Changes

Less than a half-year later, Hitler broke his promises, took all of Czechoslovakia and then invaded [[Poland]] in September 1939, thus starting World War II in Europe.<ref name="Munich Pact Documentary">{{cite web |title=Rok 1938 - Mníchovská Zrada (The year of 1938 - Munich Betrayal)|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MOyTeUf1Qc |quote=The aim of this tremendous national effort was to preserve the freedom and democracy in Czechoslovakia, peace and order in Europe by standing firm against the threats of [[Fascism]]. On September the 23rd, there was hope that united democracies would save the peace and Czechoslovakia by forcing Hitler to abandon his invasion. Hitler summoned Chamberlain and Daladier to Munich on Thursday September the 29th. So long as the western democracies leaders had stood firm at many crisis, there was neither war nor surrender, but this time, they flew to obey. The [[Fascist]] powers did not win their battles by actual force, but by issuing the orders with confidence. ...president Beneš was forced to resign his office to make the way for a government that will take the orders from Berlin. The mass demonstration of brokenhearted people of Prague after the surrender of Munich showed that thousands still had the will to resist, but in vain. Leaderless and betrayed, they could not stand against the Munich powers. ... The western democracies have sacrificed their prestige, the human race itself is and humiliated by these events. ...These are the immediate consequences of yielding to Fascist threats of force and violence. The only hope to offer is that in the other lands there may still be men who do not tremble when Adolf Hitler cracks the whip. Peace and freedom and the right to live—they can only be possible in lands where men are determined that the [[swastika]] shall not be raised in triumph and where the pages of ''Mein Kampf'' can never become our supreme law.|language=English (Czech subtitles)}}</ref> According to [[Winston Churchill]], who opposed the agreement and called it "a total and unmitigated defeat" and "a disaster of the first magnitude" right from the time when it was signed, ''"There was never a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action."''<ref>{{cite web |title=Morally Paralyzed |author=Thomas Sowell |publisher=Townhall.com |date=Jul 24, 2007 |url=http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2007/07/24/morally_paralyzed |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|cf. "At the same time the illusion of Munich Pact was shattered. By spring everyone new there was going to be war. You could smell it, as you smell a fire long before you see it. Only the diplomats shut their eyes and dreamed wishful dreams – of a second or third Munich, or anything but war. Never have so many people believed in miracles as in our times, when there aren’t any" E.M. Remarque.<ref>{{cite book |title= The Night in Lisbon: A Novel  |author=Erich Maria Remarque |publisher= Random House Publishing Group |year=2014 |isbn=978-0812-985597}}</ref>|group=note}}

Less than a half-year later, Hitler broke his promises, took all of Czechoslovakia and then invaded [[Poland]] in September 1939, thus starting World War II in Europe.<ref name="Munich Pact Documentary">{{cite web |title=Rok 1938 - Mníchovská Zrada (The year of 1938 - Munich Betrayal)|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MOyTeUf1Qc |quote=The aim of this tremendous national effort was to preserve the freedom and democracy in Czechoslovakia, peace and order in Europe by standing firm against the threats of [[Fascism]]. On September the 23rd, there was hope that united democracies would save the peace and Czechoslovakia by forcing Hitler to abandon his invasion. Hitler summoned Chamberlain and Daladier to Munich on Thursday September the 29th. So long as the western democracies leaders had stood firm at many crisis, there was neither war nor surrender, but this time, they flew to obey. The [[Fascist]] powers did not win their battles by actual force, but by issuing the orders with confidence. ...president Beneš was forced to resign his office to make the way for a government that will take the orders from Berlin. The mass demonstration of brokenhearted people of Prague after the surrender of Munich showed that thousands still had the will to resist, but in vain. Leaderless and betrayed, they could not stand against the Munich powers. ... The western democracies have sacrificed their prestige, the human race itself is and humiliated by these events. ...These are the immediate consequences of yielding to Fascist threats of force and violence. The only hope to offer is that in the other lands there may still be men who do not tremble when Adolf Hitler cracks the whip. Peace and freedom and the right to live—they can only be possible in lands where men are determined that the [[swastika]] shall not be raised in triumph and where the pages of ''Mein Kampf'' can never become our supreme law.|language=English (Czech subtitles)}}</ref> According to [[Winston Churchill]], who opposed the agreement and called it "a total and unmitigated defeat" and "a disaster of the first magnitude" right from the time when it was signed, ''"There was never a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action."''<ref>{{cite web |title=Morally Paralyzed |author=Thomas Sowell |publisher=Townhall.com |date=Jul 24, 2007 |url=http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2007/07/24/morally_paralyzed |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|cf. "At the same time the illusion of Munich Pact was shattered. By spring everyone new there was going to be war. You could smell it, as you smell a fire long before you see it. Only the diplomats shut their eyes and dreamed wishful dreams – of a second or third Munich, or anything but war. Never have so many people believed in miracles as in our times, when there aren’t any" E.M. Remarque.<ref>{{cite book |title= The Night in Lisbon: A Novel  |author=Erich Maria Remarque |publisher= Random House Publishing Group |year=2014 |isbn=978-0812-985597}}</ref>|group=note}}

Today Czechs and Slovaks label the ''Munich Pact'' also as the ''Munich Dictate'' or the ''Munich Betrayal'' because the system of alliances in Central Europe guaranteed by [[France]] and [[Britain]] upon which [[Czechoslovakia]] had relied for her safety proved of no avail. The mass demonstration of brokenhearted people of Prague after the surrender of Munich showed that thousands still had the will to resist, but in vain. Leaderless and betrayed, they could not stand against the Munich powers. The western European democracies had sacrificed their prestige. The immediate consequence of yielding to Fascist threats of force and violence was that the only hope to offer was the very existence of the other lands where "there may still be men who do not tremble when Adolf Hitler cracks the whip".

