There was actually one Czech garrison that defied orders to stand down when the Germans entered in 1939 and fought back for a few hours. It was quite a shock to them.
@@JonahNelson7 the battle was called ,,Battle of Czajánek's barracks” and actually no Czech man died that day. They killed 18 Germans and also wounded few tens of them. After the soldiers were captured by the germans, they surprisingly didn't get executed. They only had to conduct a small parade for the Germans and they were released in few days (officers even the same day). Some of these soldiers later joined the resistance.
Its not so much that they defied orders but more that the Germans cut phone lines too soon and the order never actually made it there. They just saw germans rolling up and began wrecking them.
Fun fact: there was a short-lived state called "Carpatho-Ukraine" during the partition of Czechoslovakia which was promptly conquered by Hungary. The territory is shown exactly at 2:43
@@999mi999 hahahahahahhahaha. Let's not forget bombing of Yugoslavia, Palestine and Iraq all done by Ukraine. Those bombs were made from russians who lived thousands of years in L/DPR
As a czech person. What I learned as to why we didn't fight back/resist was because then we would be seen as the agressors and pointed out as the ones who started the war. It's still sad that people with appeasement and peace in our time gave us away :/
What a shite reason not to defend your country. It’s not like countries were gonna support nazi Germany at the time and the Czechs still had positive relations/allies and good fortifications. Why didn’t they defend themselves?
@@4tbf616 May I tell you that the first month of war we were almost alone. Only the fact we didn't surrender and didn't loose in few weeks (as russians thought) switched on the weapon conveyer
In Slovakia too. Also it is being called for what it is: The Munich Betrayal. The "west" still uses the word Agreement, which is just an euphemism for Betrayal. They still refuse to see it for what it is. Because it is their shame.
fun fact: in the first election in czechoslovakia after ww2, the communist party gained the most votes in any post-war election in europe because many mistrusted the west for what they did in 1938
Czechs have inborn affinity towards Communism, it fits their national character. In other countries the Communists had to fight tough civil wars, but in Czechia few Soviet agents was all that was needed, the Czechs did not put up any fight.
Surely such positive feelings regarding the communist party will last for a long time and there wont be any widespread discontent and rebellious sentiment against that same communist party that will need to be violently and brutally put down.
@@janjurik660 "Czechia" was divided into 2 electoral districts: Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia. In Bohemia communists got most % anywhere in Europe (43%), Moravia-Silesia was quite "similiar" to other European countries (34,5%) - and just 4% more than in Slovakia (30,5%). So in this case, dont use "Czechia" since it didnt exist even as part of Czecho-Slovakia.
@@Inzersdorf93 the “odsun” which is when all the germans in sudetenland where forced to leave is teached quite poorly, beacouse us czech didnt do anything wrong ever, or thats how it is teached basicly we arent told about the usti massacre which is when czechs threw multiple germans including a pregnant woman in water and killed all of them, About the interwar period we are teached more like the war started when he got into power, we are told about the anti-jewis laws, about the ideology, then about how he anexed austria and then about taking sudeten land but this part differes from teacher to teacher but we should be told more about forcing the germans out of czechia beacouse we did some horrible stuff back then
Poles also know that, it is sad To add more it is more and more sad when we realise that our countries where put under Stalin in 1945 Sadly, because Hitler could be stopped twice: once in 1938 and second time in 1939 if France would attack from the west while the most of German forces where in Poland
@@squarek123 Yes sir, in 1934 Pilsudski proposed an attack on Germany and after remilitarazing Rhineland by Germans Polish government suggested that they would help France
Anglos have no allies, we only have temporary partnerships to further our interests. The amount of times the UK and US have betrayed their allies, I'm surprised it hasn't driven more countries away.
For ukranian oeople yes. For Ukraine? No. It’s a pontless war against the russians. Could have ended becore it began if not for that idiot Zelensky wanting to hold into his pointless position.
Czechoslovakia had very powerful military at that time. Not powerful enough to stop Germany but with France and Britain WW2 might have been just a border conflict, especially thanks to the fortifications. Also France dug their own grave by this. Not only did Germany gain huge amount of industry but also large amount of tanks and weapons that were later used to invade France. I remember reading that roughly 1/3 of what was used during the invasion of France was originally Czechoslovak equipment. (sadly I didn't manage to find the source again so it might be wrong) But there actually was a bit of resistance. Mark Felton made a video about that.
So if britain and france had stood with the czechs they might have won easily, if they had stood with the poles they might have won easily. Instead they decided that being good allies was boring
@@philip8498 I'm not saying this to defend them but Britain and France didn't just not care about their allies, they overestimated the German military and believed that they couldn't win at the time
@@balabanasireti Which, while understandable to an extent, is still pretty stupid. Did they think the Germans just weren't going to come to them next after they were done with the Poles? Were they really so blind that they couldn't see the writing on the walls? The French event waltzed into Germany, turned around, and went back. At that point, their actions were just flat out cowardly.
Well according to the latest researches they could hold them even for their own. German army in 1938 was very weak. Their propaganda and making themselves stronger made its part in the eyes of UK and France but reality was quite different. Germany had an ammuniton for 1 month of fighting, there was a bad weather so they couldn't use their airforce. Every healty man from 18 to 40 years of age in Czechoslovakia was mobilised and ready to fight. Czech morale was high and their border defences at full strenght. It would be a different case from Poland which is mainly a flat farmland. Czechs have mountains all around their border which they boosted even more with border fortifications like bunkers, machine gun nests etc. during last 3-4 years.
@@balabanasireti the situation was definitely quite complicated but this decision was done against many experts. Some people say that politicians just wanted to buy time to build up their armies but the only thing they did was giving Germany one of the most developed counties of the time with well equipped military which massively boosted Germany and have Britain and France just a few more months to prepare. Not the best trade deal I dare to say.
@@beattio i cant remember and i might have mixed two different quotes from history matters up but all I remember is something about Czechoslovakia not being at the meeting because all they would do is disagree
In my opinion, one of the best people who commented this betrayal was Winston Churchill. That said, “You were given a choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.".
Winston churchill only said that because he made money off war he started ww2 the germans made dozens of peace offers only asking for danzig which had german majority that was being executed and treated terribly by the poles
What's interesting about the Channel Islands is that they spoke Norman French until WWII, but during the war, all of the children were evacuated to England, and thus came back speaking English rather than Norman.
Didn't know it was a thing until I looked it up on Wikipedia. It's basically the equivalent of the United States' Amish community who self-govern themselves. Only about 500 people on the island minding their own business.
Hey, Czech here, nice vid Fun fact, few days before the Munich betrayal a general mobilisation in Czechoslovakia was declared and all the males ready for fighting arrived in less than 10 minutes, making it probably the fastest mobilisation ever There's also this theory, that if UK and France backed us and we fought back, Germany wouldn't be able to push and Hitler's generals would overthrow him. Hitler had even stated that he suddenly understood why his generals didn't want him to be so aggresive after seeing one of Czechoslovakian forts.
Yeah Ive heard nazis tried to destroy few forts and realized that they arent able to do it. So they just sealed them. I have copies of blue prints from 1930s of some of the forts from historical magazine and the amount of steel and concrete in such small yet numerous forts is insane. Řopíks for the win
@@typiclyjohny5114 I would not say all, but a lot of them were nazis and loyal to Hitler and were violent too, they and Hitler used as a justification that Germans here were oppressed, which was not true, though not entirely false, but I believe (and lot of people too) that it was indeed a tragedy
"Now with 100% less Hapsburgs." I was on the floor rolling in laughter. Your placard one-liners are hilarious, with the additional benefit of being true.
As a Czech and a huge fan of your work, I was so moved when I saw this in the notification. Thank you for sharing our darkest days with a wider audience. I would just point out that the “conference or war” dilemma is not completely correct. There were frequent skirmishes between the Czechoslovak State Defense Guard and armed local German militias, supported by the Reich. In many places along the border, members of the State Defense Guard were the only representatives of Czechoslovak state power, as 99 % of inhabitants there were Germans. Between 1936 when SDG was created and 1939 when we lost our independence, reportedly 84 of them died in those fights and 270 were injured. They are unsung heroes of Czechoslovakia and I just feel like it would be great if more people knew about them. :) Thank you again and keep up the good work! :)
Well, soon after the czech tanks conquered the France and drove the Britons to the Dunquirk. Yes under the name Pzkpf38(t) (like Tsechien) and with german drivers but still were of higher quality than most of the Wehrmacht inventory. Together with the Cech republic the Hitler got not just the arms industry but all of the weapons too.
Funny, czechoslovakia bunkers had such good positions and pasarute defenses, that they could survive few months, one with really good position in Moravia. Germans wanted to attack via paratroopers, but as german commanders took closer look on those bunkers, they themselfs said, it would be disaster for Germans, if they attacked. Yet we all know there will be always "what if"
*_"Funny, czechoslovakia bunkers had such good positions and pasarute defenses, that they could survive few months, one with really good position in Moravia."_* ALL of that was negated by the Anschluss.
@@JUICE_PROPAGANDA_CEO Independence was given to you by Russia at least twice. 3 decades prior you lost your independence and became a expendable vassal of the West. They will trade you off if the price is right just as they did in 1938. You was not even invited to the deal.
@@JUICE_PROPAGANDA_CEO Literally vassal of the west. You think you are part of it, but you are just a vassal of Washington, London, Berlin, Paris and Rome, and you do anything at their wim. Also EU has same if not more power over your nation than the Supreme Soviet of USSR had over any of 15 of its Republics. Welcome to reality.
Honestly I never knew that Poland and Hungary took slices of Czechoslovakia at the same time Germany took the Sudetenland. This is never taught in schools in the UK, it goes as far as Germany taking the Sudetenland / Chamberlain's incompetence with his appeasement toward Hitler and then Germany promptly taking the rest of Czechoslovakia. This needs to be taught in all schools when it comes to teaching about WW2 and the prelude to war.
@@AFGuidesHD Yeah. It all depends on what country you live, Britain does not focus much on Japan in WW2 instead focuses on Nazi Germany & Italy in Europe and Africa. I think in school we got taught about Japan's attack on Pearl harbour and then barely anything else from that theatre of war until America drops both Nukes on Japan. When teaching WW2 schools should divide the materials with half of it being about the European Theatre fighting Nazi Germany & Fascist Italy and the other half fighting Japan in the Pacific.
well, how much history can you cram into schools? you must reduce the complexity of any topic in order to make it even digestible for the students. It is not necessarily an indicator for a failed schol system or anything. Btw. the Poles also don't learn about the that part in polish schools. :D and they should actually know about it.
@@Osterochse Who says we don't? We do, but in the context of barbarities commited upon us by both Hitler and Stalin, we don't see it as a big deal. It's pretty annoying whenever people in the internet think that the Poles are salty only about getting annexed, as if the III Reich and USSR only annexed us and nothing above it...
One major thing was missed here. Czechoslovakia was in a military alliance called Little Entente, which included Yugoslavia and Romania, and through Yugoslavia and Romania with the Balkan Pact (which also included Greece and Turkey). In effect that meant that Czechoslovakia was in fact in the military alliance with almost entire of South-Eastern Europe. It wasn't France or UK that sold the Czechs out... we did. Yugoslavia and Romania, mainly, as both were turning increasingly pro-German by that time. Mussolini came in September, before the conference, to Yugoslavia to lobby Yugoslav politicians NOT to back Czechoslovakia. France and UK had no real obligation to defend Czechoslovakia, we did. And we turned our backs. We betrayed them. We with whom they had an alliance and agreements. Had we honored our words, Germany would face the entire South-Eastern Europe, all at once, in 1938. Could they win? Maybe. But by that point, with Germany at war with 1/3 of Europe, countries like Poland and France would most likely not sit idly. And there would not be a R-M pact. We can discuss in hindsight... but, the fact remains - Yugoslavia and Romania betrayed their promise and international agreements first. And that is one of the reasons UK and France backed out - they saw that the closest allies of Czechoslovakia were turning their back. Not many people talk about it, because they focus on "big players", and we tend to keep quiet (we don't want to move the spotlight to us). But truth be told, we are to blame. For Poland, sure, blame UK and France. But for Czechoslovakia, it was Yugoslavia and Romania who betrayed them first. The first dominoes to fall, the rest just followed.
Although what you are saying is correct the Little Entente comprised of the nations that France was supposed to protect in case of war. France was technically guaranteeing their independence and they did not help them. So they betrayed them, too and well they paid the price for it
@@michaelgiannakoulis1777 Not really. France was the sort of patron of that alliance, but they were not a member of it, nor did they officially guarantee anyone from that alliance. The treaties France signed with the individual members of the Little Entente were just saying that the countries will consult one another on foreign policy questions, and that's it. There were no obligations involved. Little Entente members however, were obligated by the treaty to have a unified foreign policy and to come to each other's aid in case of war. They had a common security council, a unified economics board etc. France was a verbal supporter of that alliance, nothing more. It had no obligations towards it. It wasn't even a member.
