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Munich AgreementThe Munich Agreement or Munich Pact was a treaty signed in September 1938 between Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. The treaty allowed Nazi Germany to invade and occupy the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, in return for Adolf Hitler's promise that it would be the last of his territorial claims in Europe. The Sudetenland was a mountainous region with an ethnic German majority, and prior to 1918 it had been part of Austria-Hungary. It contained most of the Czechoslovakian defensive fortifications and its loss meant that the rest of Czechoslovakia became indefensible against the German invaders. The signing of the agreement also strengthened Hitler against dissident elements within the army in Germany, who could not act so long as his reckless foreign policy continued to succeed. In March 1939, Hitler broke the agreement and occupied Prague and the remainder of Czechoslovakia. Soon after, he attacked Poland, igniting World War II. Since then, the Munich Agreement has been noted as the most famous example of appeasement? in history. See Also |