Munich Agreement – The behaviour of the great powers explained

This Sunday will mark the 80th anniversary of the infamous Munich agreement
- the deal between Hitler, Mussolini and the two western European powers,
which cut off the German speaking borderlands from Czechoslovakia,
including a significant part of its industry and protective ring of forts,
thus rendering the young republic defenceless to any future German
invasion. Munich is often seen as a betrayal of the Czechoslovak state by
western powers and the French were famously ashamed for breaking their
alliance. But why did the Great powers act as they did? What were the
underlying causes? And are the great ‘what ifs’ such as the Oster
conspiracy or Soviet intervention credible alternatives? Tom McEnchroe
spoke to one of the leading experts on the origins of World War Two, to
find out.

Published: 
Thursday, September 27, 2018