Little Entente was not general defensive pact, it was aimed against Hungary only. Jugoslavia and Romania had no treaty obligations to help in case of war with Germany, but France did. Romanian goverment was sympathetic until after Munich and there were negotiations to persuade them to allow transport of material and planes (no troops) from USSR, althrought land connection was rather poor. Jugoslavia was kinda flip-flopping, but thats understandable, them sharing border with fascist Italy and number of unresolved disputes with them. There is no need for such self-flogging, whatever nationality you are (unless you are french lol). I am czech and I know my history.
@@RayRay-mv9wn It was a general defensive alliance. It is true that it was envisioned primarily as a counter to any future Hungarian resurgence, but it was a genuine defensive alliance. And your country actually wanted to broaden it even further, Beneš proposed a hard-core type alliance between the three countries, similar to NATO today. But Yugoslavia and Romania backed out (late 1930's). It's not self-flogging, it's jut history fact that was omitted here. France and UK get all the shit for "betraying Czechoslovakia", but in reality, they did that when everyone else already did. I just went and read the treaty between France and Czechoslovakia (again, just to be sure) and no, France was not under ANY obligation to defend Czechoslovakia, from anyone. The furthest that the treaty goes is that the countries will consult each other if there is a threat to their national interest, and that's it. In Article 5 it is just stated that the countries will have a unified response should Germany decide to restore the Hohenzollern dynasty - and that is all. No where, in any treaty signed, was France guaranteeing the independence of Czechoslovakia or entered a defensive pact with it. So I don't know what they told you in school, I've just read the treaties 5 minutes ago. I suggest you do the same. They are available online, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 23, pp. 164-169 (they are in English and French), it is all hosted on UN archive site.
two more weird facts: (1) Hitler actually wanted to provoke a war over the Sudetenland and was kinda disappointed that the UK and France backed down on his demands. (2) Czechoslovakia had a extremly well armed military and Germany gained tons of weapons, airplanes, tanks, heavy artillery and more basicelly for free. Without those, German Blitzkrieg against France would probably not have been possible.
@@FriedrichBarb You’re the one speaking nonsense, the germans got tons of weapons from the defeated Czechs, for example without the panzer 35 and 38t’s the Germans probably couldn’t have pulled off blitzkrieg
@@FriedrichBarb The Panzer I? Completely obsolete against France when it was made. In fact, the best Panzer tank that the German ever produced and would produce was the Panzer 38(t), created by none other than Czechoslovakia, which was used more than the actual Panzers that Germany created. So yes, Czechoslovakia gave Germany a much easier time.
Slovakia declared independence after Hitler called Joseph Tiso (leader of the strongest party in Slovakia at the time, later the only one because dictatorship rules) to Germany and basically said to him you can either declare independence or look at this map showing Polish and Hungarian armies waiting for some good old conquering. So we backstabbed Czechs to save our own skin essencially. This whole trying to survive thing was quite contagious. Didn't work out very well. Tiso and his colleagues were rewarded by a noose after the war.
Similar things went down in austria. Germany invaded austria *before* they held the referendum concerning Anschluss. In a speech austria's chancellor (dictator) said things like: "Up until death! Red- white- red!", but one month later, just before the invasion, he changed his agenda. He discouraged austrians from resisting the occupation to "not spill german blood". At this point he just tried saving his own ass, but later he got thrown into a concentration camp anyway.
@@Иван_Михайлов-ь8б Everyone was the bad guys, USSR for example divided up Poland with Germany.. It's just that Germany got out of hand and Nazis were on another level of bad guys (along with the Japanese mind you). So everyone just said screw it and united (USSR kinda got pushed into it by the invasion, but I believe it would have happened later either way). There is no black and white in history, never, it's just about who is less bad. Not even USA can pretend, because we all know about the CIA during the cold war.
How can it be accurate when it makes no mention of: 1) Henlein and Frank, 2) The split in the government which resulted in Czechoslovakia providing no resistance, 3) The negation of the Czech defences in the north by the Anschluss, which opened the south west border, 4) The military advice - including the American advice - which said the Sudetenland was not worth going to war over?
You missed the part where French and British threaten Czechoslovakia with war declaration of they don't submit to Munich decision and the part where handing over Sudetenland armed German army (3700+military planes, 2000+tanks, over 3milion rifles and several thousands ton of ammunition) to start the actual war, which is something that would either not happened or give the world years to prepare.
As a Czech person born and raised I asked myself this question some years ago. I came to the conclusion that when four major powers in the World decide what your destiny will be without you even present you have very little choice in that matter. Especially when they take your fortifications and arms in the process and give them to Nazis as a gift for not attacking anyone else. It didn't work out very well for anyone in the end as we all know. Reinhard Heydrich, Reich Security Main Office Chief and one of the architects of the "Final Solution", paid the ultimate price for this betrayal and we showed the World that you might take us apart, but you will not brake us.
All areas of the Sudentenland were inhabited by a German majority. The territories should never have become part of Czechoslovakia, taking into account the right of self-determination of the peoples. The Munich Agreement was binding under international law, which the British government confirms to this day.
@@tylerellis9097 Wtf? What about the czech legions? What about all the czech politicians like Masaryk Beneš or Štefánik? Im not saying that giving all the germans in sudetenland to czechoslovakia was right, but Austrian empire was stupid monstrosity and it is good that it no longer exists. There was a reason why was that empire called prison of nations
Czech poet Frantisek Halas composed a poem in that time: Rings a bell, rings a bell of treason (betrayal) Whose hands made it swing Sweet France, Proud Albion And we loved them
@@thethirdman225 How is it paranoia if it's after the bad thing really happened? How is it nationalism if it doesn't in any way reference the nation or pride? Get the fuck out...
As a czech living in the (former) sudeten regions. I can say that our fortifications in the areas were insanely good. Like i went to visit some bunkers and forts that now serve as just historic things. But like they're just well placed on flat terrain with multiple ways of just destroying invasions. And it stretches out for kilometers. Sadly they never got use.
It's impressive, yes, but ultimately impractical. Even back then a strong mobile army was much better and had better ROI than any static fortification built on the idea that the next war will be fought the same way as on the WWI western front.
@@neph9205 Yep. After bleeding the country dry during the 1rst war which was mostly fought on our soil, we weren't so eager to go to war again. "sorry" for losing 2/3 of my family on each world war and not backing up small country which did almost nothing except wipe out all jew without almost any righteous in czech republic (at leat, the pride come from slovakia for that matter).
Ah yes, Czechoslovakia: My homeland filled with beautiful nature, people, and history, history that mostly includes all of our neighbours beating the shit out of us.
The haterade is mutual. We have tried (sometimes successfully) in conquering Poland, bringing up Austria into the ream and deposing many Holy Roman Emperors.
To add some context, Germany did not just invade, they invited the Czechoslovak president to Berlin in 1939 to better the relations. Which is what Hitler wanted and he took the Czechoslovak president into the Reichschanchlery and started talks, during which Hitler said that he could invade Czechoslovakia if he wanted and the Czechs can't resist, Göring thretened to bomb Prague into obliviant and czechoslovak prezident fell about 3 times into a coma, so Hitler even nedded to order his personal doctor to help him. At about 5 o'clock the czechoslovak president signed the surrender of Czechoslovakian army and gave the Germans full authority over Slovakia. The czechoslovak president returned with tears and shortly after German troops arrived in Prague. The Czechoslovak president was Emil Hácha.
Also another fun fact could be mentioned: Czechoslovak general staff was also discussing possibility of couping government, and continuing with mobilisation, and eventually fight Germans, but in the end not all generals did agree to this plan, so that plan fell xd
Good timing on the 80th anniversary of Operation Anthropoid and successful assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Slovak Jozef Gabčík and Czech Jan Kubiš. The Munich Diktat is a dark time in our history. Betrayed, surrounded, and broken apart by internal and external threats. Also as a Slovak I must say, our "independence" is something we are not proud of as even if it was a manifestation of certain failures within the Czechoslovak government, the Slovak State was a German puppet state ruled by clergo-fascists lead by a Catholic priest. These people were war criminals and traitors to both our Czech brothers and the Slovak nation.
0:12 'Stroopwafels zijn heerlijk'. As a dutchman, i couldnt be more proud. You earned my sub. PS it means stroopwafels(dutch caramel waffles) are delicious
It's beautiful that you put this video out on the 80th anniversary of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. I wonder if that was on purpose. And of course in the context of the Ukrainian war and of some politicians saying that Ukraine should capitulate to Russia's demands, this video is twice as topical. My only criticism is that you repeatedly call the citizens of Czechoslovakia "Czechs", which is imprecise to say the least (as the name of the country implies). But I understand the need for some simplification of this complex topic. In any case, thank you for this video.
There is difference between Munich and today's Ukraine though... For instance we czechs didn't bomb sudetenland like Ukraine did Donetsk since 2014 lol, besides germans had their own political party, whereas russians in Ukraine are not even allowed to talk their language in the east etc. The so-called war in Ukraine is sadly fratricidal warfare, which sadly is caused by Ukrainians not fulfilling Minsk agreements. Both Putin and Zelensky belong to Haag.
@@giveall9695 Ah for god's sake, this is a war of conquest, Putin has said time and time again Ukraine is not a real nation, Ukrainians are not a real people and should belong to Russia, this isn't just about supporting Donetsk and you know it.
Its important to note that there was ultimately groups of underground partisans who resisted occupation at the cost of their own lives. It was Czech partisans who assassinated the architect of the holocaust, Reinhard Heydrich. Edit: Czech AND Slovak partisans. Please excuse my ignorance
These Czech assassins were trained in Britain and smuggled back into the country so they weren't exactly part of the Czech underground. Also, many of the people who were helping them in Czechoslovakia either didn't know why they were there, or were horrified when they learned why, because they knew that the Nazi's would (and did) commit vicious reprisals in revenge for Heydrich being killed, and they pled with the assassins to not go through with it. It may even be that the reprisals were the entire point, to make sure that the Czech people continued to hate the Nazi's, because their were fears that under Heydrich things were improving and Czechs were willing to accept the new status quo.
@@jonathancampbell5231 you British nationalists are so annoying, it's unbelievable. You need to accept the fact that you are not a world power anymore.
@@jonathancampbell5231 The part about them being trained in Britain and sent on the mission with the blessing of the exile government is true, and that the local resistance was sceptical about whether such an action would be worth it is also true, but the "things were improving and Czechs were willing to accept the new status quo" is just horrible interpretation. With Heydrich moving in as the stand-in Reichsprotektor things got horribly worse, where Neurath was remaining diplomatic about managing the German occupation, Heydrich was ruthless, it was with him the holocaust deportations started full blown, it was with him the protectorate's puppet government was rid of all resistance attempts, where he started to enact his "Final solution of the Czech question," forcefully sending people people to brigades in Germany, sending kids to reeducation and "Aryanization" of property. Heydrich terror started with him moving in, and people were worried that things would get even worse if he was assassinated. Not everyone is a hero to throw away their life, their family and their property and hoped that perhaps liberation will come eventually, since they were so horribly betrayed by percieved allies. If one member of a family was discovered to participate in the resistance, whole family was executed, and dont forget that Czechoslovak occupation started in March 1939, so without any war actually being declared, Germans had all the time needed to crush the resistance before it could even form, as it had no foreign support at all, no weapons... And on final note, the whole point was to prove the Czechs were being occupied in the first place to the Brits, who didnt believe it as they just dont care. Since "legally" all that happened was "Peace for our time," solving border issues in Central Europe and Czechs "calling to become German protectorate" from their own will. Without it the allies would probably still see the Munich agreement borders as legitimate.
@@ternet1859 Heydrich was ruthless but he was also efficient, and compared to other Nazi governors including the one he replaced he made a point to improve the conditions of Czechs where he could if only to dissuade them from resisting. Other Nazi governors were more corrupt and cruel. The Czech government was worried and under pressure out of the perception that their people were starting to tolerate the Nazi's while the rest of Europe suffered, and that was one of the motives for Heydrich being killed.
Some people say Britain and France were trying to buy time to rearm, but this doesn't make much sense in hindsight. The German generals were terrified that while they were bashing their heads on the Czechoslovakian fortifications, Britain could just blockade Germany and the allies could defeat Germany in a slow methodical way while the best German divisions were stuck smashing their heads against mountains. And while wargaming should be taken with a grain of salt (one US general in one wargame in the 201st decade found out he could put missiles on speedboats despite the missiles have double the mass of the boats), some war game analysis during the Cold War using war records from both the Allies and the Germans suggested that yes the German attempt to invade Czechoslovakia would not have gone well had they had to smash those forts while under a blockade. So at least many of the Germans and British thought in hindsight that Germany didn't have the strongest cards when trying to pressure Britain into staying out of the conflict even if Britain and France were not fully rearmed.
