Of Winston Churchill and the Munich agreement
The settlement reached by Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy in September 30, 1938 (Munich Agreement) permitted German annexation of the Sudetenland, in western Czechoslovakia and led to World War II a year later.
Just before the Munich conference Churchill said in a letter to Lloyd George on 13 August 1938.
I think we shall have to choose in the next few weeks between war and shame, and I have very little doubt what the decision will be.
A month later, Churchill wrote to his friend Lord Moyne and said:
We seem to be very near the bleak choice between War and Shame. My feeling is that we shall choose Shame, and then have War thrown in a little later on even more adverse terms than at present.
Just after the Munich Agreement, in response to Chamberlain's assertion that the agreement had achieved “peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time”, Winston Churchill declared,
“You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.”
“And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.”
Chamberlain’s policies were discredited the following year, when Hitler annexed the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March and then precipitated World War II by invading Poland in September.