#munich agreement

[onlytiktoks]

[rosiethereviewer]

Episode 44: Munich: The Edge of War

Ahoy, spykids! This week, we discuss Munich: The Edge of War. A movie (and book read by Sam) that we both enjoyed quite a bit. It has you on the edge of your seat and offers a rare sympathetic view of Chamberlain and his handling of the Munich Agreement negotiations. And, let's face it, spy movies, if done well, are just cool aren't they?

Listen to the episode here

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Expected to Become Carpatho-Ukraine Capital,” Windsor Star. March 16, 1939. Page 1. ---- STREET scenes in Ungvar, Hungary, were less placid March 15 than as shown above several months earlier. Reports indicated that rifle volleys believed to be from Ukrainian irregulars were fired into the city on several occasions, while further north and east, Hungarian troops, marching into Carpatho-Ukraine were encountering resistance. Ungvar is in the area gained by Hungary under the November 2 award of former Czecho-slovakia territory and is expected to become the capital of the new Hungarian Carpatho-Ukraine district annexed today by Budapest.

[warsofasoiaf]

Thanks for the Cz link, but the blitz is overrated. The normal armies led the way in Poland & French tanks beat Panzers at Gembloux. It was a conventional win at Sedan that made them give up. The Anschluss gave Germany a better grasp on logistic issues, too. As for the air, no one really knew what they were doing but the Luftwaffe had better doctrine (esp integrated AA). Would the Czechs have avoided Poland's & France's mistake of holding back their planes? Would Slovaks & Magyars have fought?

I agree the blitz is overrated, although operating in the enemy's strategic depth is useful for causing disarray and panic.

I disagree that no one knew what they were doing in regards to the air and I am convinced that they would have flown. The Czechoslovak Air Force was quite accomplished with good planes (except bombers - though they had some Soviet ones produced under license) and pilots, and had steadily increased their readiness over the Sudeten crisis. Goering believed it too, he was convinced that the Czechoslovak Air Force was a real threat. I think the better planes and more experienced pilots would have meant that the Czechs would have acquired and maintained air superiority, which would have severely curtailed the Luftwaffe's ability to fly a CAS mission.

I think only a few Slovaks and Magyars would have fought given the ethnic tensions, though I don't think they'd stage a domestic revolt without serious backing, which I don't think either Hungary or Italy would have had established by then.

The mountains and their defensive network were a good defensive bastion, it limited the ground approach vectors into Czechia and so would have maximized the defensive multiplier of the Czechs.

Hitler was also facing uncertainty in 1938 before Munich. Plenty of anti-Hitler elements had thought that his bellicose foreign policy was dragging Germany into a war that they were not ready for, the Oster conspiracy. Now, it's an open question as to exactly how far along the Oster conspiracy was, but it's entirely possible that those elements would move to take out Hitler, and since there was both diplomatic and military support for the conspiracy, it stood a good chance of success.

The big issue for me, as I mentioned previously, is that if there's a rehash of the Phony War, the Wehrmacht would have eventually been able to overwhelm the defenses with numbers and sustained assault. France actually needs to come to play to actually reduce the German numbers.

Now, I'm not one to say that it would have been guaranteed or even easy, far from it. But I do think that had the British and French stood their ground at Munich, they had a very real shot at success.

Thanks for the addition and contributions, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[wurmstuggu]

Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Paul Schmidt (interpreter), Neville Chamberlain

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Europe, 1938

[deadpresidents]

If I’m not mistaken, I believe this is an exclusive photo of President Trump arriving home from his meeting in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin.

[mezimraky]

the munich agreement (sept 29, 1938) as reported by le petit parisien