The story of the Sudetenland

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  12-13 September 1938:

  • Hitler encourages Konrad Henlein, leader of the Sudeten Nazis, to rebel, and demands a union with Germany.
  • When the Czech government declares martial law, Hitler threatens war.
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  15 September 1938:

  • Chamberlain goes to see Hitler at Berchtesgaden.
  • Without consulting Czechoslovakia, he promises to give Hitler all the areas where more than 50 per cent of the population is German. Then he persuades France to agree.
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  22-23 September 1938:

  • Chamberlain goes to Bad Godesberg to tell Hitler about the decision, but Hitler now demands ALL the Sudetenland. Chamberlain refuses; it looks like war.
  • Chamberlain calls the crisis 'a quarrel in a faraway country, between people of whom we know nothing'.
• 

  30 September 1938:

  • At Munich, France and Britain agree to give Hitler the Sudetenland.
  • Chamberlain waves 'a piece of paper' with Hitler's statement that he does not want to go to war. German troops march into the Sudetenland, and are welcomed as heroes.