Key Terms

📖 Key Terms

Munich Agreement (29–30 September 1938)

Agreement between Britain (Chamberlain), France (Daladier), Germany (Hitler) and Italy (Mussolini) at a conference in Munich. Germany was given the Sudetenland — the western border region of Czechoslovakia — in return for Hitler's promise that this was his last territorial demand. Czechoslovakia was not invited to the conference and was not consulted. It is the defining act of appeasement.

Sudetenland

The border region of western Czechoslovakia, home to approximately 3 million ethnic Germans (Sudeten Germans). Crucially, it also contained Czechoslovakia's entire defensive fortification line — the mountain forts that made Czech territory defensible. By giving Hitler the Sudetenland, Britain and France handed him both the population AND the military key to the rest of Czechoslovakia.

"Peace for our time"

The phrase used by Chamberlain on his return from Munich, 30 September 1938, when he waved the agreement he and Hitler had signed. It became one of the most famous — and bitterly ironic — phrases in 20th-century British history. Six months later, Hitler invaded and occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia, destroying the agreement entirely.

Edouard Daladier (1884–1970)

French Prime Minister who co-signed the Munich Agreement. Unlike Chamberlain, Daladier had few illusions about Hitler — reportedly saying privately that the crowds cheering him on his return "don't know what they're cheering." He signed because France could not act alone and saw no alternative.

Skoda Works

Czechoslovakia's massive armaments factory, which fell into German hands after Munich and the subsequent occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. This gave Germany a significant boost in military-industrial capacity and is one of the concrete reasons why Munich strengthened Hitler rather than satisfying him.