Hitler's plans for Czechoslovakia

Sudetenland Invasion, October 1938

In 1938, Hitler turned his attention to the Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia.

The nation of Czechoslovakia had been created after WWI. Two Slavic peoples, the Czechs and the Slovaks, came together to form the country along with three million German speakers from the Sudeten area on the border with Germany, and smaller numbers of Hungarians, Ukrainians and Poles. The 20 years since its creation had seen its democracy and economy flourish.

The main threat to the fledgling nation was from Hitler's plans for expansion and from the Sudeten Germans who, used to being part of the German-speaking Austrian empire, were not happy at their inclusion in a Slav-controlled state.

By March 1938, Hitler had successfully invaded Austria without a shot being fired. With one major German-speaking territory under his control he then turned his attention to another - the Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia.

Hitler wanted to use the Sudeten Germans to create trouble in Czechoslovakia and, as he had in the Rhineland and Austria, use this as a pretence for invading and "restoring order".

Not content with merely one piece of Czechoslovakia, Hitler planned to smash the country. The Czechs and Slovaks were of Slavic origin and, according to Hitler's racial proclamations that the German/Aryan people were superior to other races, they were considered Untermenschen (subhuman).

Hitler builds the tension

Czechoslovakia 1933

Hitler financed and supported the Sudeten German Party under Conrad Henlein. With Hitler's backing the party became a force to be reckoned with in Czechoslovakia.

• In March 1938, Hitler ordered Henlein to create a crisis in the country. The Sudeten Germans made increasingly bold demands from the government. When the demands could not be met they insisted that they were being persecuted.
• In April 1938, Henlein announced his Karlsbad Programme for Sudeten self-government, and organised civil unrest.
• In May 1938, Hitler moved his armies to the Czech border to intimidate the Czechoslovakian President, Benes. In response, Benes mobilised the Czech army into positions along the border.
• In July 1938, Hitler promised Britain's Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, that he would not invade Czechoslovakia if he were given control of the Sudetenland.
• In September 1938, Hitler made an inflammatory speech against the Czechoslovakian President, Benes, at a Nazi rally at Nuremberg.
• On the 12 September, the Sudeten Germans rioted and martial law was declared in Czechoslovakia.