Dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, 1938

[Jim O]

As reported in Guardian Unlimited.

Moving appeals from Czecho-Slovakia

The price of dismemberment | Premier's reassurance to France

Monday October 3, 1938


While German troops were marching into Czecho-Slovakia on one side and Polish troops on the other, dignified and moving declarations and appeals were being made yesterday by the leaders of the Czecho-Slovak people, spiritual and political.

The Presidents of the Upper and Lower Houses of the Prague Parliament have sent an appeal to the British and French Parliaments in which they say:

We appeal to them to understand the moral revolution which has caused the punishment of a State and a nation which wanted nothing more than to fulfil its obligations, a nation which had real faith in the high principles of human co-operataion, a nation which committed no other wrong than the desire to live in its own fashion in the cultural community of nations and States.
We bequeath our sorrow to the French and English people.

It is also understood that the Czech Government has appealed to the British Government to give its urgent and immediate attention to the great economic difficulties which will at once face its dismembered country. The text of this appeal has not yet been issued.

The Roman Catholic Primate of Bohemia issued the following statement:-

The land of St. Wenceslaus has just been invaded by foreign armies and the thousand-year-old frontier has been violated. This sacrifice has been imposed on the nation of St. Wenceslaus by one ally and one friend. The Primate of the ancient kingdom of Bohemia is praying to God Almighty that the peace efforts prompting this terrible sacrifice will be crowned by permanent success, and should they not he is praying the Almighty to forgive all those who imposed this injustice on the people of Czecho-Slovakia.

The heads of the Protestant Churches of Czecho-Slovakia have issued a declaration in almost the same terms.

British relief funds

The Mayor of Southall has sent an appeal to every local authority in the country to open a fund for the relief of the people of Czecho-Slovakia. The Council of Action for Peace and Reconstruction is to start on Thursday a "Czecho-Slovakian Thanksgiving Fund." Suggestions for helping Czecho-Slovakia are made in letters to the Editor printed in another page.

Premier's message to France

Mr. Chamberlain sent the following message to M. Daladier, the French Premier, on Saturday:-

On my return to London I wish to express to you my grateful appreciation of your loyal and helpful co-operation throughout these recent days of anxiety, and my admiration of the courage and dignity with which you have represented your great country.

In the declaration which the German Chancellor and I signed yesterday we have agreed that our respective peoples are united in their desire for peace and for friendly consultation in all differences that may arise. Closely united as are the hearts of our peoples, I know that these sentiments are true of your country no less than of my own.

I look forward to renewed and continuous co-operation with you in further efforts for the consolidation of European peace through an extension of the goodwill and confidence which so happily inspires the relations beween our two countries.

The Anglo-German pledge which Mr. Chamberlain brought back with him from Munich has caused uneasiness in France. Reports from Berlin suggesting that a similar Anglo-French pledge may be signed soon are not confirmed from any French source.

Cabinet minister resigns

Mr Duff Cooper, First Lord of the Admiralty, has resigned from the Government because he "profoundly distrusts the foreign policy which the present Government is pursuing and seems likely to continue to pursue." Mr. Duff Cooper will, it is expected, make a statement in the House of Commons to-day.

Mr. Duff Cooper apologises in his letter to the Premier for "striking a discordant note at the moment of your great triumph."

Poles enter Teschen

Polish troops who had been waiting on the frontier for several days marched into Teschen yesterday afternoon, Czecho-Slovakia having yielded on Saturday morning to the demands from Warsaw. The order to march was given over the wireless by Marshal Smygly-Rydz, head of the Polish forces, speaking from his residence.

It was stated last night from Prague that Hungary, who is seeking "equal rights" for her minority in Czecho-Slovakia, has agreed to the appointment of a joint commission to settle the problem. The Prague message contrasts Hungary's acceptance of negotiations with Poland's threatening demand, coupled with a time-limit, made two days previously.

The first part of the German occupation of Sudeten territory has been carried out without incident. The Eger district will be occupied to-day, and Herr Hitler is expected to accompany his troops.

