| Image | 
|
| Ref No | LSE2568 |
| Alt Ref No | LSE2568 |
| Artist or Creator | David Low (1891-1963) |
| Title or Caption | What, no chair for me? |
| Extent | 1 item |
| Published by | Evening Standard |
| Date | 30 Sep 1938 |
| Format | Newspaper |
| Embedded text or transcript | 4 power pact |
| Person Depicted | Hitler; Adolf (1889-1945) |
| Chamberlain; Neville (Arthur Neville) (1869-1940) |
| Daladier; Edouard |
| Mussolini; Benito (1883-1945) |
| Stalin; Joseph (1879-1953) |
| Notes | Reprinted in "Europe since Versailles by Low" ."Soviet Russia had a pact with France and had been a party to the pact with Czechoslovakia and professedly ready to support it. Soviet Russia was not invited to the four-power talks to draw the new frontier. Hitler disliked Bolshevism." printed on opposite page.
Notes: Hitler turned his expansionist aims towards Czechoslovakia in 1938. His annexation of Austria in March of that year had left Czechoslovakia surrounded by German territory on 3 sides. Many Germans lived within Czechoslovakia, in the area known as the Sudetenland and Hitler sought to bring this area into the Reich. Nazi stooges had been stirring up trouble in the area, demanding unification with the Fatherland. Britain and France continued to over-estimate Hitler's military capability, in reality far inferior to even their depleted resources. Thus they sought to avoid military conflict over Czechoslovakia, despite the fact that Hitler's European expansion was in contravention of the 1919 Peace Treaties that, as members of the League of Nations, they had sworn to uphold. This policy of acquiescing to Hitler's demands is known as 'appeasement'. Meetings at Berchtesgaden and Bad Godesberg between Hitler and Chamberlain saw an escalation of Hitler's demands for the Sudetenland. Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia cede all land with more than 50% Germans. Mussolini suggested a 4-power pact under which Italy, Germany, France and Britain would guarantee Czechoslovakia's revised borders, provided that Czechoslovakia gave up existing military treaties with France and the Soviet Union. This latter was an interesting move by western powers. Russia was the obvious choice to protect Czechoslovakia as Britain and France were too far away, and too western, to be able to viably act. However, fear of communism spreading throughout Europe was sufficiently strong to prompt Britain and France to exclude Russia from negotiations. This exclusion arguably precipitated the Nazi-Soviet pact; fear that Russia would be abandoned by Britain and France led Stalin to secure his own borders by whatever means necessary. |
| Subjects | Czechoslovakia |
| France |
| Germany |
| Globes |
| International relations |
| Italy |
| Russia |
| UK |
| maps |
| peace talks |
| summit meetings |
| Copyright holder | Associated Newspapers Ltd. / Solo Syndication |
| Copyright contact details | Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT solo@solosyndication.com |
| Relates to cartoon | LSE2568 |
Show related Persons records.
Persons
| Code | PersonName | Dates | About | Multimedia | Image |
| GB/BCA/394 | Hitler; Adolf (1889-1945) | 1889-1945 | Born in Austria. Politician and leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party). He served as German chancellor from 1933-1945 and head of state (Fuhrer) from 1934-1945. He established a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideals of national socialism. He gained support for his views on German nationalism, anti-Semitism, anti-capitalism and anti-communism through his impassioned speeches and propaganda. He wanted to establish a New Order of absolute rule in Europe and pursued a policy of seizing land by force for the Aryan people. | | |
| GB/BCA/146 | Chamberlain; Neville (Arthur Neville) (1869-1940) | 1869-1940 | | | |
| GB/BCA/184 | Daladier; Edouard | 1884-1970 | | | |
| GB/BCA/58 | Mussolini; Benito (1883-1945) | 1883-1945 | | | |
| GB/BCA/273 | Stalin; Joseph (1879-1953) | 1879-1953 | | | |