11 - Slovakia from the Munich Conference to the declaration of independence

Summary

How Slovakia became the focus of Germany's Central European policy

The Munich Agreement was signed on 29 September 1938, by the British and French premiers, N. Chamberlain (1869–1940) and É. Daladier (1884–1970), the German Führer A. Hitler (1889–1945) and the Italian duce B. Mussolini (1883–1945). It significantly altered the balance of power among the great powers in the Danubian region, and led to Nazi Germany acquiring a dominant position in Central Europe. These events signalled the end of Czechoslovakia's role as a regional force. The republic ceased to be a subject of international politics and retained only a nominal level of formal independence.

However, the agreement between the four great powers did not lead to the successful culmination of the aggressive aims of Nazi foreign policy, as the goals set by Hitler in November 1937, and later made more specific in May 1938 (Fall Grün), were only partially achieved. One of the preconditions for the success of Nazi aggression in Europe was the elimination of Czechoslovakia as a political and military factor in the region, its removal as a threat to the Reich's flanks in case of conflict, and the acquisition of additional economic resources for waging war. Hitler's original directive from 30 May 1938, ‘I have taken an unchangeable decision to destroy Czecho-Slovakia by military action in the near future’, gained a renewed impetus after Munich. As a result of the way in which Czechoslovakia had been undermined, it no longer represented a significant obstacle to Nazi aggression.