ABSTRACT
The French made the ritual gesture of reaffirming their obligation to defend Czechoslovakia, and Neville Chamberlain likewise conformed to rule by insisting in the Commons, on 24 March 1938, that Britain was under no obligation to Czechoslovakia. The logic of saying that if war arose over Czechoslovakia other countries would be drawn in implied that Chamberlain would do a great deal more than nothing. Chamberlain thus committed himself in advance to taking the German side against the Czechs. The restiveness of the Sudeten Germans, together with the violence of the German Press against the Czechs, produced so much excitement shortly afterwards, that on 20 May 1938 the Prague Government ordered partial mobilization, fearing an immediate German invasion. Britain also gave post-Munich Czechoslovakia a loan of £30 millions; the unused portions of this were duly handed over to Germany when Adolf Hitler finally liquidated the Czech State in March 1939.
