Background
The so-called Sudetenland was a region comprising border areas of Bohemia with mostly German speaking inhabitants, named after the Sudeten Mountains. Following World War I the treaty of St. Germain incorporated the area together with the rest of Bohemia into the Czechoslovak Republic. This had caused deep resentment among many Sudeten Germans who wanted to be, together with the new republic of German Austria, united with Germany. Throughout the 1930s, economic troubles and unemployment drove many to the pro-German stance of Konrad Henlein and his cohorts, who founded the Sudeten German Party. In the summer of 1938, Hitler voiced support for the demands of the German population of the Sudetenland to be incorporated into the Reich. This grew to outright demand from Hitler to annex the area, and threatened war against the advice of his Generals who were sure Germany was not ready to stand up in a new widespread European conflict. Czechoslovakia mobilized, realizing that most of their fortifications and their natural barriers were on their borders and losing these would leave them defenceless. It was under these circumstances that the Munich Conference was held.
Present in Munich on September 29 were Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Édouard Daladier of France, Benito Mussolini of Italy, as well as Hitler and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. Representatives of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union were not invited. Fearing another war and in the most infamous case of appeasement, the Sudetenland was turned over to Germany. On October 1, 1938, German forces entered the Sudetenland and annexed the area to the Third Reich. In order to commemorate this event, Hitler ordered the creation of the Sudetenland medal, which was instituted on October 18, 1938.
Read more about this topic: Sudetenland Medal
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