Kate Clements: "Churchill had visited Germany in 1932 and seen the growing Nazi threat, he began making a series of impassioned speeches in parliament condemning the regime. As part of this, he made frequent and ever-louder calls for British rearmament throughout the 1930s. Two of his contacts in government were passing him secret intelligence about German rearmament levels. This helped him to lobby both Stanley Baldwin and then Neville Chamberlains’ governments to significantly step up British military preparations.
There were those who saw Churchill's warning calls about Nazism as simply a means to raise his profile. Others thought he was being a warmonger. There isn’t evidence to support either of those points of view. Churchill saw the threat that Hitler posed and was alert to Britain’s unpreparedness to meet it."
Voice over: "Despite Churchill’s efforts, Chamberlain persevered with appeasement."
Kate Clements: "Chamberlain had a somewhat stubborn nature and a firm belief in his own ability to befriend the dictators. He doggedly stuck to appeasement, even after it was clear it couldn’t work against Hitler.
Kate Clements: "It looked increasingly likely that Germany would march into the territory, the Sudetenland, and take it by force. France was committed to protect Czechoslovakia from aggression, but neither France nor Britain felt ready to fight a war with Germany. British policy was to place pressure on Czechoslovakia to concede to Hitler’s demands and give up the Sudetenland, in order to avoid war. After protracted diplomatic activity during 1938, Chamberlain flew to meet Hitler in Germany on three occasions in September to try and reach agreement over the Czech crisis.
His last visit was to attend the Munich Conference. This was held between the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, who collectively reached and signed an agreement. The Czech leaders were not invited to attend the Munich Conference, at Hitler’s insistence." "He refused to tolerate their attendance. This led to riots in Czechoslovakia."
Kate Clements: "In this, Britain and France forced Czechoslovakia to hand Germany the border areas which were home to its German-speaking minority. This averted war, but gained what many suspected was only a temporary ‘peace without honour’.
From The British War Museum website:
Kate Clements: "Churchill had visited Germany in 1932 and seen the growing Nazi threat, he began making a series of impassioned speeches in parliament condemning the regime. As part of this, he made frequent and ever-louder calls for British rearmament throughout the 1930s. Two of his contacts in government were passing him secret intelligence about German rearmament levels. This helped him to lobby both Stanley Baldwin and then Neville Chamberlains’ governments to significantly step up British military preparations.
There were those who saw Churchill's warning calls about Nazism as simply a means to raise his profile. Others thought he was being a warmonger. There isn’t evidence to support either of those points of view. Churchill saw the threat that Hitler posed and was alert to Britain’s unpreparedness to meet it."
Voice over: "Despite Churchill’s efforts, Chamberlain persevered with appeasement."
Kate Clements: "Chamberlain had a somewhat stubborn nature and a firm belief in his own ability to befriend the dictators. He doggedly stuck to appeasement, even after it was clear it couldn’t work against Hitler.
Kate Clements: "It looked increasingly likely that Germany would march into the territory, the Sudetenland, and take it by force. France was committed to protect Czechoslovakia from aggression, but neither France nor Britain felt ready to fight a war with Germany. British policy was to place pressure on Czechoslovakia to concede to Hitler’s demands and give up the Sudetenland, in order to avoid war. After protracted diplomatic activity during 1938, Chamberlain flew to meet Hitler in Germany on three occasions in September to try and reach agreement over the Czech crisis.
His last visit was to attend the Munich Conference. This was held between the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, who collectively reached and signed an agreement. The Czech leaders were not invited to attend the Munich Conference, at Hitler’s insistence." "He refused to tolerate their attendance. This led to riots in Czechoslovakia."
Kate Clements: "In this, Britain and France forced Czechoslovakia to hand Germany the border areas which were home to its German-speaking minority. This averted war, but gained what many suspected was only a temporary ‘peace without honour’.