Let Hitler take the Rhineland. Let him annex Austria. Gave him the Sudetenland and he later took the rest of Czechoslovakia. Of course, the French didn't do anything either. As Churchill said..
You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.'
It’s not surprising that leftie movie makers would support cowardice.
Muenchen....................
“Night Train to Munich” was an EXCELLENT movie. Watch the Criterion edition if you can.
I don’t trust movies named ‘Eunich’.
Bravo. Thanks for the reminder. At the time of Chamberlains acquiescence, Czechoslovakia's forces had at least 5 divisions, France about 20 divisions. Germany had only about 5 or 6. Plus Czechoslovakia had it's own improved version of a Maginot line. When Hitler visited it, he was amazed that a country with such strong fortifications declined to defend itself.
Poland had dirty hands; they too helped themselves to a slice of the pie.
“… a prestige film that has gained a high-end audience…”
Lololol…that guarantees it’s a T in the punch bowl. Pass.
People today opine that Chamberlain should have been ready to go to war in 1938. That ignores two big facts. Italy and France wanted no part of that response and were fully on board. Second, with hindsight we know perfectly how it should have been handled. But had he suggested war in 1938, he would have been removed by a no confidence vote the next day.
There is no way the British people wanted a repeat of the horror of WWI a short 20 years later.
Things went the way the pretty much had to. It was only two years earlier that Lindbergh visited Nazi Germany and had nothing but good things to say. Two years before 1938 the British king who was pretty much a nazi abdicated and a lot of British aristocracy was not hostile to Hitler yet.
And though we don’t admit it now, neither England nor the USA both were deeply worried about the well being of the Jews. And nobody suspected mass murder was around the corner.
I don’t think Chamberlain had as many options as people think. And he would have been a poor choice once the war began.
I tried watching the Netflix one, but the subtitles were going by so fast that I couldn’t keep up with the dialog. I gave up about 20 minutes in.
If I have to READ, I’ll read a book, not read a movie.
The reason Rudolph Hess flew his Messerschmitt 110 in 1940 to Scotland was to meet with sympathetic Brit aristocrats and try to conclude a Brit/Nazi peace. His mission was not completely impossible. That is why he was locked up for life pretty much incommunicado.
Lots of dirty British stuff in that era, as there is today.
I’m kind of in the middle on chamberlain
I think he gets dumped on far too much....his desire was to avoid war and I think he misjudged Hitler
He did not arrange the pact by himself ....he was celebrated for it till it fell apart
Churchill indefatigable was always a hawk....that was his nature and his pride in the empire and his place in it drove that
It must have been quite a reckoning for him to see it all slip away in his final years,
I view Churchill warts and all the finest political leader of the 20th century
He also keenly understood the American south and wrote well of us in a few volumes ....rare
Despite my Churchill love ....he was half American btw....his gorgeous mother though was another story..let’s just say she had a publicly ribald appetite
Neville does not deserve the scorn and condemnation he receives...most of Britain ruling class always viewed Winnie as an outlier dependable war mongerer....with one huge failure on his record in the Dardanelles....but when they needed him....there was no substitute...
God put him there...and he and Clemmie knew it
Chamberlains failure was a required prerequisite for folks to accept war with Germany
Much like imperial Japan attack on us accomplished the same
In that sense chamberlain played a part
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940
by William Manchester
This book is a textbook about leadership, information/intelligence, and how clear values guide a leader through difficult times when almost everyone disagrees with you. It is about the “dull” period in WC’s life—neither WW1 or WW2, but it is the book to which I most often refer. Well worth the time to read.
What kind of idiot do you have to be to believe Iron’s argument. I knew this would happen eventually though. In many ways Churchill is the leading conservative of the first half of the 20th century. Lefties want his reputation to be sullied
I watched it a week or two ago. Not a bad flick. Entertaining.
I don’t expect historical movies to be accurate. I get my education on historical matters by reading, not Netflix.
Even if Chamberlin's cave in at Munich is calculated as a strategic necessity, it was attended by so much ignominious delusion and self-congratulatory puffery that his reputation was permanently stained. There is some reason to think Chamberlin realized this at the time, but it also seems possible that he believed the foolish "peace in our time" posturing, with the evidence to the contrary later contrived by his circle of friends, allies, and hangers on chastened by how badly things turned out.
There is also a hard to assess counterpoint that had Chamberlin and Britain held firm and gone to war instead of making a deal at Munich, the German generals planned to depose Hitler and make peace. Moreover, with Germany's rearmament and blitzkrieg tactics, training, and equipment not yet sufficiently matured at the time of Munich, Czechoslovakia's army and border fortifications would have posed a formidable military obstacle.
A larger consideration also deserves mention. Chamberlin's cave in at Munich and the folly associated with it was part of how democratic Britain became unified and reconciled to a second terrible war with Germany a generation after the First World War. Britain had gone as far as possible to make peace with Hitler and the Nazis, farther perhaps than was reasonable. The influential peace lobby on Britain had no cause for complaint when war came.
As it was, in extremity, Britain turned to the combative Churchill as her indispensable wartime leader despite him otherwise being widely disliked and seen by many as discredited and erratic. And, to Chamberlin's credit, he accepted Churchill's return to government as First Lord of the Admiralty and the soon to be prime minister.
We shouldn’t view the Munich Agreement simply as the appeasement of a weak man who was fooled by Hitler. It’s the wrong way to look at it.
So we shouldn’t look at if for exactly what it was? Next Jimmy Carter was greater than George Washington starring Gary Busey as Carter.
I liked the Munich with Eric Bana.
Bumperoonie.
Book. The Aviators.