| | |group=note}} The Munich case has become a byword for a failed act of [[appeasement]] toward a ruthless despot and/or [[totalitarian]] [[ideology]]. Peace and freedom and the right to live—they can only be possible in lands where men are determined that totalitarian symbols such as the [[swastika]] shall not be raised in triumph and where the pages of totalitarian demagoguery such as the ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' can never become the supreme law. | | |group=note}} The Munich case has become a byword for a failed act of [[appeasement]] toward a ruthless despot and/or [[totalitarian]] [[ideology]]. Peace and freedom and the right to live—they can only be possible in lands where men are determined that totalitarian symbols such as the [[swastika]] shall not be raised in triumph and where the pages of totalitarian demagoguery such as the ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' can never become the supreme law. |
| | ![[Winston Churchill|W. Churchill]]'s reaction to the Munich Agreement on October 5, 1938 in the House of Commons<ref>{{cite web |title=Speeches of Winston Churchill: The Munich Agreement |author=W. Churchill |chapter=1930 - 1938: The Wilderness |publisher=The Churchill Centre |url=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/101-the-munich-agreement |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref> | | ![[Winston Churchill|W. Churchill]]'s reaction to the Munich Agreement on October 5, 1938 in the House of Commons<ref>{{cite web |title=Speeches of Winston Churchill: The Munich Agreement |author=W. Churchill |chapter=1930 - 1938: The Wilderness |publisher=The Churchill Centre |url=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/101-the-munich-agreement |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref> |
| | |''‘We have suffered a total and unmitigated defeat … you will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi ''régime''. We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude. Do not let us blind ourselves to that. Many people, no doubt, honestly believe that they are only giving away the interests of Czechoslovakia, whereas I fear we shall find that we have deeply compromised, and perhaps fatally endangered, the safety and even the independence of Great Britain and France. … we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road … we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: '''“Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting”'''. And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, '''the first foretaste of a bitter cup''' which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.’'' | | |''‘We have suffered a total and unmitigated defeat … you will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi ''régime''. We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude. Do not let us blind ourselves to that. Many people, no doubt, honestly believe that they are only giving away the interests of Czechoslovakia, whereas I fear we shall find that we have deeply compromised, and perhaps fatally endangered, the safety and even the independence of Great Britain and France. … we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road … we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: '''“Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting”'''. And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, '''the first foretaste of a bitter cup''' which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.’'' |