"Far Away Places:" Anschluss, Munich and Labour, 1938, Part II
With this wishful-thinking mentality, Chamberlain, with Czech consent, flew to the city of Godesburg on the Rhine five days later to meet Hitler and tell him that his terms were accepted. [10] Yet, Hitler, shocking Chamberlain, said that "...he was sorry, since those [Anglo-French] proposals could not be maintained." [11] Then, according to an observer, Hitler proceded to push "his chair back from the table, folded his arms, and turned to scowl at Mr Chamberlain." [12] He now demanded the immediate cession of all the German-speaking areas by September 27th. His new demands were "absolutely and unconditionally acceptable to the Czechs." [13] It seemed as if Britain would have to go to war. Chamberlain despaired, writing to Hitler that "the only differences between us lay in the method of carrying out an agreed principle." [14]
Nevertheless, Chamberlain and the country prepared for war. On September 27th, the Fleet was mobilized and Chamberlain gave a radio speech in which he delivered the now famous sentence:
- How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches [in Hyde Park, a borough of London] and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing. [15]
The next day, Chamberlain gave a hour-long speech in Parliament describing the Czech crisis. At the end of his otherwise monotonous speech, a piece of paper was passed along the Front Benches, [16] eventually reaching Chamberlain. [17] The action caused a great deal of suspense within the House. Chamberlain opened it slowly, and then said:
- That is not all. I have soemthing further to say to the House yet. I have now been informed by Herr Hitler that he invites me to meet him at Munich to-morrow morning. He has also invited Signor Mussolini and M. Deladier [the Premier of France]. Signor Mussolini has accepted and I have no doubt M. Deladier will also accept. I need not say what my answer will be. [An HON. MEMBER: "Thank God for the Prime Minister!"] [18]
Britain had been saved from Armageddon, yet the price was to be the destruction of Czechoslovakia.
Footnotes
[1] A.J.P. Taylor, English History, 1914-45, (NY: Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 425.
[2] Charles Loch Mowat, Britain Between the Wars, 1918-1940, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1955), p. 608.
[3] Taylor, p. 426.
[4] Mowat, p. 610.
[5] Kenneth Harris, Attlee, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1982), p. 153.
[6] Trevor Burridge, Clement Attlee: A Political Biography,
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