1938: Munich

Abstract

The summer of 1938 was a particularly fine one for Britain. The growing Czech crisis was far less promising than the weather: Hitler had his Operation Green, and his Wehrmacht — perhaps reluctantly — was preparing for possible action in the autumn. The Czechs, having apparently done the right thing in May, were generally heartened and hoped for an honorable and survivable solution through the support of their French patrons. French policy appeared more divided than it really was: Daladier felt compelled periodically to renew his verbal commitment to the 1925 Czech treaty. His Foreign Secretary, Bonnet, on the other hand, regularly reminded the Czech envoy in Paris that France could not be expected to go to war with Germany merely to keep the Sudetenland under the control of Prague. In reality an anxious Daladier stood closer to the position of Bonnet than many (including the Czechs) knew at the time.