Western betrayal: Encyclopedia II - Western betrayal - Czechoslovakia

Western betrayal - Czechoslovakia

See also: History of Czechoslovakia#Before WWII (1938 – 1939) and later sections

Unlike many of its neighbours, Czechoslovakia formed a stable republic after World War I and remained the only truly democratic state in Central Europe. However, territorial disputes with Germany, Poland and Hungary made the international situation of the state critical in the late thirties.

The League of Nations was seen as the main guarantor of peace. To protect against possible threats, Czechoslovakia signed numerous international treaties including military alliances with France, Yugoslavia, and Romania. Additional pacts were signed with the Soviet Union.

Western betrayal - Munich Conference

However when the German nationalist minority, led by Konrad Henlein and vehemently backed by Hitler, demanded the cession of the Sudetenland, Bohemian, Moravian and Silesian borderlands, the German territorial claims were met with what the Czechoslovaks regarded as apparent no opposition from Czechoslovak allies. Ever since March 1938 when the Anschluss with Austria occurred, there had been increased agitation in the Sudetenland for a union with Germany. At the same time, the German media started to denounce what the Germans claimed to be savage persecution of the ethnic German minority. It is true that the treatment of the ethnic Germans was not as ideal as many Czechoslovaks liked to pretend, but many of the German stories such as reports of massacres of Sudetenlanders were clearly false. In addition, the Germans denounced the Czechoslovak alliance with Moscow, and accused Czechoslovakia of being a Soviet “aircraft carrier” in Central Europe. More ominously, German troops started to mass on the Czechoslovak border.

In the Hossbach Memorandum of November 1937, Hitler announced that the period of German rearmament was over, and the time for war had come. In the near future, Hitler planned a series of swift lighting regional wars against such states like Czechoslovakia. Hitler did not place a precise timetable for when the wars were to begin. In May 1938, municipal elections were scheduled to take place in Czechoslovakia. In the run-up to the elections, rumors started to circulate that Germany was going to attack Czechoslovakia the weekend of the elections. Just before the elections, tensions were increased by the killing of two ethnic German farmers by the Czechoslovak police.

On Friday, May 19, 1938, a routine German troop movement was mistaken for the preliminary for an invasion. The Czechoslovak President Benes announced his country was under imminent danger and began a partial mobilization of the Czechoslovak military. Both the British and French governments were taken in by the false alarm and informed Berlin that if Germany attacked Czechoslovakia, they would go to war with Germany. France had a treaty obligation to Czechoslovakia, but beyond the Covenant of the League of Nations, Britain did not. However, the British government was determined to prevent another world war, and felt it best to warn Germany against aggression. The Germans denied being on the verge of aggression that weekend, but the German foreign minister was quite happy to make threats against Prague, Paris and London. By Sunday, the crisis had passed when it was clear that no German invasion was imminent. Many abroad felt that an invasion had planned for that weekend, but that the Czechoslovak mobilization and the Anglo-French warnings had forced Adolf Hitler to back down. Hitler was furious with this perception, regarding it as a personal humiliation. After the May Crisis, Hitler ordered an invasion of Czechoslovakia to begin no later than October 1, 1938.

Hitler's plan was to use the Sudetenland issue as pretext for war. In private, Hitler cared little for the Sudetenlanders. What Hitler wanted above all was a war to use his own words that would "Smash Czechoslovakia". Hitler planned to ask for the Sudetenland to transferred to Germany under the grounds of self-determination. Hitler neither expected nor wanted this demand to be granted. Once this request had refused, Hitler would use this rejection to justify a war of aggression.

All through the summer of 1938, the level of propaganda abuse of Czechoslovakia in the German media increased dramatically. With it went every increasing German troop build-up on the Czechoslovak border. France in 1938 was suffering from a serious financial crisis. In May 1938, there been a run on the franc, and only a bail-out from the Bank of England had prevented the Franc's total collapse. Moreover, French industrial production in the military sphere was slumping owing to the ill-thought moves of the Popular Front government. In March 1938, French aircraft production was around 60 planes compared to 300 planes made the same month in Germany. If France were to fight war, something would have done to increase French industrial productivity. The government of Edouard Daladier terminated the generous contacts made with French unions by the Popular Front government and broke a major wild-cat strike in October-November 1938 that was called to protest the move.

The French Premier Edouard Daladier was prepared to fight if the Germans attacked Czechoslovakia, but knowing his country's weakness, he was determined to do whatever it took to prevent a war from breaking out in 1938. Daladier felt France needed more time to get itself ready for war with Nazi Germany that Daladier believed to be inevitable. In Daladier's view, if statement could be reached that prevented a war, then any almost price was worth paying.

