The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of
portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly
inhabited by German speakers, for which a new territorial designation "Sudetenland" was coined.
The agreement
was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers
of Europe, excluding the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.
The agreement was signed in the early
hours of 30 September 1938 (but dated 29 September).
The purpose of the
conference was to discuss the future of the Sudetenland in the face of ethnic
demands made by Adolf Hitler.
The agreement was signed by
Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Sudetenland was of immense
strategic importance toCzechoslovakia, as most of its border defenses,
and banks were situated there, as well as heavy industrial districts.
Because the state of
Czechoslovakia was not invited to the conference, it considered itself to have
been betrayed by the United Kingdom and France, so Czechs and Slovaks call the Munich Agreement the Munich Diktat. The phrase "Munich Betrayal" is also used because the
military alliance Czechoslovakia had with France and Britain proved useless and also known because of the phrase
"About us, without us!" This phrase is most hurtful for people of
Czechoslovakia (Czech republic, Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia). Today the
document is typically referred to simply as the Munich Pact.
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