The Czechoslovakians were appalled by the colony of Munich. They were not invited to the conference and felt betrayed by the British and French governments. Many Czechs and Slovaks describe the Munich agreement as a Munich diktat (Czech: Mnichovska diktéta); in Slovak: Mnechovska diktét). The phrase “Munich betrayal” (Czech: Mnichovska zrada; In Slovak: Mnechovska zrada) is also used because Czechoslovakia`s military alliance with France proved useless. This is also reflected in the fact that the French government, in particular, had considered that Czechoslovakia would be held responsible for any European war that would result if the Czechoslovak Republic defended itself by force against German abuses. In 1938, the Soviet Union was allied with France and Czechoslovakia. In September 1939, the Soviets were in every respect a fighter with Nazi Germany, due to Stalin`s fears that a second Munich agreement with the Soviet Union would replace Czechoslovakia. Thus, the agreement indirectly contributed to the outbreak of war in 1939. [60] This agreement was no secret, however, and Prague, although informed after the signing of the documents, was informed of it. It goes without saying that neither the inhabitants of the Baltic States, nor the Poles, nor the Finns were informed of their fate as a result of the development of the additional protocols to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. On 28 September at 10 a.m., four hours before the deadline expired and without the approval of Hitler`s request to Czechoslovakia, the British Ambassador to Italy, Lord Perth, summoned the Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Galeazzo Ciano, to request an emergency meeting. [37] Perth informed Ciano that Chamberlain had ordered him to ask Mussolini in the negotiations and ask Hitler to delay the ultimatum.
[37] At 11:00 a.m., Ciano met With Mussolini and informed him of Chamberlain`s proposal; Mussolini agreed and responded by questioning the Italian ambassador to Germany and telling him: “Go immediately to Fuhrer`s house and tell him that I will be by his side, but that I ask for a 24-hour delay before hostilities begin. In the meantime, I will study what can be done to solve the problem. [40] Hitler received Mussolini`s message during an interview with the French ambassador. Hitler told the ambassador: “My good friend, Benito Mussolini, asked me to delay the Marching Orders of the German Army by 24 hours, and I agreed. Of course, this was not a concession, since the invasion date was set for October 1, 1938. [41] After a meeting with Chamberlain, Lord Perth Mussolini and Chamberlain`s request thanked Mussolini for attending a four-power conference in Munich on 29 September from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy to resolve the Sudetenland problem before the 14:00 deadline. Mussolini agreed. [41] Hitler`s only request was to have Mussolini involved in the negotiations of the conference. [41] When U.S. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt learned that the conference was being held, he telegraphed Chamberlain: “Good Man.” [42] During World War II, British Prime Minister Churchill, who opposed the agreement when it was signed, decided not to abide by the terms of the agreement after the war and to bring the Sudetenland back to post-war Czechoslovakia. On 5 August 1942, Foreign Minister Anthony Eden sent Jan Masaryk: just one month after the Munich agreement, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, a supporter of appeasement, admitted to King George VI that “what was significant was that neither France nor Russia had ever asked questions during the crisis.” He felt it was better to “leave the Soviets alone.” He boasted in a letter to his sister that he would resist any pressure exerted on him by Winston Churchill to “form a great alliance against Germany…