Word: premier
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...they were seriously outnumbered, as well as outgunned and outgeneraled. The Germans had not only their panzer units but also 130 infantry divisions. On June 7 the French commander Maxime Weygand told the government, "The battle of the Somme is lost," and advised it to ask for an armistice. Premier Reynaud declared, "We shall fight in front of Paris," but the government itself fled to Tours and then Bordeaux...
...technicians went to Versailles in 1919 to negotiate a peace treaty ending World War I, the French forced their train to creep along at 10 m.p.h. so that the Germans would get a vivid sense of the devastation their armies had wrought. In Versailles's Hall of Mirrors, Premier Georges Clemenceau had ominous words for them: "The hour has struck for the weighty settlement of our account...
Having reached the brink of war, the warriors hesitated. Chamberlain sent a message to Mussolini suggesting a meeting with Hitler and French Premier Daladier. Hitler agreed. Chamberlain was in the midst of addressing Parliament when he received Hitler's invitation to Munich the following day; he almost gasped with relief as he announced his acceptance. The Czechs were not even invited, so it took only twelve hours for the four leaders to agree on Sept. 30 on the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. And they were pleased with what they had done. When Chamberlain returned to London, he proudly uttered his most...
...worried Chamberlain telephoned French Premier Edouard Daladier and said Britain could not wait 48 hours; Daladier said it must. Halifax called Bonnet and proposed that an ultimatum be delivered at 8 a.m. Sunday, to expire at noon. Bonnet insisted on no ultimatum before noon. Halifax said the House was meeting at noon, and any further delay would mean the downfall of the government. He said that if necessary, Britain would "act on its own." When the Cabinet asked Chamberlain to pledge no further compromises, he said, "Right, gentlemen. This means war." As he spoke, one witness recalled, "there...
...early as Sept. 4, the Polish government began evacuating Warsaw. The Bank of Poland sent its gold reserves south, to a haven near the Rumanian border. On Sept. 7 the Foreign Ministry told all diplomats that President Ignacy Moscicki, Premier Felicjan Slawoj-Skladkowski and their Cabinet ministers were leaving immediately by truck convoy for Naleczow, a resort 85 miles southeast of Warsaw. Finding no telephone lines working and almost no electricity, the ministers and diplomats trekked onward the next day to Krzemieniec, some 200 miles farther southeast. Throughout this flight, they were repeatedly attacked by German planes, for the Germans...