Parliament today

Mr Chamberlain returned to Downing Street last night after a brief rest at Chequers to prepare for to-day's meeting of the House of Commons. He left it on Wednesday with the words, "I go now to this last effort." He returns to give an account of the Munich conference and to explain the agreement reached and his new understanding with Herr Hitler. His claim that he has brought back "peace for our time" will be critically examined by the House.

[Hobilar]

Originally Posted by Jim O

Mr. Duff Cooper apologises in his letter to the Premier for "striking a discordant note at the moment of your great triumph."

He would return to the Cabinet in May 1940 as Churchill's Minister of Information. A Ministry that was soon to be the butt of many jokes.

[cavszabo]

If I may throw a spanner in the works...

Czecho-Slovakia was a country made up by the victorious Entente Powers, the USA, Britain and France, under the strong influence of Czech intellectuals. The same is true for Yugoslavia.
The Slovaks had been living within the Kingdom of Hungary for 1000 years while the Czechs had been independent as Bohemia, the "land of Wenceslas". Also, in 1938, Czechoslovakia was emphatically not "dismembered", only shrunk. Parts of Slovakia (which belonged to Hungary only 18 years earlier) were returned to Hungay, parts of Poland and of Germany were returned to their respective countries. That's all.
Czechoslovakia was actually broken up in 1939, when Slovakia declared its independence from Czech-land.

I am not impressed by the "do-it-yourself" creations of the Great Powers, as the results in the Middle East show, and their creation of Yugoslavia also showed. Neither Czechoslovakia nor Yugo have stood the test of time, and the African nations as well as the Mideast are an ongoing disaster.
What should they have done? In my opinion, they should have done what they refused, they should have asked the local people what they wanted.
A famous French politician, whose name I can't recall, said, "We either have a plebiscite, or we have Czechoslovakia."

So, another lesson of Versailles is to give the people what they want, not what the Great Powers want, methinks.

Chris

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by cavszabo

If I may throw a spanner in the works...

Czecho-Slovakia was a country made up by the victorious Entente Powers, the USA, Britain and France, under the strong influence of Czech intellectuals. The same is true for Yugoslavia.
The Slovaks had been living within the Kingdom of Hungary for 1000 years while the Czechs had been independent as Bohemia, the "land of Wenceslas". Also, in 1938, Czechoslovakia was emphatically not "dismembered", only shrunk. Parts of Slovakia (which belonged to Hungary only 18 years earlier) were returned to Hungay, parts of Poland and of Germany were returned to their respective countries. That's all.
Czechoslovakia was actually broken up in 1939, when Slovakia declared its independence from Czech-land.

I am not impressed by the "do-it-yourself" creations of the Great Powers, as the results in the Middle East show, and their creation of Yugoslavia also showed. Neither Czechoslovakia nor Yugo have stood the test of time, and the African nations as well as the Mideast are an ongoing disaster.
What should they have done? In my opinion, they should have done what they refused, they should have asked the local people what they wanted.
A famous French politician, whose name I can't recall, said, "We either have a plebiscite, or we have Czechoslovakia."

So, another lesson of Versailles is to give the people what they want, not what the Great Powers want, methinks.

Chris

Chris,

You are entitled to your opinions of course, but the above does not exactly represent the "facts" of what happened. Bohemia and Moravia were both part of the Austrian Empire until the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 (the Royal Bohemian Chancellery was merged with the Austrian Chancellery in 1749 under the "indivisible Habsburg Empire"). Involved in the creation of the Czechoslovak state was, among others, a famous Slovak astronomer and war hero, Milan Štefánik. To say that only Czechs wanted this union is incorrect. The state was proclaimed on October 28, 1918 and the Slovaks voluntarily committed to it two days later. Slovaks and Czechs had been working together for independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire since at least the 1890's.