A problem for Britian and France was that they were not politically stable, starting another great war would have been an easy rallying cry for rising communist and/or fascist parties, and sending sons to die for the sake of foreigners was not a popular sentiment. As well as both nations were in the process of reorganizing their military. They wanted a quick, low risk, high prestige victory.
Britain might not actively have been buying time to rearm... but it NEEDED time to rearm. Aside from the thought of trying to avoid millions more dead, not actually being a neighbour of Czechoslovakia, knowing that many ethnic Germans did want to join Germany, etc. No "easy solution" unfortunately. :/ (For Hitler, read also Putin and S/SE Ukraine in 2014)
Actually, it does make a lot of sense. The Germans had the Bf 109 in service in significant numbers, while the British had the Gloster Meteor biplane. The British would not get a fighter competitive with the Bf 109 until the Hawker Hurricane, which just started entering service around the time of the Munich conference, while the Supermarine Spitfire would just begin entering service in time for the German invasion of Poland and the French Dewoitine D.520 would not begin entering service until the following spring, just in time for a few to serve in the Battle of France. This is what the RAF and other service chiefs were focusing on when they said, in the fall of 1938, that they could not guarantee the security of the British home islands if war broke out then. A year later, the answer had changed.
The south of Czechia was not that well defended. So the Germans could have gone through Austria (and maybe Slovakia) to take Prague etc. I think this would still be a winable war for the allies but not that easy.
Allies: Look we’re gonna give you what you want- Czechoslovakia: Hang on! This meeting is about *MY* territory. Shouldn’t I come to the meeting too? Allies: ANYWAY, we’re gonna give you what want.
I can see now how the agreement among European powers to respect each others borders is so important. The way they dealt with it in the past was insane.
It would be interesting to learn about what they did with the Khmer Rouge. Although they were a communist country they effectively ended one of the worst dictatorships ever and no one really remembers that.
Well, they were busy fighting off invasions from the chinese AND the Khmer Rouge, the latter which they abolished to prevent the further killing of the ethnic vietnamese (and thus they consequently saved the cambodians too)
Quick suggestion for a future video: How did currency exchange work in the past? Now if someone were to travel from say, the US to the UK, they can't just use dollars but will have to exchange them into pounds. How did that work in the past? Like in Roman times, the middle ages or any time after the creation of modern currency in general.
It worked just like now but not with the currency but money. If the coin (money) was not accepted by the traders the customer had to ask a money changer to exchange his coins for local money. And in the end it was a question of coin quality - how much silver or gold it held. Some coins (money) were percieved as of high quality (stable silver amount) and were widely accepted. Like roman money in the early days or original czech silver Tollar (dollar and other currencies are named after this coin ;-) were accepted even very far from their homeland. Just like USD is welcomed in many countries now.
@@jkotekvolnycz Thanks! I thought it had something to do with the material the coin was made from, but ,while more recent, what would've been the case with paper money?
Most of old coins were made from expensive metal, so I guess you could pay like if it was gold or silver if it was not your local currency. But I guess some countries or cities had special laws about money, also, today bank services are much older than people think, you could pay by paper vouchers from your bank in Italy already in like 16th century if I remember it correctly, it was not like real paper money, it was like today vouchers, seller had to have contract with bank and deal about accepting it.
0:33 depicted people from leff to right Top row: Stalin Middle row: Chamberlain, The one UA-cam doesn't like, Mościcki, Horthy, Carol II Bottom row: Azaña, Franco, Mussolini, King Zog yes I do play HOI4, why do you ask?
To be fair, the narrators massively downplay the reaction from the czechoslovak side. Almost overnight , whole country mobilised, about 10% of the population received full military gear. The country also had small tank corps and airforce. The fortifications were modern and would pose a challenge for the german side. People wanted to defend the country, so should there be a open conflict many would die. The whole idea of strategy for the democratic island in the heart of europe were its alies. Everything was designed with the reliance on its alies, expecting them to come. The country could never defend against prolonged German agression. The airforce would have fail and fortifications would have been broken, eventually anyways. Shortly, the country was preparing for that exact situation for over 10 years, building and seeking foreign help. In the end for nothing.
France, who we had a direct defensive treaty with, not only betrayed that treaty by signing away OUR territory, they have also issued direct threats to our governement that they will in fact support germany should we resist the terms of Munich. That betrayal was so much deeper than them just stepping aside, they actively and deliberately stabbed us in the back in a vain attempt to save their own sorry ass. It's that I always bring up when someone says they don't deserve their spot as history's greatest cowards, just for WW2. It's not for WW2, it's for directly causing it through their own betrayal and cowardice and they've more than earned that reputation in my eyes.
Look at the bright side. Even today, France is universally made fun of due to their cowardice and embarrassing performance in wars, even more so than Italy. They managed to ruin the legacy that Napoleon left as soon as they first went to war without him.
I fully understand your rage, but Czechoslovakia wouldn't even come into existence without Britain and France. In the Great War, France was the first country to remove the Czechs and Slovaks from the list of enemy aliens (in 1914), it took Britain another year to remove Czechs and Slovaks from the list of enemy aliens. France was the first country to recognize the Czechoslovak National Council. France provided huge political and material supports to the founding fathers of Czechoslovakia.
Questions that I've been wondering "What was the Schism in Greece during WW1?" "Why did the Soviet Union recognize Israel before the US?" "How did India get nukes?"
The king of greece was pro german and his prime minister was pro british Something people rarely know today israel was way closer to the soviet union than the USA, the soviets thought the zionists would become communists and establish a socialist jewish state but the zionist elite betrayed the USSR and went pro american Thats a very good question
0:19 Person: Mustache man is invading the rest of Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain: What? Person: He’s invading the rest of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain: Oh. *Goes to mustache man* You lied to me.
As a French, I'm ashamed by what our government did, no wonder why the Czechs call this the Munich betrayal... Czechoslovakia was an important and loyal ally and deserved to be treated as such by the Allied powers I sincerely hope that in future times of need we will got the back of our Central Europeans allies. Much respect and love to the Czechs and the Slovaks❣️
It hurts twice as much bcs of what happened after the war. Stalin wanted to control Central Europe and we were quite a gem industry wise. So they agreed with allies on line in the west Bohemia where the US army would stop. It was bcs freeing army is then seen as heroes. So Czechoslovakia was actually freed by red army later than US would be able to do it. After Munich betrayal and red army liberating us they were seen as heroes. Communists who were quite active in resistance were elected into office and in 1948 they used ill president who helped them to put communists in every position of government. After that they rewrote constitution and thus destroyed democracy and forbid free elections until 1989. Patton didnt like that he had to stop at Pilsen in west bohemia I often wonder how much would people see the danger of the east if they wouldnt be blinded by hatred towards west. After 20 years of communism people kinda how bad it was and wanted to be part of free world once again and russia beign happy exploiting our companies, resources etc. "helped" with tanks not to make silly mistakes as making free elections. Sorry for this long essay but it is almost insane how deeply this agreement affected Czechoslovakia in 20th century and mentality of its people. Tbh we (czechs) still talk about how our confidence as nation isnt yet established since Munich. Not joking I see people discussing it quite often.
Germany: “Give me. Now.” Britain: “Ok. But no more.” Czechoslovakia: “Wait wha-!” Germany: “Actually I’m taking all of it now.” Britain: “Fine. Whatever.” Czechoslovakia: “Oh you fu-!”
It wasn't really "fine, whatever"... Britain actively rearmed knowing what was coming and (almost foolishly) tried to intervene in WW2 before they were ready, leading to Dunkirk. Not sure what Britain could've done even if it was someone being expected to be "World Police". The USA happily did business with Germany and its conquered territories all the way through the Battle of Britain rather than "fighting for freedom" long after it was obvious who the bad guys were....
@@AndrasMihalyi If Poland and Hungary will attack Ukraine too like they did in 1938 - then yes it is same. Now it is just fight between Russian army vs mercenaries from around the world + nazi bandera groups.
It shouldn't. Your politicians were actually smart. We didn't agree to give up Danzig (Gdańsk) which wasn't even a part of our country. Instead we chose war and as a result our cities were levelled. The average Czech city looks now way better than the avarage polish one with way more historical buildings preserved.
@@gurrierpl Both outcomes are terrible, one means total humiliation the other destruction. But as a Czech I think it is safe to say that most Czechs didnt agree and dont agree with handing over the suddetlands. The Czechoslovak population was ready to fight for our country but our politicians literally stopped us from defending our country.
I hope that I am not the only person who noticed that, in the scene regarding Belgium (0.11), the French version of the Belgian national motto "L'Union fait la Force" ("The Union is Strength") is translated into Dutch as "Stroopwafels zijn heerlijk" ("Syrup waffles are great"). Haha! Great work! 😁😁😁
shame? for what? dont you know that even Masaryk assured allies that it will be a federative autonomus republic? DOES PITSBURG AGREEMENT RING A BELL? im not ashamed of Hlinka or Tito they tried to do their best to save nation however they cloud.
It is interesting that if czekoslovakia would defend itself, it would have severely weakened germans, and ww2 would maybe go on differently. At that time, german army was still in kinda sorry state, and one of the reasons for its later effectiveness was that they got their hands on entire czekoslovakian industry and they even used some of czekoslovakian armored vehicles in the early stages of blitzkrieg. Even though czekoslovakian defenses weren't complete, they would still be very capable, and combined with well equiped army and somewhat good air force, germany would suffer great loses, which would both hurt Germany and maybe also send a message to the allies, enabling them to prepare more for upcoming war. On the other hand, czekoslovakia would not be sheltered from major horrors of war, as it was during german occupation.
It would sacrifice our own country just to hurt Germany and help those who have abandoned us. Plus leaving us the target to pin all the blame on for the war to be left to rot without help by the end of it.
A good example of how making concessions to militaristic bully out of fear doesn't work. Irony is that it was czechoslovakian industry that fueled the blitzkrieg against France and "hedgehogs" from Sudetenland fortifications against Germany were used at the Atlantic wall to block Allies during D-day
I wish i had found ur channel when i was in school, not only are the lessons much more interessting, it would also help me with presentations. Instead of the white background with some boring words on powerpoint i would use more like these pictures to present my subject.
All those tanks, weaponry, airplanes and more ... Wasted. Czecho technology contributed quite a bit in conquering france. Czech's would've been able to damage the german army significantly with all those fortified bunkers. Germany "could've" even lost since it was their first war in a sense.
My mother-in-law's father was a Hungarian from that little tail end of Slovakia that Hungary claimed. He was often mistaken for being a Hitler look-alike with a little Hitler mustache and all. When the war ended, mother-in-law took the two kids to "visit" grandfather in the now Czechoslovakia, then, being a fluent German speaker, drugged the kids to remain silent, and took them by train to a refugee camp near Vienna. After my father-in-law's business was nationalized, he hid himself in a hay wagon and bribed a farmer to drive him across the border to join the family in the Vienna refugee camp.
While we may regard the Munich Agreement and Chamberlain's high profile effort to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for peace to have been a moral outrage it is astounding how many Chamberlain apologists still make the argument that the Munich Agreement was a good idea and that Chamberlain's effort was justified. This viewpoint can be found in other videos on the subject on UA-cam and in the comment sections of those videos.
2 роки тому+13
In my opinion the biggest Chamberlain failure in Munich betrayal was giving intact industrial and military assets to Germans. And those assets were pretty big, because Czechoslovakia used to be industrial heartland of Austria-Hungary empire.
With him, Britain would probably have left the war after the retreat from Dünkirchen (dunkirk), which would have made an opposite end of the war possible.
It's funny. The man attempted to avoid the war and preserve lives to prevent life loss similar to ww1, only to be responsible for even greater war and life loss. All could have been prevented by moving troops the moment Hitler broke Viena agreement.
it is more fascinating to me that appeasement by chamberlain is always condemned while the peaceful attmept to make a change by mahatma ghandi who lived at exactly the same time re always praised. Both attmepted to maintain peace even if it meant hardship. it is weird that they both eveluaded so differently.
@@Osterochse Because Gandhi was using peaceful means to achieve a worthy goal, the end of Colonialism in India and the establishment of Democracy. Chamberlain wasn't willing to fight the literal n@zi's. War is bad, but keeping the peace at any cost is not good, especially when you're just letting a warmongering opponent grow stronger. Gandhi is an inspiration to use peaceful actions to create political change, not violence. Chamberlain is an example of what not to do when faced with war-mongering imperialist fascists.
