From 10 – 16 March 1939, German troops occupied Czechoslovakia in violation of the agreement negotiated with France and Britain in Munich, 29 September 1938. The occupation was the last in a series of operations by Nazi Germany’s to acquire additional territory..
After Hitler had withdrawn Germany from the League of Nations, he announced plans for the rearmament of the Germany army and the creation of a military air force, the Luftwaffe. Germany had reoccupied the demilitarized Rhineland 7 March 1936 and on March 12 1938, the Germany army occupied Austria and officially annexed the country the following day. All of these measures were in clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles negotiated at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. At the Munich conference, Britain and France had agreed to the German occupation of the Sudetenland, an area in western Czechoslovakia with a substantial German population. At that time, Hitler announced that Germany had no more territorial demands in Europe. Both Britain and France had hoped to avoid war through a policy of appeasement, acceding to Hitler’s demands in exchange for guarantees of peace.
