Elections were held in the Sanjak of Alexandretta. Turkish candidates won 22 of 40 seats, creating the conditions for the declaration of a new Turkish-aligned state.[5]
Italy ordered Jewish teachers, officials and students excluded from state schools. Some students who had already begun their studies were exempt from the new law under special circumstances.[6]
Hitler conferred with Walther von Brauchitsch and Wilhelm Keitel on Fall Grün. Hitler brushed aside Brauchitsch's objections that the Wehrmacht lacked preparedness and ordered the troops to be ready to march at two days' notice.[7]
On instructions from Hitler, Konrad Henlein broke off negotiations with the Czech government. Allegations of Czech police brutality at Moravská Ostrava were used as an excuse.[11]
Theo Kordt informs foreign secretary Lord Halifax at 10 Downing Street on Oster conspiracy preparations for a Wehrmacht coup against Hitler to start upon his issuance of a declaration of war on Czechoslovakia.[12]
A famously controversial editorial appeared in The Times which recommended giving Hitler what he wanted because "the advantages to Czechoslovakia of becoming a homogenous State might conceivably outweigh the obvious disadvantages of losing the Sudeten German districts of the borderland."[7]
Representatives of Czechoslovakia's various minorities presented a united front against the government and agreed upon the "urgent necessity for reconstruction of the state and settlement of the minorities question."[13]
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a press conference in which he denied that a quote recently attributed to the Ambassador to France William Christian Bullitt, Jr. had ever been made. Bullitt allegedly said that France and the United States "were united in war as in peace".[14]
Hermann Göring made an inflammatory speech at the Nuremberg Rally, accusing the Czechoslovak government of "oppressing a cultured people". Czechoslovakian President Edvard Beneš made a radio address making no mention of the diatribe and appealing for peace.[11][16]
Hitler made a bombastic speech in Nuremberg declaring that the oppression of Sudeten Germans must end.[17] The speech was broadcast live to the United States by CBS Radio and was the first time that many Americans had ever heard Hitler speak.[18]
The British cabinet held a meeting almost as soon as Hitler was finished speaking. They were relieved that Hitler had only demanded "justice" for Sudeten Germans and had not committed himself to war.[7]
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain boarded a plane for the first time in his life and flew to Berchtesgaden to meet with Adolf Hitler. Chamberlain had already decided not to go to war over Czechoslovakia, so all that was left to negotiate was the means of meeting Hitler's demands.[21]
Neville Chamberlain reported to the Cabinet on his meeting with Hitler, informing its members of his belief that a settlement of the Sudeten matter would satisfy Hitler's aims.[24]
French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier and his foreign minister Georges Bonnet came to London for a conference on Czechoslovakia. The German annexation of the Sudetenland was agreed upon.[17]
The Czechoslovak government rejected the Anglo-French proposal in a note explaining that acceptance would mean that Czechoslovakia would be put "sooner or later under the complete domination of Germany."[11]
Hitler met with the Polish ambassador Józef Lipski and told him that Germany would support Poland in a conflict with Czechoslovakia over Teschen.[26] Hitler also said he was considering shipping Europe's Jews to a colony and expressed hope that Poland would cooperate with such a plan. Lipski replied that if Hitler could solve the Jewish question, the Poles would build a monument to him in Warsaw.[27]
The British and French ambassadors informed Czechoslovakian President Edvard Beneš that his country would have to accept their plan or face Germany alone.[17]
The Czechoslovakian government resigned. Jan Syrový became the new Prime Minister.[10]
Neville Chamberlain returned to Germany and met with Hitler again for two days at Bad Godesberg. Hitler was much more bellicose than before and demanded to occupy the Sudetenland by October 1 with all of the region's military equipment left intact.[5][21][29]
In the Berlin Sportpalast, Hitler made a speech threatening Czechoslovakia with war. "My patience is exhausted", Hitler declared. "If Beneš does not want peace we will have to take matters into our own hands."[32]
The French government announced that France would not enter a war purely over Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain gave a radio address saying, "However much we may sympathize with a small nation confronted by a big and powerful neighbor, we cannot in all circumstances undertake to involve the whole British Empire in a war simply on her account. If we have to fight it must be on larger issues than that."[30]
Munich Agreement: At 1 a.m., the four powers at Munich agreed that Czechoslovakia would cede the Sudetenland to Germany by October 10. The territorial integrity of the rest of Czechoslovakia was guaranteed by all signatories.[10]
Neville Chamberlain flew back to Britain and declared "peace for our time".
References
^"Expel All Jews Who Moved to Italy Since '19". Chicago Daily Tribune. September 2, 1938. p. 1.
^Cashman, Sean Dennis (1989). America in the Twenties and Thirties: The Olympian Age of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. New York University. p. 555. ISBN978-0-8147-1413-3.
^ abMercer, Derrik, ed. (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 500. ISBN978-0-582-03919-3.
^"Troops Suppress Sudeten German Rebellion After Day of Fighting". Chicago Daily Tribune. September 15, 1938. p. 1.
^ abLewis, John David (2010). Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History. Princeton University Press. pp. 224–225. ISBN978-1-4008-3430-3.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^McDonough, Frank (1998). Neville Chamberlain, Appeasement, and the British Road to War. Manchester University Press. p. 64. ISBN978-0-7190-4832-6.
^"Yanks Lose 2, but Capture A. L. Pennant". Chicago Daily Tribune. September 19, 1938. p. 19.
^Boone, J. C. (2008). Hitler at the Obersalzberg. Xlibris. p. 105. ISBN978-1-4628-1353-7.
^Nicosia, Francis R. (2000). The Third Reich and the Palestine Question. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. p. 166. ISBN978-0-7658-0624-6.
^Tucker, Spencer C. (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 1879. ISBN978-1-85109-672-5.
^ abCabada, Cabada; Waisová, Šárka (2011). Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic in World Politics. Lexington Books. p. 39. ISBN978-0-7391-6733-5.