Please do Silesia - how it moved between countries amoung centuries (Great Moravia - Poland - Kingdom of Bohemia - Austro-Hungary - Prussia - Poland), how it never got independence (Jozef Kozdon, Plebiscite) and how it was baited by Authonomy by Poland, then removed by communist government. The so close would-be country that never happen to be.
Thank you for a great timing of this video. Great reminder when we hear appeasing words of Kissinger and others concerning UA. Wise man once said: "You cannot reason with a tiger with your head in its mouth!"
1:50 Are you sure? After all, Czechoslovakia didn't had to beat Germany, all they had to do was survive long enough. Considering their fortifications and sorry state of Wehrmacht, I'd say it was doable. 2:41 Should've added Carpatho-Ukraine for split second
1:57 to the land which was taken by Czechoslovakia from Poland in also dick move while we were at full blown war with Soviets in 1920. it was 1:1, but still this was stupid thing to do for Poland
In 1930's Poland was basically doing a lot of morally good, but not well-thought diplomatic moves, like annexation of Zaolzie or ultimatum to Lithuania. Diplomats were also always like: ,,either my way or none, I shall serve the Republic, not your stupid business!", which made an opinion about Poland being the ,,hooligan of Europe" and some even weirder conspiracy theory of Polish government collaborating with Germany. Basically, in 1930's Poland decided to clean up the mess from 1918-1921 and it didn't really end well.
100%, Poland had their reasons to take it, but in hindsight it was a dumb move from the Polish Government, it would have been better if Poland and Czechoslovakia resolved their disputes better in the 30's, because they both shared common enemies, the Germans and later the Soviets as they would see after the war
I'm glad to see a question I've often asked myself. I can feel a tad smarter than I was 5 mins ago. As opposed to, ya know, questions I didn't know I wanted an answer to.
Western powers explicitely explained to Czechoslovak representatives in Munich that had Czechoslovakia refused to cease Sudetenland and defended itself against Germany, it would be Czechoslovaks themselves who would be regarded as an AGGRESSOR - regardless of how nonsensical that sounds. Czechoslovakia was forsaken by everyone. Everyone. No point defending your country when the whole world is against you and everyone is scared of Germany. Czechoslovakia was encircled by Germany from three sides. Luftwaffe would have bombed all the cities to the ground and Wehrmacht would have finished the rest. Even today, many Czechs say it was cowardice. CZ-SK military, fortresses and tank divisions were strong. The thing is after a couple of months there would be nothing to defend.
Samozřejmě na tom už dnes nic nezměníme, každopádně pohled na věc s možností nahlédnout na detaily které nebyli oběma stranám známé nám dává větší možnosti. Mimo jiné dnes víme, že Německo ještě nestihlo získat dostatek zásob a ani vycvičit vojáky, takže většina vojska měla relativně malý výcvik a armáda měla prostředky tak na 3 týdny bojů, což není zrovna mnoho. Také dnes již víme, že Němci očekávali, že opevnění jsou slabší než skutečně byla. Kromě toho existovala nezanedbatelná možnost puče proti Hitlerovi v případě války, která by, i v případě že by Němci nakonec byli schopni ČSR obsadit, asi neprobíhala tak drtivě jak NSDAP celému světu tvrdila, že by ji nezastavitelná německá armáda vedla.
This is probably intentional but on exactly this day (27th May) 80 years ago. The assasination of a very prominent nazi officier, Reinhard Heydrich took place. He was killed by a Czech and Slovak resistence fighters Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabčík. So we did resist. He was the only important nazi who died during the war. Sláva hrdinům odboje!
And according to legend, he died because of a curse that rests on the Crown of Saint Wenceslas, which goes that if anyone puts it on their head without being the rightful King of Bohemia, will die within that year. And apparently Reinhard Heydrich did just that.
@@marcc375 My brother told me, that Heydrich hadn't died as a direct result of the assasination but because of the infection he got from the horsehair from his seat. It was an incredible luck that he actualy died.
yeah, it was one of the stupidest decisions Chamberlain and Daladier ever did. As Winston Churchill said, "You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war."
I haven't seen anyone in the comments mention that Germany turning Bohemia into a protectorate saved it from failing as a state leading to inevitable bloodletting and riots. Well there's a fun fact for you guys. Another fun fact being that Austrians had always known they were German and wanted to join the Empire with the rest of their people. Prussia didn't want this as they thought they would lose political power to Vienna and the Habsburgs along with the fact that they had their own empire comprising of many other ethnic people instead of Germans. The debate of joining Germany during the Weimar Republic was off the table (for obvious reasons). However when Hitler brought Germany back from its path to being a 3rd world country to the most powerful financially, the Austrians were almost completely in favor of joining their brothers. (War of flowers. Blumenkrieg) In my opinion uniting brothers by blood under one Nation is a good thing including the Sudeten Germans, lost Prussian land, and Hungarians carved out of Hungary because of the Treaty of Trianon, but in this day in age politics is so horrible in general that I'd never wish that on anyone.
Britain & France: You must give the sudetenland to Germany for the sake of peace. Or else. Czechoslovakia: ...fine. *Czechoslovakia gets invaded anyway* Czechoslovakia: *BACKSTABBERS* Britain & France: ...that wasn't supposed to happen...
140K views in a few hours. Content makers might take note. There is a lack of content on UA-cam on the very interesting history of Czechoslovakia (as well as the Kingdom of Bohemia, Czechia, Slovakia.)
@@scintillam_dei Yes and no. There is also a bias to cover big countries like France, UK, Germany rather than Denmark, Czechoslovakia etc. There is also a bias to cover Western Europe over Eastern Europe. And in the English-speaking world there are biases like Henry VIII ad naseum.
There was actually one Czech garrison that defied orders to stand down when the Germans entered in 1939 and fought back for a few hours. It was quite a shock to them.
Sadly those guys were probably sentenced to time if they weren't killed in the combat :/
@@JonahNelson7 the battle was called ,,Battle of Czajánek's barracks” and
actually no Czech man died that day. They killed 18 Germans and also wounded few tens of them. After the soldiers were captured by the germans, they surprisingly didn't get executed. They only had to conduct a small parade for the Germans and they were released in few days (officers even the same day). Some of these soldiers later joined the resistance.
you could consider this the first deaths of WW2, but that's a bit subjective
Its not so much that they defied orders but more that the Germans cut phone lines too soon and the order never actually made it there. They just saw germans rolling up and began wrecking them.
French and british were always soyacks.
the fact, that France sold Czechoslovakia and subsequently was rolled over by Czech tanks painted in German colors is... poetic 🤔
Karmic
oh fuk thats true
It's funny as hell.
Yeah us Czechoslovaks did pretty good tanks back then
so was poland
Fun fact: there was a short-lived state called "Carpatho-Ukraine" during the partition of Czechoslovakia which was promptly conquered by Hungary.
The territory is shown exactly at 2:43
Does Ukraine have that now?
@@tableprinterdoor yes
Who's taking bets on who'll be the next guy to hold this (soon de jure) quadralingual region?
People living there are Rusnaks or Rusyin and want their own country there
@@999mi999 hahahahahahhahaha. Let's not forget bombing of Yugoslavia, Palestine and Iraq all done by Ukraine. Those bombs were made from russians who lived thousands of years in L/DPR
As a czech person. What I learned as to why we didn't fight back/resist was because then we would be seen as the agressors and pointed out as the ones who started the war. It's still sad that people with appeasement and peace in our time gave us away :/
What a shite reason not to defend your country. It’s not like countries were gonna support nazi Germany at the time and the Czechs still had positive relations/allies and good fortifications. Why didn’t they defend themselves?
Ukraine feels you, bro
@@olesdrow6711 men ukraine is backed up by whole world this is not even same thing
@@olesdrow6711 Though... Ukraine wasnt totally given up on
They are recieving a LOT of stuff from the west
@@4tbf616 May I tell you that the first month of war we were almost alone. Only the fact we didn't surrender and didn't loose in few weeks (as russians thought) switched on the weapon conveyer
I heard that in Czechia the Munich Agreement is referred as:
'About us, without us'
In Slovakia too. Also it is being called for what it is: The Munich Betrayal. The "west" still uses the word Agreement, which is just an euphemism for Betrayal. They still refuse to see it for what it is. Because it is their shame.
Typical French and British behaviour
Sometimes we call it munchen betrayal or mnichovská zrada in our Language
"o nas, bez nas"
with fancy dashes over a's
AMONG US?!
fun fact: in the first election in czechoslovakia after ww2, the communist party gained the most votes in any post-war election in europe because many mistrusted the west for what they did in 1938
Only in czechia. In slovakia, democratic party won
Ye elections held by communists are known for getting suspiciously high procent of the votes to theirs party
Czechs have inborn affinity towards Communism, it fits their national character. In other countries the Communists had to fight tough civil wars, but in Czechia few Soviet agents was all that was needed, the Czechs did not put up any fight.
Surely such positive feelings regarding the communist party will last for a long time and there wont be any widespread discontent and rebellious sentiment against that same communist party that will need to be violently and brutally put down.
@@janjurik660 "Czechia" was divided into 2 electoral districts: Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia. In Bohemia communists got most % anywhere in Europe (43%), Moravia-Silesia was quite "similiar" to other European countries (34,5%) - and just 4% more than in Slovakia (30,5%). So in this case, dont use "Czechia" since it didnt exist even as part of Czecho-Slovakia.
In czechia we call it “Mnichovska zrada” sometimes which means munchen betrayal
How is the interwar period and the situation with Sudeten Germans being seen in Czechia nowadays?
@@Inzersdorf93 A lot of people dont like germans. But also a lot do and go to germany often. So its pretty balanced out
nt
@@Inzersdorf93 the “odsun” which is when all the germans in sudetenland where forced to leave is teached quite poorly, beacouse us czech didnt do anything wrong ever, or thats how it is teached basicly we arent told about the usti massacre which is when czechs threw multiple germans including a pregnant woman in water and killed all of them,
About the interwar period we are teached more like the war started when he got into power, we are told about the anti-jewis laws, about the ideology, then about how he anexed austria and then about taking sudeten land but this part differes from teacher to teacher but we should be told more about forcing the germans out of czechia beacouse we did some horrible stuff back then
@@Inzersdorf93 They celebrate the expulsion of 3,5 million Germans
The green in the British and French flags represents how loyal they are as allies
Poles also know that, it is sad
To add more it is more and more sad when we realise that our countries where put under Stalin in 1945
Sadly, because Hitler could be stopped twice: once in 1938 and second time in 1939 if France would attack from the west while the most of German forces where in Poland
@@123pik1 honestly Poland and France should have invaded Germany the moment Hitler came to power and when Germany still had a small army
@@squarek123 Yes sir, in 1934 Pilsudski proposed an attack on Germany and after remilitarazing Rhineland by Germans Polish government suggested that they would help France
@@123pik1 based proposal, I wish they went through with it
Anglos have no allies, we only have temporary partnerships to further our interests. The amount of times the UK and US have betrayed their allies, I'm surprised it hasn't driven more countries away.
This is a very good example of if one person hurts you and gets away with it others might do the same.
Yeah, bullies are so predictable and only go for the weakest.
That's why everyone should stand for Ukraine.
@@yomer355 no 🇮🇶
For ukranian oeople yes. For Ukraine? No. It’s a pontless war against the russians. Could have ended becore it began if not for that idiot Zelensky wanting to hold into his pointless position.
@@rdarealspeedy4679 No 🇮🇱
Czechoslovakia had very powerful military at that time. Not powerful enough to stop Germany but with France and Britain WW2 might have been just a border conflict, especially thanks to the fortifications.
Also France dug their own grave by this. Not only did Germany gain huge amount of industry but also large amount of tanks and weapons that were later used to invade France. I remember reading that roughly 1/3 of what was used during the invasion of France was originally Czechoslovak equipment. (sadly I didn't manage to find the source again so it might be wrong)
But there actually was a bit of resistance. Mark Felton made a video about that.
So if britain and france had stood with the czechs they might have won easily, if they had stood with the poles they might have won easily.
Instead they decided that being good allies was boring
@@philip8498 I'm not saying this to defend them but Britain and France didn't just not care about their allies, they overestimated the German military and believed that they couldn't win at the time
@@balabanasireti Which, while understandable to an extent, is still pretty stupid. Did they think the Germans just weren't going to come to them next after they were done with the Poles? Were they really so blind that they couldn't see the writing on the walls? The French event waltzed into Germany, turned around, and went back. At that point, their actions were just flat out cowardly.
