The aggressor was overextended militarily, and he was tottering politically. His generals and his allies were terrified. His nation, low on cash, troubled by its deteriorating credit, was on the verge of a bankruptcy for which he knew he would be blamed, and this would mean the downfall of his movement. Of this, his peers and adversaries were poorly informed. Perhaps this is one reason they thought they were relatively safe.
They certainly thought they were safe. Otherwise they would have behaved differently.
But his peers and adversaries were in fact unusually divided, by their differences, by hope, by fear, by innocence, and above all by their lack of experience in this new game.
It had recently come to the point where he needed gold to keep his enterprise in operation. For this, knowing his weakness, and knowing their ignorance of it, he had little option but to agitate, bluff, and demand. And to the surprise and dismay of many observers, he was rewarded. Later (and before) he was heralded as a political genius, a kind and wise man, a defender of the free world. He certainly had his admirers. Many more had their minds well prepared to act as apologists. Humiliation and worse was the fate of his detractors.
Too many made the mistake of thinking this man was one of them. That he was a man who could be reasoned with, that is, a reasonable man.
The democratic powers thought they had a deal. They thought they had saved themselves from looming disasters of unknown proportions. They could not have been more mistaken. The true disaster was derived from their acceptance of his assumptions.
Of course they should have known better. Yet thus were the times about September 1938. The place was Munich. The rest is history...
Now, some of you will think my diary lacks clarity, or depth, or that it is unfair. I am hardly troubled by that, because I know the rest of you will find plenty here to chew on.
Note: Please do not be so foolish as to try to "fix" this diary’s tags.