The British people expected war to come, and Chamberlain`s „statesman gesture“ was initially greeted with applause. He was greeted as a hero by the royal family and invited to the balcony of Buckingham Palace before presenting the deal to the British Parliament. The generally positive reaction quickly deteriorated, despite the royal patronage. However, there was resistance from the beginning. Clement Attlee and the Labour Party rejected the deal, in alliance with two Conservative MPs, Duff Cooper and Vyvyan Adams, who until then had been seen as a hardened and reactionary element of the Conservative Party. Historians disagree on whether the SdP was or developed into a Nazi front organization from the beginning. [9] [10] Until 1935, the SdP was the second largest political party in Czechoslovakia, as German votes were concentrated on this party and Czech and Slovak votes were divided among several parties. Shortly after the annexation of Austria to Germany, Henlein met Hitler in Berlin on March 28, 1938 and was tasked with making demands that would be unacceptable to the Democratic Czechoslovak government of President Edvard Beneš.[9] On April 24, the SdP issued a series of demands to the government of Czechoslovakia, known as the Karlovy Vary program. [11] Henlein demanded, among other things, the autonomy of the Germans living in Czechoslovakia. [9] The Czechoslovak government responded that it was willing to grant more minority rights to the German minority, but was initially reluctant to grant autonomy. [9] The SdP received 88% of the votes born in Germany in May 1938.
[12] Meanwhile, a new Czechoslovak cabinet was created under General Jan Syrový, and on September 23, a decree on general mobilization was issued, which was accepted by the public with great enthusiasm – within 24 hours, a million men joined the army to defend the country. The Czechoslovak army, modern, experienced and with an excellent system of border fortifications, was ready to fight. The Soviet Union agreed to come to the aid of Czechoslovakia, on condition that the Soviet army could cross Polish and Romanian territory. Both countries refused to allow the Soviet army to use their territories. [38] We suffered a total and unqualified defeat. .