Well according to the latest researches they could hold them even for their own. German army in 1938 was very weak. Their propaganda and making themselves stronger made its part in the eyes of UK and France but reality was quite different. Germany had an ammuniton for 1 month of fighting, there was a bad weather so they couldn't use their airforce. Every healty man from 18 to 40 years of age in Czechoslovakia was mobilised and ready to fight. Czech morale was high and their border defences at full strenght. It would be a different case from Poland which is mainly a flat farmland. Czechs have mountains all around their border which they boosted even more with border fortifications like bunkers, machine gun nests etc. during last 3-4 years.
@@balabanasireti the situation was definitely quite complicated but this decision was done against many experts. Some people say that politicians just wanted to buy time to build up their armies but the only thing they did was giving Germany one of the most developed counties of the time with well equipped military which massively boosted Germany and have Britain and France just a few more months to prepare. Not the best trade deal I dare to say.
I love what you said in another video. “Czechoslovakia wasn’t invited that would be silly, because all they would do is disagree”
But that is the point of international conferences. If everyone agrees there is no need for a conference.
@@snowmanscz1011 and thats why you don’t invite the person who’s actually involved
Which video is that?
@@beattio i cant remember and i might have mixed two different quotes from history matters up but all I remember is something about Czechoslovakia not being at the meeting because all they would do is disagree
@@cdntrooper3078 Weirdly I remember a very similar quote but I had a look around and I can't find it in any obvious videos.. Who knows 🤔
In my opinion, one of the best people who commented this betrayal was Winston Churchill. That said, “You were given a choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.".
Winston churchill only said that because he made money off war he started ww2 the germans made dozens of peace offers only asking for danzig which had german majority that was being executed and treated terribly by the poles
insane cope@@Adaptzite
@Adaptize Oh here we go with this bullshit.
@@Adaptzite"please hand me over europe in this peace deal"
@@neogivxapwntcpaaA city is the entirety of Europe?
Us in the Czech Republic have a saying about the Munich agreement 'O nás, bez nás' - 'About us, without us'. Always proud to be a čech 🇨🇿
You guys are weak
🇸🇰🇨🇿
That was so unfortunate for you back then
Czechia?
'O nás, bez nás' we have this saying in my language as well, and it sounds absolutely the same
I’d be interested in a video about what life was like in sark, an island between France and England, that didn’t end feudalism until 2008
@@starless267 he seems to be a troll/bot account.
Just looked that up I agree quite an interesting topic, thanks for brining it to my attention :D
What's interesting about the Channel Islands is that they spoke Norman French until WWII, but during the war, all of the children were evacuated to England, and thus came back speaking English rather than Norman.
Feudalism just moved back to England instead.
Didn't know it was a thing until I looked it up on Wikipedia. It's basically the equivalent of the United States' Amish community who self-govern themselves. Only about 500 people on the island minding their own business.
Hey, Czech here, nice vid
Fun fact, few days before the Munich betrayal a general mobilisation in Czechoslovakia was declared and all the males ready for fighting arrived in less than 10 minutes, making it probably the fastest mobilisation ever
There's also this theory, that if UK and France backed us and we fought back, Germany wouldn't be able to push and Hitler's generals would overthrow him. Hitler had even stated that he suddenly understood why his generals didn't want him to be so aggresive after seeing one of Czechoslovakian forts.
I am curious, do you think the Sudeten Germans were traitors and deserved it or do you regard it as tragedy?
You can see why your government didn't fight, but, yes, you are correct, the Germans would have really struggled.
Yeah Ive heard nazis tried to destroy few forts and realized that they arent able to do it. So they just sealed them. I have copies of blue prints from 1930s of some of the forts from historical magazine and the amount of steel and concrete in such small yet numerous forts is insane. Řopíks for the win
@@typiclyjohny5114 deserved it.
@@typiclyjohny5114 I would not say all, but a lot of them were nazis and loyal to Hitler and were violent too, they and Hitler used as a justification that Germans here were oppressed, which was not true, though not entirely false, but I believe (and lot of people too) that it was indeed a tragedy
"Now with 100% less Hapsburgs." I was on the floor rolling in laughter. Your placard one-liners are hilarious, with the additional benefit of being true.
As a Czech and a huge fan of your work, I was so moved when I saw this in the notification. Thank you for sharing our darkest days with a wider audience. I would just point out that the “conference or war” dilemma is not completely correct. There were frequent skirmishes between the Czechoslovak State Defense Guard and armed local German militias, supported by the Reich. In many places along the border, members of the State Defense Guard were the only representatives of Czechoslovak state power, as 99 % of inhabitants there were Germans. Between 1936 when SDG was created and 1939 when we lost our independence, reportedly 84 of them died in those fights and 270 were injured. They are unsung heroes of Czechoslovakia and I just feel like it would be great if more people knew about them. :) Thank you again and keep up the good work! :)
Unsung heroes = literal occupiers using violence against people that want independence?
thanks for sharing this information.
Maybe if a land has more than 90% of people that are not from your country, maybe fucking give those territories back to the countries theh are from?
Maybe just don't take land that does not belong to you?
Man, Czechoslovakia basically got stabbed repeatedly while the allies just watched.
The allies kept bringing the knives.
I wonder if it reminds you of anything happening atm... 🤔
+ the allies told Czechoslovak government in a ultimatum that they recognize Czechoslovakia as the "aggressor"
Well, soon after the czech tanks conquered the France and drove the Britons to the Dunquirk. Yes under the name Pzkpf38(t) (like Tsechien) and with german drivers but still were of higher quality than most of the Wehrmacht inventory. Together with the Cech republic the Hitler got not just the arms industry but all of the weapons too.
Can't trust liberals.
Funny, czechoslovakia bunkers had such good positions and pasarute defenses, that they could survive few months, one with really good position in Moravia. Germans wanted to attack via paratroopers, but as german commanders took closer look on those bunkers, they themselfs said, it would be disaster for Germans, if they attacked.
Yet we all know there will be always "what if"
austrian border be like
*_"Funny, czechoslovakia bunkers had such good positions and pasarute defenses, that they could survive few months, one with really good position in Moravia."_*
ALL of that was negated by the Anschluss.
Austrian and Hungarian Borders 💀💀
it worked only if you are not betrayed by anyone else but Germany. While Austrians welcomed Hitler... Everything changed in several hours.
yea but the protection wall wasnt finished and there were holes in it
As a Czech, I agree that our foreign policy can be summarized as: "This time the west surely wont betray us."
And Poland did not allowed passage of the Red Army that deter Hitler
Trust me, they will betray us again. (Jo jsem čech)
This time? It's not like they betrayed us mutiple times. We got independence 30 years prior mainly thanks to them, if you forgot.
@@JUICE_PROPAGANDA_CEO Independence was given to you by Russia at least twice. 3 decades prior you lost your independence and became a expendable vassal of the West. They will trade you off if the price is right just as they did in 1938. You was not even invited to the deal.
@@JUICE_PROPAGANDA_CEO Literally vassal of the west. You think you are part of it, but you are just a vassal of Washington, London, Berlin, Paris and Rome, and you do anything at their wim. Also EU has same if not more power over your nation than the Supreme Soviet of USSR had over any of 15 of its Republics. Welcome to reality.
Honestly I never knew that Poland and Hungary took slices of Czechoslovakia at the same time Germany took the Sudetenland. This is never taught in schools in the UK, it goes as far as Germany taking the Sudetenland / Chamberlain's incompetence with his appeasement toward Hitler and then Germany promptly taking the rest of Czechoslovakia.
This needs to be taught in all schools when it comes to teaching about WW2 and the prelude to war.
Yes, there's a lot of interesting parts of history they never tell you.
@@AFGuidesHD Yeah. It all depends on what country you live, Britain does not focus much on Japan in WW2 instead focuses on Nazi Germany & Italy in Europe and Africa. I think in school we got taught about Japan's attack on Pearl harbour and then barely anything else from that theatre of war until America drops both Nukes on Japan.
When teaching WW2 schools should divide the materials with half of it being about the European Theatre fighting Nazi Germany & Fascist Italy and the other half fighting Japan in the Pacific.
There is a lot they don't teach you in schools. Primarily because British high school education is terrible.
well, how much history can you cram into schools? you must reduce the complexity of any topic in order to make it even digestible for the students. It is not necessarily an indicator for a failed schol system or anything.
Btw. the Poles also don't learn about the that part in polish schools. :D and they should actually know about it.
@@Osterochse Who says we don't? We do, but in the context of barbarities commited upon us by both Hitler and Stalin, we don't see it as a big deal. It's pretty annoying whenever people in the internet think that the Poles are salty only about getting annexed, as if the III Reich and USSR only annexed us and nothing above it...
One major thing was missed here. Czechoslovakia was in a military alliance called Little Entente, which included Yugoslavia and Romania, and through Yugoslavia and Romania with the Balkan Pact (which also included Greece and Turkey). In effect that meant that Czechoslovakia was in fact in the military alliance with almost entire of South-Eastern Europe.
It wasn't France or UK that sold the Czechs out... we did. Yugoslavia and Romania, mainly, as both were turning increasingly pro-German by that time. Mussolini came in September, before the conference, to Yugoslavia to lobby Yugoslav politicians NOT to back Czechoslovakia.
France and UK had no real obligation to defend Czechoslovakia, we did. And we turned our backs. We betrayed them. We with whom they had an alliance and agreements.
Had we honored our words, Germany would face the entire South-Eastern Europe, all at once, in 1938. Could they win? Maybe. But by that point, with Germany at war with 1/3 of Europe, countries like Poland and France would most likely not sit idly. And there would not be a R-M pact.
We can discuss in hindsight... but, the fact remains - Yugoslavia and Romania betrayed their promise and international agreements first. And that is one of the reasons UK and France backed out - they saw that the closest allies of Czechoslovakia were turning their back.
Not many people talk about it, because they focus on "big players", and we tend to keep quiet (we don't want to move the spotlight to us). But truth be told, we are to blame.
For Poland, sure, blame UK and France. But for Czechoslovakia, it was Yugoslavia and Romania who betrayed them first. The first dominoes to fall, the rest just followed.
Although what you are saying is correct the Little Entente comprised of the nations that France was supposed to protect in case of war. France was technically guaranteeing their independence and they did not help them. So they betrayed them, too and well they paid the price for it
@@michaelgiannakoulis1777 Not really. France was the sort of patron of that alliance, but they were not a member of it, nor did they officially guarantee anyone from that alliance.
The treaties France signed with the individual members of the Little Entente were just saying that the countries will consult one another on foreign policy questions, and that's it. There were no obligations involved.
Little Entente members however, were obligated by the treaty to have a unified foreign policy and to come to each other's aid in case of war. They had a common security council, a unified economics board etc.
France was a verbal supporter of that alliance, nothing more. It had no obligations towards it. It wasn't even a member.
Amazing
Little Entente was not general defensive pact, it was aimed against Hungary only. Jugoslavia and Romania had no treaty obligations to help in case of war with Germany, but France did. Romanian goverment was sympathetic until after Munich and there were negotiations to persuade them to allow transport of material and planes (no troops) from USSR, althrought land connection was rather poor. Jugoslavia was kinda flip-flopping, but thats understandable, them sharing border with fascist Italy and number of unresolved disputes with them. There is no need for such self-flogging, whatever nationality you are (unless you are french lol). I am czech and I know my history.
@@RayRay-mv9wn It was a general defensive alliance. It is true that it was envisioned primarily as a counter to any future Hungarian resurgence, but it was a genuine defensive alliance. And your country actually wanted to broaden it even further, Beneš proposed a hard-core type alliance between the three countries, similar to NATO today. But Yugoslavia and Romania backed out (late 1930's).
It's not self-flogging, it's jut history fact that was omitted here. France and UK get all the shit for "betraying Czechoslovakia", but in reality, they did that when everyone else already did.
I just went and read the treaty between France and Czechoslovakia (again, just to be sure) and no, France was not under ANY obligation to defend Czechoslovakia, from anyone. The furthest that the treaty goes is that the countries will consult each other if there is a threat to their national interest, and that's it.
In Article 5 it is just stated that the countries will have a unified response should Germany decide to restore the Hohenzollern dynasty - and that is all.
No where, in any treaty signed, was France guaranteeing the independence of Czechoslovakia or entered a defensive pact with it.
So I don't know what they told you in school, I've just read the treaties 5 minutes ago. I suggest you do the same. They are available online, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 23, pp. 164-169 (they are in English and French), it is all hosted on UN archive site.
two more weird facts:
(1) Hitler actually wanted to provoke a war over the Sudetenland and was kinda disappointed that the UK and France backed down on his demands.
