In my fascination towards World War II, I decided to read more political accounts that led towards the war and it led me to the book, Munich The 1938 Appeasement Crisis -- my nerdiest book this year. It was a political and historical book which described in detail the diplomatic and political issues Great Britain, France and America encountered in relation to Germany. It was through this book that I got a clearer sense of Adolf Hitler's power, genius, powers of manipulation and maybe even lunacy. Starting with his invasion of Austria and the Anchluss which was not an invasion anymore since he just waltzed right in to Vienna. Surprisingly the whole of Europe mainly the other Powers, France, Britain and Italy just watched. It was when his intention of "freeing the Sudeten Germans" from the Czechoslovakian government was made known that Great Britain and France decided to intervene. France having been Czechoslovakia's ally had to come forward with a message to Hitler that should he decide to invade the small country then France would have to come to its aid. Knowing that this would lead Europe to war, Neville Chamberlain, then Prime Minister of Great Britain stepped in with fearless attempts to negotiate peace talks with Hitler only to be bullied and practically beaten into submission. So much diplomatic work by several countries so they could appease Hitler. So much talks, negotiations, papers, messages and ultimatums were sent back and forth all to decide the fate of Czechoslovakia and it came as no surprise when the powers who were supposed to come to its aid the small country all but handed it over to the dictator on a silver platter. It was a very enlightening read and I learned a lot from it, this is one history book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I just have to rest my brain for a bit before I continue on to the next book which will tackle the months that lead to Hitler's invasion of France and other countries. That will surely come within this year before I forget all the details from Munich.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Munich: The 1938 Appeasement Crisis
In my fascination towards World War II, I decided to read more political accounts that led towards the war and it led me to the book, Munich The 1938 Appeasement Crisis -- my nerdiest book this year. It was a political and historical book which described in detail the diplomatic and political issues Great Britain, France and America encountered in relation to Germany. It was through this book that I got a clearer sense of Adolf Hitler's power, genius, powers of manipulation and maybe even lunacy. Starting with his invasion of Austria and the Anchluss which was not an invasion anymore since he just waltzed right in to Vienna. Surprisingly the whole of Europe mainly the other Powers, France, Britain and Italy just watched. It was when his intention of "freeing the Sudeten Germans" from the Czechoslovakian government was made known that Great Britain and France decided to intervene. France having been Czechoslovakia's ally had to come forward with a message to Hitler that should he decide to invade the small country then France would have to come to its aid. Knowing that this would lead Europe to war, Neville Chamberlain, then Prime Minister of Great Britain stepped in with fearless attempts to negotiate peace talks with Hitler only to be bullied and practically beaten into submission. So much diplomatic work by several countries so they could appease Hitler. So much talks, negotiations, papers, messages and ultimatums were sent back and forth all to decide the fate of Czechoslovakia and it came as no surprise when the powers who were supposed to come to its aid the small country all but handed it over to the dictator on a silver platter. It was a very enlightening read and I learned a lot from it, this is one history book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I just have to rest my brain for a bit before I continue on to the next book which will tackle the months that lead to Hitler's invasion of France and other countries. That will surely come within this year before I forget all the details from Munich.
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