In mid-September Chamberlain offered to go to Hitler`s retreat to Berchtesgaden to discuss the situation personally with the Führer. Hitler agreed not to take military action without further discussion, and Chamberlain agreed to try to convince his cabinet and the Frenchman to accept the results of a referendum in the Sudetenland. Daladier and his foreign minister, Georges-Étienne Bonnet, then traveled to London, where a joint proposal was being prepared that all regions with more than 50 percent Sudeten Germans should be handed over to Germany. The Czechoslovaks were not consulted. The Czechoslovak government initially rejected the proposal, but had to accept it on 21 September. On 28 and 29 April 1938, Daladier meets British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in London to discuss the situation. Chamberlain, who saw no way Hitler could be prevented from completely destroying Czechoslovakia if that was his intention (which Chamberlain doubted), argued that Prague should be pushed to make territorial concessions to Germany. The French and British leaders believed that peace could only be saved by transferring the Sudetenland German territories from Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia, in addition to its friendship with Britain, relied on alliances with France and the Soviet Union to prevent Hitler from achieving his goal.
However, these powers were not in the mood to start a war, as they had recently been decimated by the First World War. To avoid confrontation, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain traveled to Germany in mid-September to consult with Hitler. Negotiations and consultations with the French and Czechoslovaks lasted about two weeks. When Hitler`s demands intensified, the situation became explosive. To avoid war, Chamberlain proposed a four-power conference. On September 29, Hitler and Chamberlain met in Munich French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier and italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The Czechoslovaks were not consulted. Mussolini presented a plan, which was in fact drawn up by the German Foreign Ministry, for the German occupation of the Sudetenland before 10 October.
The Pact of September 30, 1938, under which the leaders of Britain, France and Italy allowed Nazi Germany to take control of part of Czechoslovakia, is known as the Munich Agreement, after the city where it was negotiated. By 1938, Adolf Hitler was firmly in power in Germany, and the military buildup that led to World War II was in full swing. He did not hide his territorial ambitions in Europe, especially in the East. Austria had been annexed to Germany in March 1938. Next, he took a look at Czechoslovakia, where about 3 million people of German origin lived, mostly in the Sudetenland. The acquisition of this territory was to be the next step in what he saw as Germany`s predestined march eastward. In May, other European powers learned that the German General Staff was drawing up plans for the annexation of Czechoslovakia. After successfully accepting Austria into Germany proper in March 1938, Adolf Hitler looked nostalgically at Czechoslovakia, where about three million people in the Sudetenland were of German descent.
In April, he discussed with Wilhelm Keitel, the head of the Bundeswehr`s high command, the political and military aspects of “Case Green,” the code name for the planned Sudeten takeover. A surprise attack on “clear skies without reason or justification” was rejected because the result would have been “hostile world opinion that could lead to a critical situation.” Decisive action would therefore take place only after a period of German political turmoil in Czechoslovakia, accompanied by diplomatic quarrels which, as they became more serious, would either constitute an excuse for the war itself or give rise to a lightning offensive after an “incident” of German creation. In addition, disruptive political activities in Czechoslovakia had been underway since October 1933, when Konrad Henlein founded the Sudeten German Home Front. At the last minute, to avoid war, Chamberlain proposed to immediately convene a four-power conference to settle the dispute. Hitler agreed, and on September 29, Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier, and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini met in Munich. The meeting in Munich began shortly before 1 p.m.m. Hitler could not hide his anger that instead of entering the head of his army on the day he himself had set as liberator at the head of his army, he had to adhere to the mediation of the three powers, and none of his interlocutors dared to insist that the two Czech diplomats waiting in a Hotel in Munich, should be admitted to the conference room or consulted on the agenda. Nevertheless, Mussolini introduced a written plan that was accepted by all as the Munich Agreement.
(Many years later, it was discovered that the so-called Italian plan had been prepared at the Foreign Ministry.) This was almost identical to Godesberg`s proposal: the German army was to complete the occupation of the Sudetenland by October 10, and an international commission would decide on the future of other disputed territories. Czechoslovakia was informed by Britain and France that it could either resist Germany alone or submit to the prescribed annexations. The Czechoslovak government decided to submit. As Hitler continued to deliver inflammatory speeches demanding that the Germans of Czechoslovakia be reunited with their homeland, war seemed imminent. However, neither France nor Britain felt ready to defend Czechoslovakia, and both were anxious to avoid a military confrontation with Germany at almost any cost. .