ON THIS DAY ·
Occupation of Prague
15 Mar 1939 — German forces occupy Prague and the remaining Czech lands. Hitler has taken territory beyond what was conceded at Munich, breaking the settlement and undermining appeasement; British and French policy begins to change.
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The moment in context
In 1936, France had the military strength nearby to intervene when German troops entered the demilitarized Rhineland. Britain and France protested, and the German move stood. Here was a breach of the postwar settlement that France had the means to resist. Why did it hold back?
From Appeasement and the road to WW2, chapter 1 of The War Room — WW2, 1936–1945 (SEP 1938).
The place: Occupation of Prague — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — Versailles and Nazi revisionism. Germany lost territory and military strength under the 1919 settlement. The Nazis used resentment of those terms to build support for expansion,…
- The turn — Munich, 30 September 1938. The agreement at Munich gave Hitler reason to expect that pressure would win concessions. Stalin, whose government had been excluded, had reason to…
- What it changed — Czechoslovakia becomes vulnerable. Czechoslovakia’s border defenses lay in the Sudetenland. Losing them left the country exposed; Germany seized the rest in March 1939, gaining the…
Then ask the room: Britain and France could probably have stopped Hitler cheaply in 1936–38. Why didn’t they? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
The atlas that shows it
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