Chapter 123 Czech Tragedy 4

After the Munich Agreement, Emil Hacha became Beneš's successor. He was chosen not because he was tough or good at governing, but because he was a Catholic, conservative right-winger, and had little involvement with the government.

A few months later, Slovakia suddenly declared independence. On the same day, Ruthenia also announced the establishment of an independent "Carpathian-Ukrainian Republic". Hacha, who was overwhelmed by the domestic situation, had no choice but to visit Berlin to seek a solution.

At the negotiation table, the last president of Czechoslovakia was threatened by Germany's military force. He had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, but he almost didn't survive.

Hacha, who recovered, accepted the German occupation from the perspective of "realism" and signed the "German-Czech Agreement". This choice was also in line with the logic of the Czech ruling class: since Britain and France had betrayed themselves, the only choice was to cooperate with Germany. As long as Germany could retain some power for the Czech ruling class.

Yannick agreed to this last request. As a representative who was originally pushed out by the parliament to take the blame and handle the surrender business, and an old man with a weak heart, it is hard to believe that he could make a more resolute move to fight against Germany; in other words, if Hacha was a hardliner who advocated resistance, he would not have been pushed to such a high position.

Of course, there are countless shameful, private, and dirty deeds, which I will not describe one by one.

When the German troops stationed in Sudetenland began to march into Czechoslovakia, Hacha ordered the army not to resist, and the entire march was very "peaceful".

But this "peace" inevitably irritated some people.

"The Germans are too much! They don't take our British Empire seriously at all!!"

An uncontrollable roar rang out in the Prime Minister's Office in London, England.

It was British Prime Minister Chamberlain who was furious.

After signing the "Munich Agreement" and returning to London, Chamberlain proudly declared to the public that he "brought back a century of peace."

Just a few months later, reality slapped him in the face. The Germans invaded Czechoslovakia in an all-out way, and Crown Prince Jannik's letter of commitment obviously became a piece of waste paper, a piece of bullshit!

What to do? ! Declare war on Germany? ! The treaty signed at the time clearly stipulated that if Germany invaded other parts of Czechoslovakia, Britain and France would declare war on Germany.

The problem was that the Czech government actually took the initiative to cooperate with the surrender this time. The Germans did not waste a single shot and drove into Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia, in just 18 hours.

What kind of war is this? !

"Come here, contact the French Prime Minister immediately, I want to talk to him." Chamberlain certainly knew that he could not start a war because of such an ambiguous issue. The parliament would not agree, and the people would not agree.

But Chamberlain, who always insisted on appeasement, became tough this time! Because he also found that his blind concessions made the Germans more and more greedy. Now, he can no longer compromise! Even if there is no war, he will not let Germany have an easy time! !

In this way, the leaders of the two countries negotiated over the phone for more than an hour, and both sides agreed that the Germans had gone too far this time! Britain and France have asked Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland to Germany, and even other Germanic regions can implement autonomy, which is already a great favor.

But these vicious Germans were not satisfied at all, and they annexed the entire Czechoslovakia!

The Czech government is also a coward, why not ask Britain and France for help? That way they can take this opportunity to send troops to teach Germany a lesson.

But these two people have never thought about how Czechs view Britain and France after experiencing the Munich conspiracy. Czechs are completely disappointed with these two allies.

In any case, Britain and France must find a way to teach Germany a lesson so that the Germans know who is the boss of Europe! !

The best way at present is to support a country adjacent to the Czech Republic, but looking at the countries around the Czech Republic: Hungary, Slovakia, these countries and regions surrounding the remaining territory of "Bohemia and Moravia", are all enemies of the Czech Republic.

Then we can only expand the scope to the whole of Eastern Europe. In this way, there is a ready-made country that is strong, tough, warlike, and most importantly, it has an unfriendly relationship with Germany!

"The first military power in Eastern Europe" Poland! (Of course, this "first military power in Eastern Europe" is self-proclaimed by Poland. As for why it gave itself such an arrogant name, after the end of World War I, Poland and the Soviet Union launched a very fierce war. The Polish army once advanced to Kiev, and its record was almost catching up with the German army during World War II. But the Soviet army, which had recovered, not only defeated the Polish army, but also fought all the way to the city of Warsaw. At the last critical moment, the Polish army launched a last-ditch attack and won a great victory near Warsaw, which forced the Soviet Union, which was powerless, to reconcile with Poland and sign a treaty that was beneficial to Poland. This was one of the reasons why Poland was so arrogant at the time.)

Soon the two of them reached a consensus, fully supported Poland, and used Poland to restrain Germany!

It is a bit ironic that if the two people could travel through time and space to a few years later, they would find out how they sold Czechoslovakia at the beginning, and how they sold Poland later. Unfortunately, the two were not prophets, and their idea at the moment was to use Poland to intimidate Germany. In their view, Poland's current strength was far from comparable to that of the Czech Republic.

Compared to Czechoslovakia, which has an area of ​​only 790,000 square kilometers, Poland's territory is 80,000 square kilometers, more than three times larger, ranking sixth in Europe, about the same size as Germany, and larger than the United Kingdom and Italy.

The population of the Czech Republic is no more than 10 million, while Poland's population is about 35 million, ranking sixth in Europe, second only to the Soviet Union, Germany, Britain, France, and Italy. In terms of territory and population, it is a standard European power.

Poland's industry and agriculture are very prosperous. It is one of the world's top 10 industrial countries. All economic and industrial indicators are at the forefront of the world. It has a relatively complete industrial system and can build airplanes and tanks.

Military power is the biggest reliance of the Poles. Poland has more than 1 million troops (including more than 2.5 million reserve combat personnel), more than 700 tanks (ranked sixth in the world, almost equivalent to the sum of the United States and Japan), more than 600 aircraft, 4 destroyers, 5 submarines, and the world's largest cavalry, with a cavalry of up to 200,000. Poland's military strength ranks fifth in Europe.

These powerful data on paper are the second reason for Poland's arrogance.

The third reason is that Poland has many allies. It has not only formed an alliance with Britain and France, but also with many countries such as Yugoslavia. Therefore, the Poles think that their martial arts are not weak, and there are so many big brothers and friends to cover them, so they don't have to be afraid of Germany at all. If they really want to fight, allies can easily knock Germany down together.

Therefore, Poland is the first choice of Britain and France, using Poland to suppress Germany, which is rising and about to become a new threat to the whole of Europe!

There will be another chapter later