Why did Chamberlain sign the MunichAgreement on September 30th 1938?

Another reason to support the explanation of Chamberlain’s decision is that he was also very poorly informed about the defences of the Sudetenland. Britain believed that the Anschluss had left the Sudetenland defences outflanked and vulnerable. On the contrary, the Czechs had a series of defences modelled on the French Maginot Line. The also had a large powerful and modern army, and if the Czech army had received support from Britain and France, they might have even been a match for Hitler. Certainly he would have thought twice. Chamberlain also believed that the Sudetenland was not worth going to war over. He was unaware that the area had actually never been part of Germany, and that the demand for the Sudetenland by Germany was based on national self-determination a reasonable claim but something which they had not received in the Treaty of Versailles. 3.5million Germans lived in the Sudetenland and they claimed to have been discriminated against by the Czech government. They wanted to join Germany and, following the Anschluss, campaigned to do so.

However many have argued that Chamberlain was in fact delaying for time and knew that Britain would not be able to fight a full scale war at the current state in 1938. The agreement in that case was a calculated tactic to stall for more time.

A reason for this was because collective action by the League of Nations was unlikely so France and Britain would bear the brunt of a war against Germany. Poland would not co-operate and the Czechs did not trust Russian assistance, as the believed that they would just proceed to invade them after the conflict had passed. Also Britain and France’s air forces were not prepared for a massive offensive. In fact the French Air Chief stated that if there were a war with Germany, his air force would be destroyed in 15 days. British Public Opinion had also changed from support of a strong stand to a fear of bombing. This strengthened the appeasement policy at a crucial time. To go against it at this crucial time would have been political suicide. So in fact Chamberlain was just following what the public wanted. The press and public supported his view that this was “a quarrel” in a far away country between people of whom we nothing”

As a result of signing the Munich agreement, Britain and France were able to stall for time, allowing them to rearm, but the delay also gave Germany a chance to rearm as well – more than Britain and France achieved in 1938/39. They had also lost the moral high ground due to the fact that they had given into an aggressor. A few days later, after Munich, British public opinion turned again, this time against Chamberlain for signing the agreement, especially after Hitler took over the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939.

In conclusion I believe that the reason for Chamberlain signing the Munich agreement was in fact a mixture of the above two reasons. Chamberlain probably knew that Britain was not strong enough to go to war and was trying to gain some time in order for them to rearm. However at the same time he probably trusted Hitler too much and possibly believed that Hitler would stop his aggression if German grievances were addressed.