Munich 1938
- Episode aired Jan 31, 2008
- 1h 30m
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This Nettle -- Danger; This Flower -- Safety.
The word "summit" had a literal meaning when Britain's PM Neville Chamberlain took it upon himself to initiate talks at the highest level with Hitler, a man who seemed to be marching through Europe one nation at a time. The meeting was held at a spacious stone residence atop a mountain in Munich, in southern Germany.
Our host, David Reynolds, takes us out on the balcony and notes the "exhilarating air", the kind that makes you think you can achieve anything. Chamberlain's effort has since become a nickname for craven cowardice in the face of brute force.
Hindsight is always 20/20 and today we can understand Hitler but that wasn't the case in 1938. A boisterous orator, he was also a very private man who enjoyed Wagner's operas and Mickey Mouse cartoons. He was also a vegetarian who neither drank nor smoked -- a modern man in some respects! The issue around which the first modern summit was organized was Czechoslovakia in Middle Europe. It had been cobbled together out of two nations after the first world war. One quarter of the population lived in the Sudetenland on the west, mostly German speaking, and were treated as second-class citizens by the rest of the country. They rioted and appealed for help to Hitler, who was eager to respond despite the trepidations of his officer corps.
I'll skip Chamberlain's background except to say that he'd been a businessman who had studied metallurgy and didn't enter politics until he was nearly fifty. Chamberlain had lost a close relative and friend during the war, which cost Europe far more than it did America, and he wanted no more of it. It wouldn't be a skirmish in Middle Europe. It would be an all-out attack on London by air, using poison gas. "Appeasement" wasn't yet a dirty word. He had the full support of the British press an public.
The negotiations were complicated and zig-zagged from point to point. There is no space to cover them in detail, but the program makes clear that this wasn't an encounter in which Chamberlain sat meekly in a chair while Hitler paraded around apopletically. I'll just give one example. Hitler said that 300 Sudetan Germans had been killed by the Czechs (a lie) and demanded that the 3 million Germans be returned to their home country for protection. The indignant PM replied that if Hitler's mind was so made up, there was no reason for him to have come to Munich. The translator recorded that this took Hitler aback because he wasn't used to backtalk, and after hesitating he sidestepped and turned to another issue. He was quieter after that. Of course, Chamberlain was playing a defensive game and Hitler was launching a verbal Blitzkrieg as usual.
Chamberlain returned to London having agreed to a transfer of territory to Germany under supervision of an international commission. They could have the Sudetenland. He was prepared for a revolt in parliament but there was none. What else could be done? "No one was willing to sacrifice London for the sake of Prague." For the moment the matter seemed settled but Britain was gearing up its war machine anyway.
A second summit meeting was more grim. Hitler upped his demands. The PM stood firm and the engagement was deadlocked. Hitler said to Chamberlain, "You are the first man to whom I have ever made a concession." On his return to London, the PM was met with greater resistance from the cabinet. Patience with both Chamberlain and Hitler was growing thin. And now the Czechs refused to yield territory and France backed off. Hitler was furious. He staged impressive military parades. The Germans themselves were unhappy with the prospect of another war and Hitler's advisers had its hawks and doves. A coup against Hitler was called off at the last moment. The British Navy was mobilized and the French Army called up its reservists.
But Hitler backed off on the invasion of Czechoslovakia and it was seen as a victory for negotiations. Peace had triumphed. A pop song of the period was "Carry On, Mr. Chamberlain." Hitler invited the PM to a fourth summit, to be attended by France and Italy as well. The agreement about the orderly transfer of territory was tweaked and finally put into print and signed by Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier, and Mussolini. The infamous "piece of paper" that Chamberlain brought back to London could hardly have been more promising. Signed by both him and Hitler, it was a brief statement of agreement that the two nations promised never to go to war with each other again. The public was ecstatic. As agreed, Hitler occupied the Sudetenlan -- then he went on to occupy the whole country. "Appeasement" had become the word it is today, but Hitler misread the situation too. He'd learned that he could march into whatever country he wished without a military response. He was as mistaken as Chamberlain. In the face of an ultimatum from Britain and France, Hitler occupied Poland and war was finally declared against him.
When he saw defeat coming, Hitler ranted that it was all Chamberlain's fault for delaying the war that should have begun much earlier. And in fact the summit meetings had given England a year's grace to develop its radar and deploy its Spitfires and Hurricanes. Yet his attempt to achieve peace through negotiation had failed. He died a short while later of a humiliating and painful cancer of the bowels.
