Was Czechoslovakia served on a dish to Hitler at Munich? What were its implications?

Answer:

At Munich in September 1938 Britain and France conceded the Sudetenland to Hitler without Czechoslovak participation in the decision. The metaphor of a country served up on a dish is therefore apt, and the implications of that surrender were grave and far-reaching.

Why the metaphor fits

• Czechoslovakia was not represented at the conference that dismembered her.
• Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler and Mussolini decided her fate among themselves.
• The Sudetenland contained her mountain fortifications, industry and defensible frontier.
• France abandoned her treaty obligation to defend Czechoslovakia.
• The Soviet Union, also bound by treaty, was excluded from the negotiations.

The logic of appeasement

• Memories of the carnage of 1914-18 made another war unthinkable to public opinion.
• Britain and France believed themselves militarily unprepared and needed time to rearm.
• Many accepted that the Versailles treatment of Germany had been unjust.
• Fear of the Soviet Union made some prefer a strong Germany as a barrier.
• Chamberlain returned proclaiming 'peace for our time'.

The immediate implications

• Hitler occupied the rest of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, exposing his promises as worthless.
• Czechoslovakia's army, the Skoda works and her defences passed into German hands.
• The credibility of Britain and France with smaller states was destroyed.

The wider implications

• Stalin concluded the West would not resist Hitler, leading to the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939.
• That pact removed Hitler's fear of a two-front war and opened the way to the invasion of Poland.
• Appeasement was discredited and Britain guaranteed Poland in March 1939.
• Munich became the enduring byword for the futility of conceding to aggression.

The historiographical debate

• A.J.P. Taylor argued Hitler was an opportunist exploiting others' blunders rather than following a plan.
• Orthodox critics hold that firmness in 1938 might have stopped him, since his generals were uneasy.
• Defenders note that British rearmament, radar and public opinion all improved in the year gained.
• Against this, Czechoslovakia's thirty-five divisions and strong defences were lost to the Allied side.
• The balance of scholarly opinion holds the delay favoured Germany more than Britain.

Czechoslovakia was thus genuinely served up to Hitler, sacrificed by powers who believed they were buying peace. As A.J.P. Taylor and his critics alike acknowledge, the settlement bought only months, strengthened Germany strategically and pushed Stalin towards Berlin, so that Munich stands as the decisive step on the road to the Second World War.