The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain believed that it was possible to reach a settlement with Adolf Hitler that would appease Germany and so prevent another war. In December 1937, Chamberlain privately drew up his plans for a "Grand Settlement" with Germany. The "Grand Settlement" called for the return of pre-1914 German colonial empire in Africa and the Pacific, Anschluss with Austria, the cession of Sudetenland, and the return of the Memelland, Free City of Danzig, Upper Silesia and the Polish Corridor to Germany. To sweeten the offer, Chamberlain was prepared to pressure Portugal to hand part of its African empire to Germany and to offer privileged access to the economic zone created by the Ottawa Agreements of 1932. In return, Chamberlain wanted a cast-iron promise from Hitler that he would guarantee the borders of all his neighbours, especially those in Eastern and Central Europe, renounce war as a method of resolving disputes, rejoin the League of Nations, and sign a series of agreements limiting military spending in the air and on the ground along the lines of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. Chamberlain hoped in a best case scenario this "Grand Settlement" may prevent an another war and in a worse case scenario, give Britain time to re-arm. All through the summer of 1938, the British had been attempting to serve as what they regarded as the "Honest broker" role that would preserve the peace. Chamberlain's plan was bizarre. On one hand, he warned Berlin that Britain would go to war if Germany attacked Czechoslovkia, and on the other hand, he pressured Prague to agree to handing-over the Sudetenland, which effectively left the country totally vulnerable to the inevitable German aggression. Beyond that, Chamberlain had the so-called "Plan Z", which was to fly to Germany, meet Hitler and see if an arrangement could be worked out.

On September 15, 1938, at the Nuremberg Party Congress, Hitler formally laid claim to the Sudetenland, and announced if Benes refused his demand to surrender it, he would to go to war in the very near future. To deal with the mounting crisis, Chamberlain flew to Germany twice and met with Hitler. At the first meeting, Chamberlain informed Hitler that if he agreed to put aside his deadline of October 1, 1938, then Britain and France would give their word of honour that they would would pressure Benes into handing over the Sudetenland within six months. If Hitler insisted on attacking Czechoslovkia by October 1, then Chamberlain told Hitler that he would be at war with not only Czechoslovkia, but Britain and France as well. Hitler very reluctantly accepted Chamberlain's offer. Hitler was furious with Chamberlain for accepting his public demands as it deprived him of his excuse to have the war he wanted.

As soon as Chamberlain returned to London, Hitler upped the ante, and announced that the Sudetenland had to be handed over no later then October, or else war would begin. Chamberlain once again flew to Germany to meet, and once again he accepted Hitler's demand. Once again, Hitler was enraged as he was deprived of his pretext for war. Upon Chamberlain's return to the United Kingdom, Hitler again increased his demands, saying the timetable for the hand-over of the Sudetenland had to speed up. This time, Chamberlain refused Hitler's demand, and the world appeared to be on the verge of war. At the end of September, Benito Mussolini announced that Hitler was willing to meet with Chamberlain and Daladier in Munich for a last meeting to prevent a war.

In September of 1938 France and the UK decided to sacrifice the sovereignty of Czechoslovakia at the Munich Conference. On September 29, the Munich Agreement was signed by Germany, Italy, France, and Britain. The Munich Agreement stipulated that Czechoslovakia must cede Sudeten territory to Germany. The government of Czechoslovakia was not invited to the meeting.

Though Hitler achieved what he claimed to want at the Munich Conference, in private he regarded the Conference as terrible diplomatic defeat that had "cheated" him out of the war he wanted so desperately to start against Czechoslovkia. It is not clear why Hitler accepted the offer made at the Munich Conference when all the evidence suggests that all he really wanted was a war against Czechoslovakia.

The most probable explanation is that Hitler realized Chamberlain was serious in his threats that if Germany refused his offers and went to war with Prague, then Britain would go to war with Germany. Germany had little in the way of oil, and relied almost totally upon imports to fulfill her needs. 80% of the oil used in Germany in the 1930s came from the United States, Mexico, and Venezuela. Should an Anglo-German war break out, then given the relative strengths of the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine, the British would almost certainly impose a blockade on Germany that would have cut her off from oil imports from the Americas. The Germans had only stockpiled enough oil for a war against Czechoslovkia. The coal gasification process that would supply Germany with much of her oil during the Second World War had been invented by 1938, but very few coal gasification plants were in existence in 1938, leaving the Germans highly dependent on imported oil. And moreover, the two major centres of oil production in Europe were the Soviet Union and Romania, both allies of Czechoslovkia. Had war broken out in October 1938, it seems likely Germany would have conquered Czechoslovkia, and then been rapidly defeated by France and Britain owing to her lack of oil. Panzers did not go far on empty tanks. The principle difference between September 1938 and September 1939 is that under the terms of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of August 1939, the Soviets committed themselves to sign an Economic treaty to supply the Germans with oil.

