Introduction: Eleven Footballers Do a ‘Good Job' for Britain in Germany, May 1938

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, the Chamberlain government’s pursuit of détente with Hitler’s Germany is easily dismissed as a study in failure, most notably during 1938, when both Austria (March) and the Czech Sudetenland (September-October) fell under German control. ¹ Within one year, the two governments were at war. Against this background, the infamous photograph, showing England’s footballers giving the Nazi salute before their game played against Germany at Berlin on 14 May 1938, has often been depicted as evidence of yet another Munich-style national humiliation, given the manner in which Chamberlainite appeasement provided a supportive policy framework for the match. From this perspective, the Football Association (FA), which not only arranged a fixture played in Berlin two months after the German takeover of Austria (i.e. the Anschluss) but also congratulated Chamberlain for the Munich Agreement resolving the Sudeten crisis, might easily be added to Cato’s cast list of ‘Guilty Men’. ² By contrast, contemporary assessments often proved more positive, especially as the notorious salute, given in part in the light of official advice, was adjudged to have helped to maximise the fixture’s perceived contribution to national interests.