Munich 1938

Munich 1938 reconstructs the diplomatic crisis over Czechoslovakia in the days when Europe appeared close to another general war. David Boyle follows Adolf Hitler’s demands for the Sudetenland, Neville Chamberlain’s repeated journeys to meet him, French uncertainty under Édouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini’s role in the final conference, while also considering German opponents who contemplated moving against Hitler if he launched a reckless war.

The book presents the Munich Agreement as a rapidly changing crisis rather than an outcome whose consequences were already obvious to participants. By following negotiations, cabinet debates, military fears and last-minute diplomacy, Boyle shows how Britain and France accepted the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia and postponed war for less than a year.