The term Munich betrayal (Mnichovská zrada in Czech) is frequently used to denote the Munich Agreement. During the crisis that led to the Munich Agreement, the Soviets repeatedly offered to come to Czechoslovakia's aid if she was attacked by Germany. However, since the Soviet-Czechoslovak alliance only came into effect if the Franco-Czechoslovak alliance came into effect first, and France wanted to avoid war almost at any cost, there was little chance of Franco-Czechoslovak alliance being activated. As the crisis deepened over the summer and fall of 1938, the Soviets proclaimed that they would come to Czechoslovakia's defence even if France did not. There has been considerable debate amongst historians over how serious Stalin was in making these offers. The analysis done by the American historian Igor Lukes in his essay "Stalin and Czechoslovakia in 1938-39: An Autopsy of a Myth" from the book The Munich crisis, 1938 suggests that Stalin was not serious. But regardless of whether these were sincere offers of help or just mere posturing, the Soviet offers made a considerable impression on the Czechoslovak people and much of the pro-Soviet and anti-French feelings of the 1940s can be traced to 1938.

In early November 1938, under the Vienna Award, which was a result of the Munich agreement, Czechoslovakia (and later Slovakia) was forced by Germany and Italy to cede southern Slovakia (1/3 of Slovak territory) to Hungary, and Poland obtained small territorial cessions shortly thereafter. In late November 1938, the truncated state, renamed Czecho-Slovakia [the so-called Second Republic], was reconstituted in three autonomous units - Czechia (i.e. Bohemia and Moravia), Slovakia, and Ruthenia. On 14 March 1939, Slovakia gained nominal independence as a satellite state under Jozef Tiso. One day later, Hitler forced the president of Czecho-Slovakia, Emil Hácha, to surrender remaining Czechia to German control and made it into the German protectorate "Bohemia and Moravia". On the same day (March 15), the Carpatho-Ukraine (Subcarpathian Ruthenia) declared its independence and was immediately invaded and annexed by Hungary. Finally, on March 23 Hungary invaded and occupied from the Carpatho-Ukraine some further parts of Slovakia (eastern Slovakia).

Western betrayal - Second World War Ally

During the Second World War, former president Edvard Beneš and other Czechoslovak exiles in London organized a Czechoslovak government-in-exile and negotiated to obtain international recognition for the government and a renunciation of the Munich Agreement and its consequences. In the summer of 1941, the Allies recognized the exiled government. Czechoslovak military units fought alongside the Allied forces.

On 8th May 1944, Beneš signed an agreement with Soviet leaders stipulating that Czechoslovak territory liberated by Soviet armies would be placed under Czechoslovak civilian control. During the war, it was understood in the western capitals that a restored Czechoslovakia would be democratic, but within the Soviet sphere of influence. In the light of the fact that Beneš felt precisely the same way, it is hard to argue that this was a "betrayal" by the West. Beneš, who always had been something of a "Fellow traveller," felt deeply betrayed by the Munich Agreement, and came to the conclusion that the West could never be relied upon to defend Czechoslovakia. Instead, Beneš decided that the Soviets were Czechoslovakia's only true friends. Beneš believed that a democratic but pro-Soviet Czechoslovakia would be a bridge between the Soviet and Western worlds.

The so-called Third Republic came into being in April 1945 and at first included representatives from the Beneš government-in exile. The Third Republic was proclaimed at Košice and comprised a National Front (also known as the People's Front) that comprised representatives of every "non-collaborating" Czech and Slovak political party. Most of Czechoslovakia had been "liberated" by the Red Army and in May 1945, the Red Army was received rapturously in Prague. The fact that Soviets were perceived as being Czechoslovakia's only friends during the dark days of 1938, the leading role played in the resistance by the Czechoslovak Communist Party (which usually won about 10% of the vote before 1938), and the role of the Red Army in "liberating" Czechoslovakia did much to increase the prestige of Communism to the Czechoslovak people. There was much pro-Communist feeling that in December 1945, the Red Army was pulled out. Stalin felt the Red Army's presence was not necessary to secure a pro-Soviet orientation in Czechoslovakia.

In the May 1946 elections, which were completely free and fair, the Communists won a sweeping triumph with 38% of the vote. The Communist leader, Klement Gottwald became the Premier of a coalition government. Even when a Communist did not occupy a portfolio, there was always a Communist as deputy minister. The Soviet-backed communist parties grew in power and in 1947 the communist-controlled Ministry of Interior deployed police regiments to sensitive areas and equipped a workers' militia. On 25 February, Beneš, perhaps fearing Soviet intervention, capitulated. He accepted the resignations of the dissident ministers and received a new cabinet list, thus completing the communist takeover. In February 1948, when the Communists definitively took power in what was known as the "Victorious February", Czechoslovakia was declared a "people's democracy".

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Czechoslovakia", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki