Topics covered:
- History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawing of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.- their forms and effect on the society.
Munich Agreement
What to study?
For Prelims: Key features of the agreement.
For Mains: A critical analysis.
Context: On September 1, 1939 — German troops marched into Poland, triggering the beginning of World War II.
Great Britain and France, which had assured help to Poland, declared war on Germany and its allies two days later, on September 3. The beginning of the War exposed to the world the folly of the Munich Agreement.
What is Munich Agreement?
- The Agreement was signed among Germany, France, Italy, and Great Britain on September 29-30, 1938. Czechoslovakia, the country whose region was about to be annexed, was not officially party to the Agreement. It was forced to agree to the deal under pressure from Great Britain and France, which had a military alliance with the country.
- The Agreement allowed for the cessation to Germany of Sudetenland. The German occupation was to be done in four stages from October 1-10, 1938.
- The cessation in some places was subject to a plebiscite.
- The Czechoslovak government was supposed to release from their military and police forces within four weeks of the signing of the Agreement, any Sudeten Germans who wished to be released, and all Sudeten German prisoners.
Outcome:
- Six months after the Munich Agreement was signed, Hitler went back on his commitments and invaded the whole of Czechoslovakia. War was on its way.
- The agreement has been seen as a disastrous act of appeasement of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, and historical evidence that expansionist totalitarianism cannot be dealt with through placation.
Sources: the Hindu.