Our host, David Reynolds, takes us out on the balcony and notes the "exhilarating air", the kind that makes you think you can achieve anything. Chamberlain's effort has since become a nickname for craven cowardice in the face of brute force.
Hindsight is always 20/20 and today we can understand Hitler but that wasn't the case in 1938. A boisterous orator, he was also a very private man who enjoyed Wagner's operas and Mickey Mouse cartoons. He was also a vegetarian who neither drank nor smoked -- a modern man in some respects! The issue around which the first modern summit was organized was Czechoslovakia in Middle Europe. It had been cobbled together out of two nations after the first world war. One quarter of the population lived in the Sudetenland on the west, mostly German speaking, and were treated as second-class citizens by the rest of the country. They rioted and appealed for help to Hitler, who was eager to respond despite the trepidations of his officer corps.
I'll skip Chamberlain's background except to say that he'd been a businessman who had studied metallurgy and didn't enter politics until he was nearly fifty. Chamberlain had lost a close relative and friend during the war, which cost Europe far more than it did America, and he wanted no more of it. It wouldn't be a skirmish in Middle Europe. It would be an all-out attack on London by air, using poison gas. "Appeasement" wasn't yet a dirty word. He had the full support of the British press an public.
The negotiations were complicated and zig-zagged from point to point. There is no space to cover them in detail, but the program makes clear that this wasn't an encounter in which Chamberlain sat meekly in a chair while Hitler paraded around apopletically. I'll just give one example. Hitler said that 300 Sudetan Germans had been killed by the Czechs (a lie) and demanded that the 3 million Germans be returned to their home country for protection. The indignant PM replied that if Hitler's mind was so made up, there was no reason for him to have come to Munich. The translator recorded that this took Hitler aback because he wasn't used to backtalk, and after hesitating he sidestepped and turned to another issue. He was quieter after that. Of course, Chamberlain was playing a defensive game and Hitler was launching a verbal Blitzkrieg as usual.
Chamberlain returned to London having agreed to a transfer of territory to Germany under supervision of an international commission. They could have the Sudetenland. He was prepared for a revolt in parliament but there was none. What else could be done? "No one was willing to sacrifice London for the sake of Prague." For the moment the matter seemed settled but Britain was gearing up its war machine anyway.
A second summit meeting was more grim. Hitler upped his demands. The PM stood firm and the engagement was deadlocked. Hitler said to Chamberlain, "You are the first man to whom I have ever made a concession." On his return to London, the PM was met with greater resistance from the cabinet. Patience with both Chamberlain and Hitler was growing thin. And now the Czechs refused to yield territory and France backed off. Hitler was furious. He staged impressive military parades. The Germans themselves were unhappy with the prospect of another war and Hitler's advisers had its hawks and doves. A coup against Hitler was called off at the last moment. The British Navy was mobilized and the French Army called up its reservists.
But Hitler backed off on the invasion of Czechoslovakia and it was seen as a victory for negotiations. Peace had triumphed. A pop song of the period was "Carry On, Mr. Chamberlain." Hitler invited the PM to a fourth summit, to be attended by France and Italy as well. The agreement about the orderly transfer of territory was tweaked and finally put into print and signed by Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier, and Mussolini. The infamous "piece of paper" that Chamberlain brought back to London could hardly have been more promising. Signed by both him and Hitler, it was a brief statement of agreement that the two nations promised never to go to war with each other again. The public was ecstatic. As agreed, Hitler occupied the Sudetenlan -- then he went on to occupy the whole country. "Appeasement" had become the word it is today, but Hitler misread the situation too. He'd learned that he could march into whatever country he wished without a military response. He was as mistaken as Chamberlain. In the face of an ultimatum from Britain and France, Hitler occupied Poland and war was finally declared against him.
When he saw defeat coming, Hitler ranted that it was all Chamberlain's fault for delaying the war that should have begun much earlier. And in fact the summit meetings had given England a year's grace to develop its radar and deploy its Spitfires and Hurricanes. Yet his attempt to achieve peace through negotiation had failed. He died a short while later of a humiliating and painful cancer of the bowels.
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- Nov 20, 2016
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- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
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What is the broadcast (satellite or terrestrial TV) release date of Munich 1938 (2008) in Australia?
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