In 1938, Germany, Hungary, and Poland all took pieces of what was Czechoslovakia. If that isn't "dismemberment" then we simply have a disagreement on the definition of the term. Maybe "partitioned" is a better term. After that "partition" if you prefer, the country was renamed Czecho-Slovakia. In March of 1939, pretty much simultaneously, Slovakia was formed as an "independent" state and what was left of Bohemia and Moravia were absorbed into the Third Reich as a "protectorate". At the same time Hungary invaded and annexed more of Slovakia's territory. "Slovakia" remained a Nazi puppet ("client state" if you prefer) throughout the war. That was a further dismemberment.

During the events of 1938 Czechs were driven from their homes if they happened to be on the wrong side of the new border. Call it what you like, the term is irrelevant. But the factual history is what it is. It's never so one sided as to say only one party wanted it. Bohemia was the the most industrialized region in Austria-Hungary. Slovakia was the most industrialized portion of the Kingdom of Hungary, such as it was. They spoke similar, mutually intelligible languages. Many people thought it was a good fit. Problems arose when it was obvious that the Czech provinces, Bohemia and Moravia, were more economically advanced than were the Slovak lands. It may have been a case of wishing they hadn't gotten what they had asked for.

A similar case in point occurred in Yugoslavia. More than anything, the Slovenes, Croats, and Bosniaks wanted independence from Austria-Hungary. They threw their lot in with the Serbs for several reasons that seemed to make sense at the time. The idea had been around among the Croats to join with the Serbs in a "Southern Slav" state since at least the 17th century. If you recall the Illyrian movement, that took place in the early to mid-1800's. Most of Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzogovina had declared its independence from the Habsburg crown in 1918 and formed the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs in those lands. Part had directly joined the Kingdom of Serbia. The State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs then joined the Kingdom of Serbia to form the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Southern Slavs). Montenegro had joined just prior to that but I don't recall the exact circumstances of that decision. I believe it was when Austro-Hungarian occupation forces retreated.

So the fact is that these "well intentioned" unions didn't work out. Why was that? The simple answer is nationalism. Each of these nationalities wanted their own nation-state. There are of course more complex answers. But at the early part of the twentieth century Europe was a dangerous place, especially for small states. Safety may have been seen in numbers. After World War II (where safety in numbers was shown to be irrelevant) and with a long period of relative peace these nationalistic feelings began to re-emerge. The peaceful divorce of Slovakia from the Czech republic was only slightly less predictable than was the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia.

[cavszabo]

Hi,

I agree, we use the term "dismember" differently. I use it to mean "dis-member" that is, to take the members of the thing in question, and take them apart. My point was that Czechoslovakia still existed after the 1938 Munich Agreement. I object to the claim that Hungary, Poland or Germany "took" lands, as if Czechoslovakia had existed from everlasting ages. All they did is take back their own lands.

My key problem with the creation of both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia was precisely what you indicate, namely, that it was created by elites. I find it strange that the Entente claimed to want "democracy" yet disallowed any kind of democratic say by the people themselves. You are right that probably most Slovaks wanted to leave the Hungarian Kingdom. However, we simply do not know whether they wanted to join the Czechs, and we never will, as they were not asked. Many Slovaks felt cheated, and this helped lay the foundation for the separatist movements. (Incidentally, the current area of Slovakia was not the most industrialised area of Hungary. That was the central and western regions, especially the industrial hubs of Budapest and Gyor.)

The same applies to the situation with the Croats and Slovenes. I maintain the main cause for anger and therefore eventual breakup in Yugoslavia was that the country became a kind of Greater Serbia, and the Croats especially resented this.

I think claiming that, for instance, Hungary "invaded" Slovakia is a bit disingenous, after all, they only took back areas that had been Hungary a mere 20 years before. "Slovakia" never existed before that. It was an arbitrary creation, and later, the Czechoslovaks were to expel tens of thousands of "non-Slavs" in order to make the facts on the ground fit the newly drawn map.

My point is simply that, the situation of a pure and holy Czechoslovakia being carved up by the wicked Germans, Poles and Hungarians is extremely one-sided, to say the least.

I haven't given a point-by-point statement, I merely wanted to show the other side, as there are usually two sides to an argument. This present one is not over yet, and I believe only open discussion can solve these things.

Cheers,
Chris