Today Czechs and Slovaks label the ''Munich Pact'' also as the ''Munich Dictate'' or the ''Munich Betrayal'' because the system of alliances in Central Europe guaranteed by [[France]] and [[Britain]] upon which [[Czechoslovakia]] had relied for her safety proved of no avail. A contemporaneous voice declared:

 

:"The mass demonstration of brokenhearted people of Prague after the surrender of Munich showed that thousands still had the will to resist, but in vain. Leaderless and betrayed, they could not stand against the Munich powers....  [That t]he western democracies have sacrificed their prestige...[was an] immediate consequence of yielding to Fascist threats of force and violence.  The only hope to offer is that in other lands there may still be men who do not tremble when Adolf Hitler cracks the whip".

Western European democratic leaders did not manage to stand firm against the threats of [[Fascism]], representatives of which consequently gained confidence in following their intentions openly described in the ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' as aiming at fascist mastery of Europe and eventual destruction of the world democracy.<ref name="Munich Pact Documentary"/>{{#tag:ref|cf. ''"Behind the Nazi party stands the German people, who elected [[Hitler]] after he had in his book and in his speeches made his shameful intentions clear beyond the possibility of misunderstanding."''<ref>{{cite book |title=Einstein. A life. |author=Denis Brian |publisher=J. Wiley |place=New York |year=1996 |pages=233 |isbn=9780471114598 |url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=plYcU56xENCv4QTG5YGoDg&hl=sk&id=jaXvAAAAMAAJ&dq=Brian+Einstein+A+life&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=speeches }}</ref>  

Western European democratic leaders did not manage to stand firm against the threats of [[Fascism]], representatives of which consequently gained confidence in following their intentions openly described in the ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' as aiming at fascist mastery of Europe and eventual destruction of the world democracy.<ref name="Munich Pact Documentary"/>{{#tag:ref|cf. ''"Behind the Nazi party stands the German people, who elected [[Hitler]] after he had in his book and in his speeches made his shameful intentions clear beyond the possibility of misunderstanding."''<ref>{{cite book |title=Einstein. A life. |author=Denis Brian |publisher=J. Wiley |place=New York |year=1996 |pages=233 |isbn=9780471114598 |url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=plYcU56xENCv4QTG5YGoDg&hl=sk&id=jaXvAAAAMAAJ&dq=Brian+Einstein+A+life&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=speeches }}</ref>  

*Hitler and other Nazi leaders repeatedly made clear their willingness to use force if necessary to achieve their purposes. They glorified war. ''Mein Kampf'' is replete with early evidence of such intentions, which subsequently were reaffirmed from time to time in the years preceding 1933

*Hitler and other Nazi leaders repeatedly made clear their willingness to use force if necessary to achieve their purposes. They glorified war. ''Mein Kampf'' is replete with early evidence of such intentions, which subsequently were reaffirmed from time to time in the years preceding 1933

*The Nazi leaders prior to 1933 had openly declared their intentions to subvert democratic processes as a means to achieve their purposes, and to this end to harass and embarrass democratic forces at every turn. Thus Hitler himself had declared that.

*The Nazi leaders prior to 1933 had openly declared their intentions to subvert democratic processes as a means to achieve their purposes, and to this end to harass and embarrass democratic forces at every turn. Thus Hitler himself had declared that.

*Frick, writing in the National Socialist Yearbook, declared:

*Frick, writing in the ''National Socialist Yearbook'', declared:

"''Our participation in the parliament does not indicate a support, but rather an undermining of the parliamentarian system. It does not indicate that we renounce our anti-parliamentarian attitude, but that we are fighting the enemy with his own weapons and that we are fighting for our National Socialist goal from the parliamentary platform."''<ref>{{cite web  

"''Our participation in the parliament does not indicate a support, but rather an undermining of the parliamentarian system. It does not indicate that we renounce our anti-parliamentarian attitude, but that we are fighting the enemy with his own weapons and that we are fighting for our National Socialist goal from the parliamentary platform."''<ref>{{cite web  

|title=Nuremberg Trial Defendants: Franz Von Papen  

|title=Nuremberg Trial Defendants: Franz Von Papen  

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xAdxAwAAQBAJ&dq=Peter+Longerich+Goebbels&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MTvdU8jXC-Oj0QWi3oHQBA&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xAdxAwAAQBAJ&dq=Peter+Longerich+Goebbels&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MTvdU8jXC-Oj0QWi3oHQBA&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA

}}</ref>       

}}</ref>       

|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—" wrote the same contemporaneous source, "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."<ref name="Munich Pact Documentary"/>

{| class="wikitable"  

{| class="wikitable"