(2) Czechoslovakia had a extremly well armed military and Germany gained tons of weapons, airplanes, tanks, heavy artillery and more basicelly for free. Without those, German Blitzkrieg against France would probably not have been possible.
agree, they would have much harder time fighting in France
If Hitler tried to take on our forts in the Sudetenland, he would`ve bled the German army dry.
@@FriedrichBarb yea, but actually no - just take a look at some firearms and tanks (not airplanes obviously poor little Avia)
@@FriedrichBarb You’re the one speaking nonsense, the germans got tons of weapons from the defeated Czechs, for example without the panzer 35 and 38t’s the Germans probably couldn’t have pulled off blitzkrieg
@@FriedrichBarb The Panzer I? Completely obsolete against France when it was made. In fact, the best Panzer tank that the German ever produced and would produce was the Panzer 38(t), created by none other than Czechoslovakia, which was used more than the actual Panzers that Germany created. So yes, Czechoslovakia gave Germany a much easier time.
What surprises me the most is that these „animated“ figures actually have character. Good job to the artist!
Slovakia declared independence after Hitler called Joseph Tiso (leader of the strongest party in Slovakia at the time, later the only one because dictatorship rules) to Germany and basically said to him you can either declare independence or look at this map showing Polish and Hungarian armies waiting for some good old conquering. So we backstabbed Czechs to save our own skin essencially. This whole trying to survive thing was quite contagious. Didn't work out very well. Tiso and his colleagues were rewarded by a noose after the war.
A pak se lidi diví proč jsou Češi tak zahořklí vůči každém (nejvíce pak proti Francouzům, Angličanům a Slovákům)...
And yet people say the USSR was the bad guys... like if the other countries were any better lol
Similar things went down in austria. Germany invaded austria *before* they held the referendum concerning Anschluss. In a speech austria's chancellor (dictator) said things like: "Up until death! Red- white- red!", but one month later, just before the invasion, he changed his agenda. He discouraged austrians from resisting the occupation to "not spill german blood". At this point he just tried saving his own ass, but later he got thrown into a concentration camp anyway.
@@Иван_Михайлов-ь8б Everyone was the bad guys, USSR for example divided up Poland with Germany.. It's just that Germany got out of hand and Nazis were on another level of bad guys (along with the Japanese mind you). So everyone just said screw it and united (USSR kinda got pushed into it by the invasion, but I believe it would have happened later either way). There is no black and white in history, never, it's just about who is less bad. Not even USA can pretend, because we all know about the CIA during the cold war.
Tomu se říka karma. (That's what you call karma)
Rare sight of content creator who is not from Czechia/Slovakia making good and accurate video about Czechoslovakia. Great job like always
How can it be accurate when it makes no mention of:
1) Henlein and Frank,
2) The split in the government which resulted in Czechoslovakia providing no resistance,
3) The negation of the Czech defences in the north by the Anschluss, which opened the south west border,
4) The military advice - including the American advice - which said the Sudetenland was not worth going to war over?
3:04 This is why I love this Chanel 🤣🤣
You missed the part where French and British threaten Czechoslovakia with war declaration of they don't submit to Munich decision and the part where handing over Sudetenland armed German army (3700+military planes, 2000+tanks, over 3milion rifles and several thousands ton of ammunition) to start the actual war, which is something that would either not happened or give the world years to prepare.
As a Czech person born and raised I asked myself this question some years ago. I came to the conclusion that when four major powers in the World decide what your destiny will be without you even present you have very little choice in that matter. Especially when they take your fortifications and arms in the process and give them to Nazis as a gift for not attacking anyone else. It didn't work out very well for anyone in the end as we all know. Reinhard Heydrich, Reich Security Main Office Chief and one of the architects of the "Final Solution", paid the ultimate price for this betrayal and we showed the World that you might take us apart, but you will not brake us.
@The Snow Nigro You write a lot about history for someone who doesn't know about history
All areas of the Sudentenland were inhabited by a German majority. The territories should never have become part of Czechoslovakia, taking into account the right of self-determination of the peoples. The Munich Agreement was binding under international law, which the British government confirms to this day.
@@g.f.w.6402 Three countries cannot collectively decide what a fourth country's territory is. That's not how international law works.
@@minutemansam1214 Bruh, That's literally how Czechoslovakia was born.
@@tylerellis9097 Wtf? What about the czech legions? What about all the czech politicians like Masaryk Beneš or Štefánik?
Im not saying that giving all the germans in sudetenland to czechoslovakia was right, but Austrian empire was stupid monstrosity and it is good that it no longer exists.
There was a reason why was that empire called prison of nations
Czech poet Frantisek Halas composed a poem in that time:
Rings a bell, rings a bell of treason (betrayal)
Whose hands made it swing
Sweet France, Proud Albion
And we loved them
Yeah, nice bit of paranoid nationalism.
@@thethirdman225 How is it paranoia if it's after the bad thing really happened? How is it nationalism if it doesn't in any way reference the nation or pride? Get the fuck out...
As a czech living in the (former) sudeten regions. I can say that our fortifications in the areas were insanely good. Like i went to visit some bunkers and forts that now serve as just historic things. But like they're just well placed on flat terrain with multiple ways of just destroying invasions. And it stretches out for kilometers. Sadly they never got use.
It's impressive, yes, but ultimately impractical. Even back then a strong mobile army was much better and had better ROI than any static fortification built on the idea that the next war will be fought the same way as on the WWI western front.
@@dlakodlak It was designed to Last long enough for French to push from the other side.
@@strider4632 There is the mistake. Expecting the french to push
Good, but pretty much useless thanks to Anschluss. At south Czechoslovakia had nothing.
@@neph9205 Yep. After bleeding the country dry during the 1rst war which was mostly fought on our soil, we weren't so eager to go to war again.
"sorry" for losing 2/3 of my family on each world war and not backing up small country which did almost nothing except wipe out all jew without almost any righteous in czech republic (at leat, the pride come from slovakia for that matter).
Thank you so much!
Finaly a video about this incident that is not biased! Good job guys.
Ah yes, Czechoslovakia: My homeland filled with beautiful nature, people, and history, history that mostly includes all of our neighbours beating the shit out of us.
As a pole i can relate
@@Mr.Radekk Well, even Poland participated in beating the shit out of us back then
The haterade is mutual. We have tried (sometimes successfully) in conquering Poland, bringing up Austria into the ream and deposing many Holy Roman Emperors.
@@jakubpaliesek czehia did the same thing to us like 5 times
@@jakubpaliesek and the "shit of us" was a land smaller than Luxembourg
1:39 That piece of paper reminds me of overly simplified. 😸👍
Same
To add some context, Germany did not just invade, they invited the Czechoslovak president to Berlin in 1939 to better the relations. Which is what Hitler wanted and he took the Czechoslovak president into the Reichschanchlery and started talks, during which Hitler said that he could invade Czechoslovakia if he wanted and the Czechs can't resist, Göring thretened to bomb Prague into obliviant and czechoslovak prezident fell about 3 times into a coma, so Hitler even nedded to order his personal doctor to help him. At about 5 o'clock the czechoslovak president signed the surrender of Czechoslovakian army and gave the Germans full authority over Slovakia. The czechoslovak president returned with tears and shortly after German troops arrived in Prague. The Czechoslovak president was Emil Hácha.
Yeah, Hacha was zombie at that time, Tiso was nazi collabotor and traitor, and Benes was just... too retarded to lead a country during war.
He was also forced to swear an oath to Hitler dont forget get. NKVD killed him in 1945 though.
Can u show source, I wanna see this deeper
Thank you for taking the time to add this, useful context to learn.
3 times he fell into coma? Holy Shit, even Hitler would have been worried
Also another fun fact could be mentioned:
Czechoslovak general staff was also discussing possibility of couping government, and continuing with mobilisation, and eventually fight Germans, but in the end not all generals did agree to this plan, so that plan fell xd
Your vids are always great; hope patreons choose something about Hungary or Finland.
"It isn't rare for a country to seize the land of another."
Topical.
I love this channel, you have taught me loads of interesting things, and just wanted to say thank you.
I love how it said welcome to Czechoslovakia and below it said *Now with 100% less Habsburs* I just love these little details
PS it's here 0:55
Bruh i didnt notice it at first thanks for the hint
A video on the German speaking South Tyroleans after the collapse of Austria-Hungary would be interesting
Südtirol.....😩😭
Good timing on the 80th anniversary of Operation Anthropoid and successful assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Slovak Jozef Gabčík and Czech Jan Kubiš.
The Munich Diktat is a dark time in our history. Betrayed, surrounded, and broken apart by internal and external threats.
Also as a Slovak I must say, our "independence" is something we are not proud of as even if it was a manifestation of certain failures within the Czechoslovak government, the Slovak State was a German puppet state ruled by clergo-fascists lead by a Catholic priest. These people were war criminals and traitors to both our Czech brothers and the Slovak nation.
And then there was the town or village called Lidice, but yes betrayal from our allies was the worst thing that happened to us.
0:12 'Stroopwafels zijn heerlijk'. As a dutchman, i couldnt be more proud. You earned my sub. PS it means stroopwafels(dutch caramel waffles) are delicious
Hello koloniers
It's beautiful that you put this video out on the 80th anniversary of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. I wonder if that was on purpose. And of course in the context of the Ukrainian war and of some politicians saying that Ukraine should capitulate to Russia's demands, this video is twice as topical. My only criticism is that you repeatedly call the citizens of Czechoslovakia "Czechs", which is imprecise to say the least (as the name of the country implies). But I understand the need for some simplification of this complex topic. In any case, thank you for this video.
Poor Slovaks. He ignored our brothers
There is difference between Munich and today's Ukraine though... For instance we czechs didn't bomb sudetenland like Ukraine did Donetsk since 2014 lol, besides germans had their own political party, whereas russians in Ukraine are not even allowed to talk their language in the east etc. The so-called war in Ukraine is sadly fratricidal warfare, which sadly is caused by Ukrainians not fulfilling Minsk agreements. Both Putin and Zelensky belong to Haag.
@@giveall9695 congratulations, you have fallen victim to the Russian propaganda.
@@giveall9695 Ah for god's sake, this is a war of conquest, Putin has said time and time again Ukraine is not a real nation, Ukrainians are not a real people and should belong to Russia, this isn't just about supporting Donetsk and you know it.
Please don't compare Ukraine to Czechoslovakia. They were conquered by nazis. Ukraine ARE nazis.
Its important to note that there was ultimately groups of underground partisans who resisted occupation at the cost of their own lives. It was Czech partisans who assassinated the architect of the holocaust, Reinhard Heydrich.
Edit: Czech AND Slovak partisans. Please excuse my ignorance
the Germans then burnt down dozens of villages and murdered thousands of people in reprisal sadly
These Czech assassins were trained in Britain and smuggled back into the country so they weren't exactly part of the Czech underground. Also, many of the people who were helping them in Czechoslovakia either didn't know why they were there, or were horrified when they learned why, because they knew that the Nazi's would (and did) commit vicious reprisals in revenge for Heydrich being killed, and they pled with the assassins to not go through with it. It may even be that the reprisals were the entire point, to make sure that the Czech people continued to hate the Nazi's, because their were fears that under Heydrich things were improving and Czechs were willing to accept the new status quo.
@@jonathancampbell5231 you British nationalists are so annoying, it's unbelievable. You need to accept the fact that you are not a world power anymore.
@@jonathancampbell5231 The part about them being trained in Britain and sent on the mission with the blessing of the exile government is true, and that the local resistance was sceptical about whether such an action would be worth it is also true, but the "things were improving and Czechs were willing to accept the new status quo" is just horrible interpretation.
With Heydrich moving in as the stand-in Reichsprotektor things got horribly worse, where Neurath was remaining diplomatic about managing the German occupation, Heydrich was ruthless, it was with him the holocaust deportations started full blown, it was with him the protectorate's puppet government was rid of all resistance attempts, where he started to enact his "Final solution of the Czech question," forcefully sending people people to brigades in Germany, sending kids to reeducation and "Aryanization" of property. Heydrich terror started with him moving in, and people were worried that things would get even worse if he was assassinated.
Not everyone is a hero to throw away their life, their family and their property and hoped that perhaps liberation will come eventually, since they were so horribly betrayed by percieved allies. If one member of a family was discovered to participate in the resistance, whole family was executed, and dont forget that Czechoslovak occupation started in March 1939, so without any war actually being declared, Germans had all the time needed to crush the resistance before it could even form, as it had no foreign support at all, no weapons...
And on final note, the whole point was to prove the Czechs were being occupied in the first place to the Brits, who didnt believe it as they just dont care. Since "legally" all that happened was "Peace for our time," solving border issues in Central Europe and Czechs "calling to become German protectorate" from their own will. Without it the allies would probably still see the Munich agreement borders as legitimate.
