In September 1938, the fever of war was in the air. Only five years before, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany. In 1935, he reintroduced conscription and created an air force, both major violations of The Versailles Treaty. A year later, he went a step further and occupied the Rhineland, in violation of both Versailles and Treaty of Locarno, a treaty signed in 1925 by Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Italy, which stipulated that the Rhineland would always remain unfortified. In the same year, Mussolini finished invading Ethiopia, Japan continued its decade-long invasion of China, and the Spanish Civil War began, with continued fighting between the Loyalists (Soviet supported) and Franco's Nationalists (supported by Mussolini and Hitler) during the ensuing three years. Then, in March 1938, Hitler made his first grab at territory outside of Germany's boundaries. He invaded and incorporated Austria in his famous Anschluss. Czechoslovakia was hemmed in on three sides. It was to be the source of the next international tension.
By September 1938, Neville Chamberlain had been Prime Minister for about a year and a half, succeeding to the premiership in May 1937 after his predecessor, Stanley Baldwin, retired. He had a great deal of experience in domestic policy, and would have surely made his mark if that had been the focus of his premiership. However, Hitler made sure that it would not be.
On September 12th, 1938, Hitler made a vitriolic speech before the Annual Nazi Party Conference in Nürmberg (Nuremburg), attacking Edward Benes (the Czech President) and the Czechs.(1) At the very same time, the Sudetendeutschpartei, (the Sudeten Germans Party) launched an insurrection(2), which was crushed by the Czechoslovak police. Imminent intervention by Germany was feared. Chamberlain, losing his nerve, decided to meet Hitler before Czechoslovakia was invaded. You can hear the BBC announcement of this by clicking here.
