October 10, 1938 - As a result of the Munich Agreement, German troops complete their occupation of the Sudetenland. Having successfully claimed Austria in early 1938, Adolf Hitler turned to obtaining the ethnically German Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. After fomenting trouble in the region, he demanded that it be ceded to Germany after the Czechoslovaks declared martial law. Desperate to avoid war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (right) met with Hitler twice in attempts to resolve the situation.


Unable to met Hitler's increasing demands, Chamberlain agreed to a four power conference to be held in Munich to discuss the crisis. Joined by Italian leader Benito Mussolini and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier, Hitler and Chamberlain met through the day on September 29. Eager to avoid war, Chamberlain and Daladier pursued a policy of appeasement and agreed to have the Czechoslovaks cede the Sudetenland in exchange for guarantees that Germany would demand no further territory. Betrayed and abandoned by their allies, the Czechoslovaks were forced to agree. German troops crossed into the Sudetenland on October 1 and had fully occupied the region by the 10th. Surprised by the weakness of Britain and France, Hitler was spurred on to acquire additional territory with little fear of reprisal. His troops occupied the remainder of the Czechoslovakia the following spring.

Photograph Source: Public Domain