@@ternet1859 Heydrich was ruthless but he was also efficient, and compared to other Nazi governors including the one he replaced he made a point to improve the conditions of Czechs where he could if only to dissuade them from resisting. Other Nazi governors were more corrupt and cruel.
The Czech government was worried and under pressure out of the perception that their people were starting to tolerate the Nazi's while the rest of Europe suffered, and that was one of the motives for Heydrich being killed.
Some people say Britain and France were trying to buy time to rearm, but this doesn't make much sense in hindsight. The German generals were terrified that while they were bashing their heads on the Czechoslovakian fortifications, Britain could just blockade Germany and the allies could defeat Germany in a slow methodical way while the best German divisions were stuck smashing their heads against mountains. And while wargaming should be taken with a grain of salt (one US general in one wargame in the 201st decade found out he could put missiles on speedboats despite the missiles have double the mass of the boats), some war game analysis during the Cold War using war records from both the Allies and the Germans suggested that yes the German attempt to invade Czechoslovakia would not have gone well had they had to smash those forts while under a blockade. So at least many of the Germans and British thought in hindsight that Germany didn't have the strongest cards when trying to pressure Britain into staying out of the conflict even if Britain and France were not fully rearmed.
A problem for Britian and France was that they were not politically stable, starting another great war would have been an easy rallying cry for rising communist and/or fascist parties, and sending sons to die for the sake of foreigners was not a popular sentiment.
As well as both nations were in the process of reorganizing their military. They wanted a quick, low risk, high prestige victory.
Britain might not actively have been buying time to rearm... but it NEEDED time to rearm.
Aside from the thought of trying to avoid millions more dead, not actually being a neighbour of Czechoslovakia, knowing that many ethnic Germans did want to join Germany, etc. No "easy solution" unfortunately. :/
(For Hitler, read also Putin and S/SE Ukraine in 2014)
Actually, it does make a lot of sense. The Germans had the Bf 109 in service in significant numbers, while the British had the Gloster Meteor biplane. The British would not get a fighter competitive with the Bf 109 until the Hawker Hurricane, which just started entering service around the time of the Munich conference, while the Supermarine Spitfire would just begin entering service in time for the German invasion of Poland and the French Dewoitine D.520 would not begin entering service until the following spring, just in time for a few to serve in the Battle of France. This is what the RAF and other service chiefs were focusing on when they said, in the fall of 1938, that they could not guarantee the security of the British home islands if war broke out then. A year later, the answer had changed.
The south of Czechia was not that well defended. So the Germans could have gone through Austria (and maybe Slovakia) to take Prague etc. I think this would still be a winable war for the allies but not that easy.
Are you saying that Poland and Germany started WW ll by splitting Chekoslovakia ?
'now with 100% less Habsburgs' lmao good one.
The usage of 'No' in Czech and 'now with 100% less Habsburgs' is beautiful... thanks for a nice summary of the Munich Betrayal.
There was actually one unit that resisted occupation and didn't just fold to the Nazis, resulting in the Battle of Čajánek's barracks.
Allies: Look we’re gonna give you what you want-
Czechoslovakia: Hang on! This meeting is about *MY* territory. Shouldn’t I come to the meeting too?
Allies: ANYWAY, we’re gonna give you what want.
Hitler: Just like that?
@@Suksass
Allies: Just like that.
Czechoslovakia (we): F*** you, you deserting white flags, we'll remember this.
I can see now how the agreement among European powers to respect each others borders is so important. The way they dealt with it in the past was insane.
“What was Vietnam like after The Vietnam War?” Future video.
It would be interesting to learn about what they did with the Khmer Rouge. Although they were a communist country they effectively ended one of the worst dictatorships ever and no one really remembers that.
Just about the same as it is now, it's still communist
Well, they were busy fighting off invasions from the chinese AND the Khmer Rouge, the latter which they abolished to prevent the further killing of the ethnic vietnamese (and thus they consequently saved the cambodians too)
Czechoslovakia truly was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the late 1930's
Getting partitioned around a year before it was cool again
Poland is the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the late 30's because they still got clapped one Last time and got partitioned
@@alexanderraz. yeah but they only Got partitioned once that's why I say that
@@alexanderraz. Nah, it was Checkoslovakia. Poland played partitionar multiple times in 20th century before it got partitioned once, it self.
In XVIIIth Century.
Quick suggestion for a future video:
How did currency exchange work in the past?
Now if someone were to travel from say, the US to the UK, they can't just use dollars but will have to exchange them into pounds. How did that work in the past? Like in Roman times, the middle ages or any time after the creation of modern currency in general.
It worked just like now but not with the currency but money. If the coin (money) was not accepted by the traders the customer had to ask a money changer to exchange his coins for local money. And in the end it was a question of coin quality - how much silver or gold it held. Some coins (money) were percieved as of high quality (stable silver amount) and were widely accepted. Like roman money in the early days or original czech silver Tollar (dollar and other currencies are named after this coin ;-) were accepted even very far from their homeland. Just like USD is welcomed in many countries now.
@@jkotekvolnycz Thanks! I thought it had something to do with the material the coin was made from, but ,while more recent, what would've been the case with paper money?
Most of old coins were made from expensive metal, so I guess you could pay like if it was gold or silver if it was not your local currency. But I guess some countries or cities had special laws about money, also, today bank services are much older than people think, you could pay by paper vouchers from your bank in Italy already in like 16th century if I remember it correctly, it was not like real paper money, it was like today vouchers, seller had to have contract with bank and deal about accepting it.
Happy Memorial day 2022. Awesome content
“I don’t rate it” very underrated statement.
0:33 depicted people from leff to right
Top row: Stalin
Middle row: Chamberlain, The one UA-cam doesn't like, Mościcki, Horthy, Carol II
Bottom row: Azaña, Franco, Mussolini, King Zog
yes I do play HOI4, why do you ask?
Can you clarify who are those last 3 of the middle row you mentioned?
@@windowsmediacenter6924leader of Poland in ww2,Admiral(navy commander) of hungary inWW2 and, leader of Romania in WW2
I've always wondered about this since I heard about the Munich agreement
nazis used a lot of czech LT vz. 35 and LT vz.38 tanks - at that time our tanks was much better then german tanks
To be fair, the narrators massively downplay the reaction from the czechoslovak side. Almost overnight , whole country mobilised, about 10% of the population received full military gear. The country also had small tank corps and airforce. The fortifications were modern and would pose a challenge for the german side. People wanted to defend the country, so should there be a open conflict many would die. The whole idea of strategy for the democratic island in the heart of europe were its alies. Everything was designed with the reliance on its alies, expecting them to come. The country could never defend against prolonged German agression. The airforce would have fail and fortifications would have been broken, eventually anyways.
Shortly, the country was preparing for that exact situation for over 10 years, building and seeking foreign help. In the end for nothing.
@@FidoLpProduction there were even protest with slogans such as "we give you our sons, you give them weapons"
@@FidoLpProduction The didn't need to break our fortification. We were practicaly encircled and were many places without fortification
Correction it was not agreement, it was a betrayal
France, who we had a direct defensive treaty with, not only betrayed that treaty by signing away OUR territory, they have also issued direct threats to our governement that they will in fact support germany should we resist the terms of Munich. That betrayal was so much deeper than them just stepping aside, they actively and deliberately stabbed us in the back in a vain attempt to save their own sorry ass. It's that I always bring up when someone says they don't deserve their spot as history's greatest cowards, just for WW2. It's not for WW2, it's for directly causing it through their own betrayal and cowardice and they've more than earned that reputation in my eyes.
after ww1 Czech stole German, Slovak, and Hungarian land lol. you had no chance and you deserved no chance
Look at the bright side. Even today, France is universally made fun of due to their cowardice and embarrassing performance in wars, even more so than Italy.
They managed to ruin the legacy that Napoleon left as soon as they first went to war without him.
I fully understand your rage, but Czechoslovakia wouldn't even come into existence without Britain and France. In the Great War, France was the first country to remove the Czechs and Slovaks from the list of enemy aliens (in 1914), it took Britain another year to remove Czechs and Slovaks from the list of enemy aliens. France was the first country to recognize the Czechoslovak National Council. France provided huge political and material supports to the founding fathers of Czechoslovakia.
"Well good luck with that!" Central Europe's experience with major powers in a nutshell.
Questions that I've been wondering
"What was the Schism in Greece during WW1?"
"Why did the Soviet Union recognize Israel before the US?"
"How did India get nukes?"
The king of greece was pro german and his prime minister was pro british
Something people rarely know today israel was way closer to the soviet union than the USA, the soviets thought the zionists would become communists and establish a socialist jewish state but the zionist elite betrayed the USSR and went pro american
Thats a very good question
Actually, the United States was the first country to recognize Israel as a nation
@Nicolas O. And those very Arabic nations started using those weapons they gave them aganist Israel. And still get there asses kicked by them
@@TheShadowwarrior80 nope the soviet union was the first one
the soviets were the first to recognize israel bcs they first israel pm david ben gurion was a socialist
0:19 Person: Mustache man is invading the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Neville Chamberlain: What?
Person: He’s invading the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Chamberlain: Oh. *Goes to mustache man* You lied to me.
Mustached person: What did you expect? I'm Hitler.
Alright, i get it. Now don't oversimplify the reference so much
That reference to the ww2 video of oversimplified
"what did you expect?" XD
Fantastic, as always. Every one of these history videos is a delight!
As a French, I'm ashamed by what our government did, no wonder why the Czechs call this the Munich betrayal... Czechoslovakia was an important and loyal ally and deserved to be treated as such by the Allied powers
I sincerely hope that in future times of need we will got the back of our Central Europeans allies.
Much respect and love to the Czechs and the Slovaks❣️
Frenchwoman *
@@dannyarcher6370 So french woman isn't french? XDDD
It just wasn't worth it even Poland wasn't worth it but Germany need it to be stop anyways...
It hurts twice as much bcs of what happened after the war. Stalin wanted to control Central Europe and we were quite a gem industry wise. So they agreed with allies on line in the west Bohemia where the US army would stop. It was bcs freeing army is then seen as heroes. So Czechoslovakia was actually freed by red army later than US would be able to do it. After Munich betrayal and red army liberating us they were seen as heroes. Communists who were quite active in resistance were elected into office and in 1948 they used ill president who helped them to put communists in every position of government. After that they rewrote constitution and thus destroyed democracy and forbid free elections until 1989.
Patton didnt like that he had to stop at Pilsen in west bohemia I often wonder how much would people see the danger of the east if they wouldnt be blinded by hatred towards west.
After 20 years of communism people kinda how bad it was and wanted to be part of free world once again and russia beign happy exploiting our companies, resources etc. "helped" with tanks not to make silly mistakes as making free elections.
Sorry for this long essay but it is almost insane how deeply this agreement affected Czechoslovakia in 20th century and mentality of its people. Tbh we (czechs) still talk about how our confidence as nation isnt yet established since Munich. Not joking I see people discussing it quite often.
Well Macron is trying to repeat history with Ukraine so better watch out or as a French be ready to kick him out of office if he does that.
Germany: “Give me. Now.”
Britain: “Ok. But no more.”
Czechoslovakia: “Wait wha-!”
Germany: “Actually I’m taking all of it now.”
Britain: “Fine. Whatever.”
Czechoslovakia: “Oh you fu-!”
Now you can substitute Germany with Russia and Czechoslovakia with Ukraine... As in many videos on this channel: "Soon"
It wasn't really "fine, whatever"... Britain actively rearmed knowing what was coming and (almost foolishly) tried to intervene in WW2 before they were ready, leading to Dunkirk.
Not sure what Britain could've done even if it was someone being expected to be "World Police".
The USA happily did business with Germany and its conquered territories all the way through the Battle of Britain rather than "fighting for freedom" long after it was obvious who the bad guys were....
@@AndrasMihalyi If Poland and Hungary will attack Ukraine too like they did in 1938 - then yes it is same. Now it is just fight between Russian army vs mercenaries from around the world + nazi bandera groups.
2:07 legend says Horty is still looking for a navy there
I love how the channel is so simple
This was a question that I’ve actually had for literal years. Thank you
"Which neither of them wanted, because dying is terrible"
Japanese pilots and Vikings disagree with you
Tenno Heika Banzai intensifies
@@manupontheprecipice6254 islamists entered the chat
Reading the title of this video as a czech hurts my heart ;(
Give me the Sudetenland.
It shouldn't. Your politicians were actually smart. We didn't agree to give up Danzig (Gdańsk) which wasn't even a part of our country. Instead we chose war and as a result our cities were levelled. The average Czech city looks now way better than the avarage polish one with way more historical buildings preserved.
