Peace in Our Time ...

[Felix/FFDS]

MUNICH PACT SIGNED:
September 30, 1938


British and French prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier sign the Munich Pact with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The agreement averted the outbreak of war but gave Czechoslovakia away to German conquest.

[ATI_7500]

Sept. 30, 1941: The RAF attacks Hamburg with 72 bombers and drops 85 tons of bombs.

[ozzy72]

A surprising state of affairs Felix, was Chamberlain incredibly daft, or was he trying to buy time for Britain to re-arm?

[Felix/FFDS]

A surprising state of affairs Felix, was Chamberlain incredibly daft, or was he trying to buy time for Britain to re-arm?

I favor the idea that he and Daladier actually thought they were dealing with a gentleman in the old sense, where there were certain "niceties" observed between Men of Power and Responsibility (Mr. Hitler and Co. could put on a charming presence when necessary), plus there was no stomach for another European War (WW1 was still very fresh in the minds of many, and the Spanish Civil War, a warning of things to come, was barely winding down).

[Hagar]

A surprising state of affairs Felix, was Chamberlain incredibly daft, or was he trying to buy time for Britain to re-arm?

I agree with Felix. Poor Neville Chamberlin was ridiculed for his "little bit of paper" but I have come to believe he was a thoroughly decent man. This was unusual in politicians even in those days. He served on his successor Churchill's war cabinet for a while but retired through ill-health soon afterwards. Some people say he died a broken man after everything he passionately believed in was proven wrong.

[WebbPA]

I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  At the time, Hitler was wildly popular in Germany and Europe in general.  Why would anyone not believe him - unless, of course, one had read Mein Kampf.

The Soviet Union was dumb enough to believe him after he had broken the trearty (or was it just buying time?).