The War of 1939

At Munich Britain and France demonstrated the lengths they were prepared to go in order to preserve the peace. France sacrificed a major military ally and tacitly admitted that its whole post-war diplomacy and strategy of alliance with the eastern European states was in ruins. Hitler, according to Cadogan, ‘had got all that he said he wanted’ but he admitted that that was not to say that ‘he has got all that he wants’.1 The latter point was crucial. It was recognised that future international developments in Europe would depend largely upon the policy of Hitler’s Germany. Would he abide by the commitment which he had made with Chamberlain to eschew war between their two countries and to seek to resolve any disputes by conciliation? Would Germany remain content with the gains which it had made and seek to consolidate them, or would it continue a policy of aggressive expansion?