@@gurrierpl Czech city = stolen German cities like Eger, Reichenberg, Karlsbad
@@Vtv4567 Russia get kicked it's ass in WW1, WW2, Afgahnistan and Ukraine
@@gurrierpl Both outcomes are terrible, one means total humiliation the other destruction. But as a Czech I think it is safe to say that most Czechs didnt agree and dont agree with handing over the suddetlands. The Czechoslovak population was ready to fight for our country but our politicians literally stopped us from defending our country.
I hope that I am not the only person who noticed that, in the scene regarding Belgium (0.11), the French version of the Belgian national motto "L'Union fait la Force" ("The Union is Strength") is translated into Dutch as "Stroopwafels zijn heerlijk" ("Syrup waffles are great"). Haha! Great work! 😁😁😁
As a Slovak , I am ashamed that we (Tiso) betrayed the Czechs
🇸🇰❤️🇨🇿
Its ok we forgive you our slovakian brothers (still no metro? ;))
Yeah, Poland could also select a better moment for "liberating" Zaolzie (Śląsk Cieszyński).
It left a bad smell.
I mean don't worry all nations have or had shitty leader's at some point.
shame? for what? dont you know that even Masaryk assured allies that it will be a federative autonomus republic? DOES PITSBURG AGREEMENT RING A BELL? im not ashamed of Hlinka or Tito they tried to do their best to save nation however they cloud.
The Germans offered you guys some fancy chocolate it was a no brainer
It is interesting that if czekoslovakia would defend itself, it would have severely weakened germans, and ww2 would maybe go on differently. At that time, german army was still in kinda sorry state, and one of the reasons for its later effectiveness was that they got their hands on entire czekoslovakian industry and they even used some of czekoslovakian armored vehicles in the early stages of blitzkrieg. Even though czekoslovakian defenses weren't complete, they would still be very capable, and combined with well equiped army and somewhat good air force, germany would suffer great loses, which would both hurt Germany and maybe also send a message to the allies, enabling them to prepare more for upcoming war. On the other hand, czekoslovakia would not be sheltered from major horrors of war, as it was during german occupation.
We can't defend. We were encircled from all sides and threaten byl alies, than if we start war they will not help
It would sacrifice our own country just to hurt Germany and help those who have abandoned us. Plus leaving us the target to pin all the blame on for the war to be left to rot without help by the end of it.
A good example of how making concessions to militaristic bully out of fear doesn't work.
Irony is that it was czechoslovakian industry that fueled the blitzkrieg against France and "hedgehogs" from Sudetenland fortifications against Germany were used at the Atlantic wall to block Allies during D-day
I wish i had found ur channel when i was in school, not only are the lessons much more interessting, it would also help me with presentations. Instead of the white background with some boring words on powerpoint i would use more like these pictures to present my subject.
For me as a Czech, it still hurts.
🥲
All those tanks, weaponry, airplanes and more ... Wasted. Czecho technology contributed quite a bit in conquering france.
Czech's would've been able to damage the german army significantly with all those fortified bunkers. Germany "could've" even lost since it was their first war in a sense.
Prague is the prettiest city I've visited in Europe. It's like stepping back in time.
France, Italy and Germany now: "Ukraine give your territories to Russia, we must avoid... something"
Ukraine now: Naah, the only way for russians to take Ukrainian land is only in form of dead bodies.
I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -Benjamin Franklin
My mother-in-law's father was a Hungarian from that little tail end of Slovakia that Hungary claimed. He was often mistaken for being a Hitler look-alike with a little Hitler mustache and all. When the war ended, mother-in-law took the two kids to "visit" grandfather in the now Czechoslovakia, then, being a fluent German speaker, drugged the kids to remain silent, and took them by train to a refugee camp near Vienna. After my father-in-law's business was nationalized, he hid himself in a hay wagon and bribed a farmer to drive him across the border to join the family in the Vienna refugee camp.
It's so sad what happened to Czechoslovakian Hungarians and Germans as a result of all of this.
While we may regard the Munich Agreement and Chamberlain's high profile effort to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for peace to have been a moral outrage it is astounding how many Chamberlain apologists still make the argument that the Munich Agreement was a good idea and that Chamberlain's effort was justified. This viewpoint can be found in other videos on the subject on UA-cam and in the comment sections of those videos.
In my opinion the biggest Chamberlain failure in Munich betrayal was giving intact industrial and military assets to Germans. And those assets were pretty big, because Czechoslovakia used to be industrial heartland of Austria-Hungary empire.
With him, Britain would probably have left the war after the retreat from Dünkirchen (dunkirk), which would have made an opposite end of the war possible.
It's funny. The man attempted to avoid the war and preserve lives to prevent life loss similar to ww1, only to be responsible for even greater war and life loss.
All could have been prevented by moving troops the moment Hitler broke Viena agreement.
it is more fascinating to me that appeasement by chamberlain is always condemned while the peaceful attmept to make a change by mahatma ghandi who lived at exactly the same time re always praised. Both attmepted to maintain peace even if it meant hardship. it is weird that they both eveluaded so differently.
@@Osterochse Because Gandhi was using peaceful means to achieve a worthy goal, the end of Colonialism in India and the establishment of Democracy. Chamberlain wasn't willing to fight the literal n@zi's. War is bad, but keeping the peace at any cost is not good, especially when you're just letting a warmongering opponent grow stronger. Gandhi is an inspiration to use peaceful actions to create political change, not violence. Chamberlain is an example of what not to do when faced with war-mongering imperialist fascists.
your energy is the perfect pick-me-up on any day! ☕
Please do Silesia - how it moved between countries amoung centuries (Great Moravia - Poland - Kingdom of Bohemia - Austro-Hungary - Prussia - Poland), how it never got independence (Jozef Kozdon, Plebiscite) and how it was baited by Authonomy by Poland, then removed by communist government. The so close would-be country that never happen to be.
Not whole Silesia is in pressent day Poland. So calld Habsburk sellesia + Hlučínsko - east part of Těšín Salesia is now in czech republic
Thank you for a great timing of this video. Great reminder when we hear appeasing words of Kissinger and others concerning UA.
Wise man once said: "You cannot reason with a tiger with your head in its mouth!"
@adenosine 2 electric boogaloo Ukraine Army
@adenosine 2 electric boogaloo abbreviation for Ukraine
I wanted this answered so long ago, but I guess it took some time to confer with the Czechs since they don't show up to meetings usually
Nicely explained.
If James Bissonette was incharge of the talks, Czechoslovakia would lose no land.
1:50 Are you sure? After all, Czechoslovakia didn't had to beat Germany, all they had to do was survive long enough. Considering their fortifications and sorry state of Wehrmacht, I'd say it was doable.
2:41 Should've added Carpatho-Ukraine for split second
Don't forget that there was also Hungary and Poland. Being attacked from all sides would destroy Czechoslovakia.
@@NahodnáHruška also italy might have helped
From our view yes,Germany would probably fall,but sadly they couldn´t know it.
@@NahodnáHruška And the fortifications weren't even done, not to mention that on the (formerly) austrian border there wasn't even that
@@user-zz3sn8ky7z There was many of them anyway and Germany wasn´t so strong to win.
1:57 to the land which was taken by Czechoslovakia from Poland in also dick move while we were at full blown war with Soviets in 1920.
it was 1:1, but still this was stupid thing to do for Poland
In 1930's Poland was basically doing a lot of morally good, but not well-thought diplomatic moves, like annexation of Zaolzie or ultimatum to Lithuania. Diplomats were also always like: ,,either my way or none, I shall serve the Republic, not your stupid business!", which made an opinion about Poland being the ,,hooligan of Europe" and some even weirder conspiracy theory of Polish government collaborating with Germany. Basically, in 1930's Poland decided to clean up the mess from 1918-1921 and it didn't really end well.
100%, Poland had their reasons to take it, but in hindsight it was a dumb move from the Polish Government, it would have been better if Poland and Czechoslovakia resolved their disputes better in the 30's, because they both shared common enemies, the Germans and later the Soviets as they would see after the war
@@lordpolish2727 not really - we didn't consider Germany as our enemy and before April 1939 we tried having peaceful relationship with it.
@@Admiral45-10 I meant in hindsight
@@lordpolish2727 yes, it made us look bad for Entante.
1:58 _Smart_ move from Poland right there. Extraordinary foresight!
I'm glad to see a question I've often asked myself. I can feel a tad smarter than I was 5 mins ago.
As opposed to, ya know, questions I didn't know I wanted an answer to.
Western powers explicitely explained to Czechoslovak representatives in Munich that had Czechoslovakia refused to cease Sudetenland and defended itself against Germany, it would be Czechoslovaks themselves who would be regarded as an AGGRESSOR - regardless of how nonsensical that sounds. Czechoslovakia was forsaken by everyone. Everyone. No point defending your country when the whole world is against you and everyone is scared of Germany. Czechoslovakia was encircled by Germany from three sides. Luftwaffe would have bombed all the cities to the ground and Wehrmacht would have finished the rest. Even today, many Czechs say it was cowardice. CZ-SK military, fortresses and tank divisions were strong. The thing is after a couple of months there would be nothing to defend.
Samozřejmě na tom už dnes nic nezměníme, každopádně pohled na věc s možností nahlédnout na detaily které nebyli oběma stranám známé nám dává větší možnosti. Mimo jiné dnes víme, že Německo ještě nestihlo získat dostatek zásob a ani vycvičit vojáky, takže většina vojska měla relativně malý výcvik a armáda měla prostředky tak na 3 týdny bojů, což není zrovna mnoho. Také dnes již víme, že Němci očekávali, že opevnění jsou slabší než skutečně byla. Kromě toho existovala nezanedbatelná možnost puče proti Hitlerovi v případě války, která by, i v případě že by Němci nakonec byli schopni ČSR obsadit, asi neprobíhala tak drtivě jak NSDAP celému světu tvrdila, že by ji nezastavitelná německá armáda vedla.
This is probably intentional but on exactly this day (27th May) 80 years ago. The assasination of a very prominent nazi officier, Reinhard Heydrich took place. He was killed by a Czech and Slovak resistence fighters Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabčík. So we did resist. He was the only important nazi who died during the war.
Sláva hrdinům odboje!
And according to legend, he died because of a curse that rests on the Crown of Saint Wenceslas, which goes that if anyone puts it on their head without being the rightful King of Bohemia, will die within that year. And apparently Reinhard Heydrich did just that.
@@marcc375 My brother told me, that Heydrich hadn't died as a direct result of the assasination but because of the infection he got from the horsehair from his seat. It was an incredible luck that he actualy died.
Nonetheless you got the bastard, good job.
the whole thing was as if it was taken from a really bad action film: the sub-machine gun jammed? I mean, wtf?
Josef Gabčík was Slovak and Jan Kubiš was Czech
This was a good funny video 😂 Thank you 🙏
yeah, it was one of the stupidest decisions Chamberlain and Daladier ever did. As Winston Churchill said, "You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war."
I haven't seen anyone in the comments mention that Germany turning Bohemia into a protectorate saved it from failing as a state leading to inevitable bloodletting and riots. Well there's a fun fact for you guys.
Another fun fact being that Austrians had always known they were German and wanted to join the Empire with the rest of their people. Prussia didn't want this as they thought they would lose political power to Vienna and the Habsburgs along with the fact that they had their own empire comprising of many other ethnic people instead of Germans. The debate of joining Germany during the Weimar Republic was off the table (for obvious reasons). However when Hitler brought Germany back from its path to being a 3rd world country to the most powerful financially, the Austrians were almost completely in favor of joining their brothers. (War of flowers. Blumenkrieg)
In my opinion uniting brothers by blood under one Nation is a good thing including the Sudeten Germans, lost Prussian land, and Hungarians carved out of Hungary because of the Treaty of Trianon, but in this day in age politics is so horrible in general that I'd never wish that on anyone.
Britain & France: You must give the sudetenland to Germany for the sake of peace. Or else.
Czechoslovakia: ...fine.
*Czechoslovakia gets invaded anyway*
Czechoslovakia: *BACKSTABBERS*
Britain & France: ...that wasn't supposed to happen...
France: puts up a White Flag 2 times in a row.
its also rare for you to make 3 great videos in such a short amount of time :)
140K views in a few hours. Content makers might take note. There is a lack of content on UA-cam on the very interesting history of Czechoslovakia (as well as the Kingdom of Bohemia, Czechia, Slovakia.)
Only superficial things are popular. History is popular only if mainstream and superficial. No thinking outside the box.
It also got so many views because it's very short video, basically a length of a song and probably majority of viewers watched it to the end.
@@scintillam_dei Yes and no. There is also a bias to cover big countries like France, UK, Germany rather than Denmark, Czechoslovakia etc. There is also a bias to cover Western Europe over Eastern Europe. And in the English-speaking world there are biases like Henry VIII ad naseum.