Neville Chamberlain waving the Munich Agreement that he signed with Adolf Hitler in September 1938. Chamberlain served as the British Prime Minister from 1937 to 1940. Contributed / South Portland Historical Society

Let’s step back in time to September 1938. The man pictured here is Neville Chamberlain, who played an integral part in today’s story. We really need to go back another 20 years, to 1918 and the end of World War I. That war brought an end to the 800-year Austro-Hungarian Empire and part of that empire’s lands and people were now part of a newly formed country called Czechoslovakia. This new country included many people of German descent, but who were discriminated against by the Czechoslovakian majority.

As 1938 began, Adolf Hitler was already expanding his reach into Europe by expanding Germany’s borders by taking over the whole country of Austria in March through diplomatic threats and military pressure. Despite diplomatic protests from countries like Great Britain, little was done and the Austrians were essentially abandoned to Germany.

In May 1938, Hitler planned to invade Czechoslovakia in October and bring the ethnic Germans there back into Germany. This invasion would be without provocation, but Germany put significant political pressure on Czechoslovakia to allow Germany to take control of large portions of the country. Pressure built on the Czech government, and the British insisted that the Czechs agree to mediation, and they reluctantly agreed. In September, German propaganda went into high gear and fabricated stories about Czech atrocities against Germans and the German army went on “maneuvers” and put over 700,000 soldiers on the German-Czech border.

Against this backdrop of tension, the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, flew to Germany to meet with Hitler. As each of Hitler’s demands were met by the British, he kept increasing his demands. Finally, a meeting of the British, French, German and Italy was called (no Czechs were invited) in Munich in September, and the countries agreed to let Germany occupy the part of Czechoslovakia inhabited by Germans (called the Sudetenland) and the Czechs could either let that happen or fight Germany on their own; the Czechs let the German army occupy Sudetenland. Shortly afterward, the rest of Czechoslovakia was absorbed into Germany as well as Poland and Hungary, with no interference from the British or French.

For his part, Chamberlain returned to England and claimed the agreement called for “peace for our time” and “the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace.” Winston Churchill, who replaced Chamberlain as prime minister in 1940, instead called it a “disaster of the first magnitude” and went on to add that “the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged” and furthermore that “this is only the beginning of the reckoning.”

Churchill was right. Appeasing Hitler and believing his promises did not work; Hitler’s annexation of Austria and constant changing demands over Czechoslovakia should have made it clear his word could not be trusted. We’ll never know what would have happened if the British had not backed down in 1938, but it could hardly have been worse than World War II, which led to over 70 million deaths and many millions more injured and displaced.

Teddy Roosevelt is credited with an alternate approach to diplomacy: speak softly and carry a big stick. Chamberlain didn’t have a big stick and that contributed to his approach. Also, the massive loss of life from World War I was only 20 years old at the time. But one can’t help but believe that calling Hitler’s bluff then would have ultimately saved millions of lives.

Upcoming lecture: South Portland Historical Society will hold an illustrated lecture at the South Portland Community Center on Saturday, March 15, at 2 p.m. Kathy DiPhilippo and Seth Goldstein will talk about the WWII shipyards in South Portland and the North Atlantic convoys of Liberty ships. The lecture is free for current South Portland Historical Society members, or $20 for non-members. Annual family memberships are $25. Please arrive early if you wish to join at the door. The society can be reached by phone at 207-767-7299 or by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com.

Carl Chatto is a member and volunteer of the South Portland Historical Society.