Word: british
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Rumors, possibly false, suddenly spread in May 1938 that German troops were concentrating on the Czech frontier. Bene ordered a partial mobilization, the British expressed "grave concern," and the French warned Berlin that they were ready to fight. One of Hitler's top generals thereupon announced that it had all been a mistake, that there had been no German troop movements. By appearing to stand firm for the first time, the Allies seemed to have made Hitler back down. But this apparent victory had two important results: the Allies were appalled at how near to war they had come...
Chamberlain said he would have to consult with his associates, which amounted to seeing whether either the British or the French were ready to fight for Czechoslovakia. They were not. Chamberlain then had to persuade Bene to give Germany every area inhabited more than 50% by Germans. That would mean the surrender of the entire Sudetenland, which represented not only one-fifth of Czechoslovakia's territory but also its industrial heartland and its defensible natural frontier. Bene at first refused, but when the British and French told him that he would have to fight alone, he gave...
...next day Chamberlain returned to Germany to tell Hitler he could have everything he asked. "Do I understand," asked the Fuhrer, "that the British, French and Czech governments have agreed to the transfer of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany...
...terribly sorry," said Hitler, "but that no longer suits me." The German leader seemed determined to humiliate the Czechs and expose the weakness of the British and French. He no longer wanted a plebiscite. The Czechs would simply have to hand over the Sudetenland by Oct. 1, or the Germans would invade. Now Chamberlain was angry. Returning to London, he found that the French were reluctantly ready to meet a German invasion with force, a decision in which he unhappily concurred. In London people began digging trenches to provide shelter from the expected air raids. "How horrible, fantastic, incredible...
Though Hitler had made no pretense of declaring war on Poland -- with which he had signed a ten-year nonaggression pact in 1934 -- the British and French response to his attack was glacial in its formality. Not until 10 a.m. did the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, summon the German charge d'affaires to ask if he had any explanation for this "very serious situation." The charge admitted only that the Germans were defending themselves against a Polish attack...