Sources from lesson

Sources

1. Adolf Hitler, Speech to Reichstag after the re-militarisation of the Rhineland (7th March 1936)

"First, we swear to yield to no force whatever in the restoration of the honour of our people, preferring to succumb with honour to the severest hardships rather than to capitulate. Secondly, we pledge that now, more than ever, we shall strive for an understanding between European peoples, especially for one with our Western neighbour nations. We have no territorial demands to make in Europe! Germany will never break the peace."

2. Herbert Morrison, An Autobiography (1960)

“I believe that in 1938 and 1939 he (Chamberlain) genuinely felt that God had sent him into this world to obtain peace. That he failed may or may not be due to the inevitable ambition of Hitler to dominate the world, but there can be little doubt that in his mental attitude Chamberlain went the wrong way about it. He decided in the early stages of his discussions to treat Hitler as a normal human being and an important human being at that.”

3. Edward Heath, (Former Prime Minister) The Course of My Life (1988)

“At Oxford, on Thursday 13 October 1938, I proposed the motion 'That this House deplores the Government's policy of Peace without Honour'. The debate was a stormy one. Deriding the Munich Agreement as 'the peace which passeth all understanding', I attacked Chamberlain for a 'policy which brought us to the brink of war, and that points at we know not what future tragedies'. There was immense interest in the debate and we won by 320 votes to 266.”

4.  A.J. P. Taylor, English History 1914-1945 (1965)

“All the press welcomed the Munich agreement as preferable to war with the exception of Reynolds News, a Left-wing Socialist newspaper of small circulation (and, of course, the Communist Daily Worker). Duff Cooper, first lord of the admiralty, resigned and declared that Great Britain should have gone to war, not to save Czechoslovakia, but to prevent one country dominating the continent 'by brute force'. No one else took this line in the prolonged Commons debate (3rd-6th October). The overwhelming majority of ordinary people, according to contemporary estimates, approved of what Chamberlain had done.”

5. Vernon Bartlett was in Godesberg working for the Daily Chronicle on 22nd September 1938. He wrote about it in And Now, Tomorrow (1960)

“I am firmly convinced that, had Chamberlain stood firm at Godesberg, Hitler would either have climbed down or would have begun war with far less support from his own people than he had a year later. The British forces, one is told, were scandalously unprepared, and were able to make good some of their defects during that year. But meanwhile the Western Allies lost the Czechoslovak Army - one of the best on the Continent - defending a country from which the German armies could be out-flanked. Was it not Bismarck who claimed that whoever controlled Bohemia controlled Europe?”

6. General Ismay’s letter to the British Cabinet (September 20th, 1938)

“If war with Germany has to come it would be better to fight her in say six-twelve months’ time, than to accept the present challenge.”

7. The Manchester Guardian (17th March, 1939)

“Prague, a sorrowing Prague, yesterday had its first day of German rule - a day in which the Czechs learned of the details of their subjection to Germany, and in which the Germans began their measures against the Jews and against those people who have "opened their mouths too wide."

8. Winston Churchill, The Second World War (1948)

“For the French Government to leave her faithful ally Czechoslovakia to her fate was a lapse from which flowed terrible consequences. Great Britain, who would certainly have fought if bound by treaty obligations, was nevertheless now deeply involved, and it must be recorded with regret that the British Government not only acquiesced but encouraged the French Government in a fatal course.”

9. Joint statement from Chamberlain and Hitler (30th September, 1938)

“We, the German Führer and Chancellor and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for the two countries and for Europe. We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as Symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries.”

10. Henry Channon, diary entry (15th March, 1938)

“Hitler has entered Prague, apparently, and Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist. No balder, bolder departure from the written bond has ever been committed in history...His (Chamberlain’s) whole policy of appeasement is in ruins. Munich is a torn-up episode. Yet never has he been proved more abundantly right for he gave us six months of peace in which we re-armed, and he was right to try appeasement. I was relieved at how little personal criticism there was of the Apostle of Peace.”

11. Hugh Christie, report to MI6 (3rd February, 1937)

“I asked the General straight out, "What is Germany's aim in Europe today?" Goering replied, "We want a free hand in Eastern Europe. We want to establish the unity of the German peoples (Grossdeutschegemeinschaft)”. I said "Do you mean to get Austria?" Reply "Yes". I said "Do you mean to get Czechoslovakia?" Reply "Yes".

12. Anthony Eden, on why he resigned as Foreign Secretary (21st February, 1938)

“I do not believe that we can make progress in European appeasement if we allow the impression to gain currency abroad that we yield to constant pressure.”

13. William GallacherThe Chosen Few (1940)

“It is no exaggeration to say that many prominent representatives of the Conservative Party, speaking for powerful landed and financial interests in the country, would welcome Hitler and the German Army if they believed that such was the only alternative to the establishment of Socialism in this country.”