Recently declassified records from the British archives hit the news & revived the 75+ year old contraversy over the Cezch War of 38. In this case it centers on the question of Chamberlains judgement and final decision to stand firm against the German demands for the Studentland region of the Cezchoslovakian republic. The documents purportedly show, or "prove" in some views that Chamberlain ignored evidence that Adolf Hitlers government was ready to negotiate the matter and forcing the Cezchs to accept the 'reasonable' idea of parting with the German populated border region was possible.
As usual the 'Avoidable War' school points to the lesser evil of pressured separation of some questionable Cezch territory vs the bloody four month war (80,000) dead, and the decade of civil disorder and military dictatorship in Germany.
To my mind the over focus on Chamberlain tends to ignore the role of the French: fearful of a German military revival; of the Poles: actually encouraging Germany to take Cezch land; & Italy in not remaining with France on keeping Germany in line. In general the entire thing was final proof of the failure of the Versailles system, which should have enabled the halting of German military revival years earlier.
Unlike some folks I am nearly certain had a war to halt German revanchism not occured in 38 it would have occured within another few years. So WI Chamberlain had tried to negotiate away the crisis? It would require the French & Cezchs to agree to some portion of the German demands, which is a tough one. In this Chamberlain did have the support of his marshalls. Their views on the unreadiness of the Brit Army & RAF are well documented.
So, any opinions of is the newly publsihed Brit papers change anything about the arguments over Chamberlains role i starting the Cezch War?
As usual the 'Avoidable War' school points to the lesser evil of pressured separation of some questionable Cezch territory vs the bloody four month war (80,000) dead, and the decade of civil disorder and military dictatorship in Germany.
To my mind the over focus on Chamberlain tends to ignore the role of the French: fearful of a German military revival; of the Poles: actually encouraging Germany to take Cezch land; & Italy in not remaining with France on keeping Germany in line. In general the entire thing was final proof of the failure of the Versailles system, which should have enabled the halting of German military revival years earlier.
Unlike some folks I am nearly certain had a war to halt German revanchism not occured in 38 it would have occured within another few years. So WI Chamberlain had tried to negotiate away the crisis? It would require the French & Cezchs to agree to some portion of the German demands, which is a tough one. In this Chamberlain did have the support of his marshalls. Their views on the unreadiness of the Brit Army & RAF are well documented.
So, any opinions of is the newly publsihed Brit papers change anything about the arguments over Chamberlains role i starting the Cezch War?