany, or on the side of Germany against England?

By the way, according to the non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany of August 23, 1939, the parties refused to participate in aggressive alliances against each other, but not defensive ones. Therefore, already after the signing of the treaty with the Germans, the Soviet government offered England and France on August 30, 1939 to continue negotiations on a defensive alliance. However, the Anglo-French side did not respond to this proposal.

REFERENCE

According to the decision of the victorious powers, enshrined in the Potsdam agreements, in the period from 1945 to 1950, 11.7 million Germans were forcibly evicted from their places of permanent residence in Central and Eastern Europe, including: from the Baltic states and the Memel region - 168,800 people, from East Prussia - 1,935,400 people, from Danzig - 283,000 people, from East Pomerania - 14,316,000 people, from East Brandenburg - 424,000 people, from Poland - 672,000 people, from Silesia - 315,200 people, Czechoslovakia - 2,921,400 people, Romania - 246,000 people, Hungary - 206,000 people, Yugoslavia - 287,000 people. (Data from the Statistical Yearbook of the Federal Republic of Germany for 1960)

Back in 1942, Great Britain and France, in 1944 Italy, in 1950 the GDR and in 1973 the FRG declared the Munich Agreement initially invalid.

Another detail. The Munich Agreement has once again led to a change in the balance of power in Europe. Germany triumphantly returned to Europe and again returned to the forgotten topic of the Balkans. In fact, Munich marked the prologue of the Second World War.

When Foreign Minister Kamil Kroft, broken and indignant, on September 30, 1938, informed the Prague ambassadors of the three "Munich" powers - Great Britain, France and Italy - that his government agreed with the rejection of part of the territory of Czechoslovakia in favor of Hungary and Germany, he added a warning: " I don't know whether your countries will benefit from the decision taken in Munich. But, of course, we will not be the last, others will suffer after us.” Indeed, many suffered, especially in Europe. Munich meant the absolute end of the post-World War I order. It was supposed to be replaced by a system created on the basis of agreements between the countries participating in the Munich agreement. But this system collapsed before it was created. The world and Europe still did not escape the war that broke out on September 1, 1939.

Munich encourages us to think that in today's turbulent world, any unexpected turns can be expected, and the art of power can skillfully maneuver in this turbulent sea.

RETRIBUTION

The last shots of the Second World War thundered on European soil near the village of Milin, south of Prague, on May 12, 1945. The Resistance movement believed that in the new Czechoslovakia there should be no place for the German national minority, which in its essence was the German “fifth column”. In principle, this corresponded to the preliminary plans of the Allies for the post-war reorganization of Europe. President Eduard Beneš eventually joined the plan to evict the Germans.

The eviction plan was also supported by all political movements in Czechoslovakia. The hatred of the inhabitants of Czechoslovakia for the Germans was so great that the so-called wild eviction began: the spontaneous expulsion of Germans from the state.

The Potsdam Conference on August 1, 1945, which determined the future fate of Germany and the eastern borders of Poland, confirmed the eviction of the German population from Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary. Thus, the official eviction of the Germans was legalized.

The Benes government formed a special body that dealt with ethnic cleansing: a department was organized in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the implementation of “odsun” - “expulsion”. The whole of Czechoslovakia was divided into 13 districts, each headed by a person responsible for the expulsion of the Germans. 1200 people worked in exile.By 1950, Czechoslovakia was left without a German minority.