This document provides context about the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and the Munich Conference where Britain, France, Germany, and Italy decided to allow Hitler to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia without Czech resistance. It discusses Germany's previous annexation of Austria and explains that the Sudetenland was economically important for Germany as it was struggling financially after rapid military expansion. The document introduces two historical sources from the Munich Conference that will be analyzed and notes they provide different perspectives on the event and appeasement policy.

1. Source Analysis:
The Sudeten Crisis
The Nazi Invasion of Czechoslovakia

2. This Lesson:
• We are going to do a Comparative Analysis
• We are going to be looking at two Historical Sources produced on the
same day, about the same event.
• These relate to the police of Appeasement.
• This event is the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia
• As you will see, they are pretty different!
But first – Some context

3. 1938 was a big
year for
Germany
• In Fact, Germany got
significantly bigger in
1938. It grew by almost
25%!
• Germany annexed 113,841
Square kilometres of land.
• However, this expansion
came at the cost of
innocent neighbouring
countries.

4. Expansion 1 – The Anschluss
• This was the annexation of Austria into Germany
• Supposedly this was a ‘democratic’ referendum
• In reality, Germany was ready to invade Austria if
they did not agree to join them.
• The international community complained, but
didn’t do anything about it, as Austrians are
ethnically German.

5. How
Democratic
was it really?
• Translation: Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with the
German Reich that was enacted on 13 March 1938, and do you vote for the
party of our leader Adolf Hitler?
IT WASN’T!
According to some Gestapo reports,
only a quarter to a third of Austrian
voters in Vienna were in favour of
the Anschluss.
However, the official
result was yes by
99.73%!

6. Expansion 2 – The Sudeten Crisis
• The Nazi’s next target
was the country of
Czechoslovakia.
• The Sudetenland was a
region on the border
with Germany, where
many Germans lived.
• It was also one of the
richest areas of
Czechoslovakia, and by
1938 the Nazis were
going broke building
their shiny new army. Turns out these things
are super expensive

7. The Munich
Conference
• This is the event that the sources
you will analysis are based on.
• In September 1938 Britain,
France, Germany and Italy had a
conference about the Sudeten
Crisis.
• Czechoslovakia was not invited!
• They all decided to let Hitler
have the Sudetenland, and
declared they would not help
Czechoslovakia if they tried to
fight back.
This is Neville Chamberlain.
He thinks he’s just guaranteed
peace in Europe.
He’s very, very wrong.