Hitler/Nazi Germany and the Non-aggression Pact with the Soviet Union - Essay Example

Hitler/Nazi Germany and the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union Introduction In 1933, National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP) with the help of some other parties has captured the power in Germany and Adolf Hitler the leader of NSDAP has been appointed as the German Chancellor. Immediately after his appointment as the head of a coalition government, he has started to dictate the administration by eliminating the coalition components from the government. Hitler never believed in democracy and he always an advocate of power. He has slowly taken the full control of the administration and prohibited the functioning of trade unions and other political parties apart from the Nazi party. Hitler has intruded into almost all the segments of social life in Germany in order to take full control of the country. In fact, it was impossible for the people of Germany, irrespective of adults, young or children; boys or girls to engage in any kind of activities without the permission of the Nazi party. Even the recreational activities were controlled by the Nazi party. Hitler has decided what should be done by the children below 10 years, those who between 10 and 14, 14 and 18 and so on. In other words, Hitler and his Nazi party dictated every aspect of German social and political life during the Nazi regime. Hitler and Nazi Germany are still hot topics among political world because of the historical importance of Nazi administration. The world has for the first time realized the effects of true dictatorship during the Hitler/Nazi regime. Even now, teachers of politics utilize heavy tolls from the Nazi regime while they teach dictatorship. It is difficult to accommodate the complete history of Nazi regime in few pages because of the variety and high volume of incidents happened during their administration. Second World War is one of the best examples for studying the negative effects of dictatorship. Even though Hitler was a strong critique of communism, his decision to have a compromise with the communist led Soviet Union is still debated by political analysts. This paper mainly focuses the question; why would Hitler/Nazi Germany sign a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union when in fact Hitler/Nazism hated Communism and wanted to expand East for Lebensraum? Also this paper tries to reach the answer through the analysis of Hitler’s Views on Communism and Lebensraum, German re-armament during the 1930’s, The Munich Peace of 1938, The Polish Situation of 1939 etc. Hitler’s Views on Communism and Lebensraum Democracy, as practiced in Western Europe today, is the forerunner of Marxism. In fact the latter would not be conceivable without the former. Democracy is the breeding-ground in which the bacilli of the Marxist world pest can grow and spread. By the introduction of parliamentarianism democracy produced an abortion of filth and fire, the creative fire of which, however, seems to have died out -Hitler, Mein Kampf 1 Hitler has not perceived many differences between democracy and communism. In his opinion, both democracy and communism are the two sides of the same coin. He had no respect at all, towards neither of them. Hitler was of the opinion that democracy or communism cannot contribute to the development of a nation because of the so many loopholes in them. For him the concept of a secular nation which is one of the fundamental elements of democracy and communism was indigestible. The immense hate he has kept against other communities, especially towards Jews has forced him to take a stand against democracy and communism. Socially and economically equal classes and culture across a country which is the main objective of both democracy and communism was a distant dream and impractical one for Hitler. Hitler thought that such principles were good on paper, but it is difficult to implement it in practice. Another criticism, Hitler labeled against democracy and communism was the slow pace of them in taking decisions and implementing it. In both of the above systems decisions need to be endorsed by different bodies before implementing them in practice which was a time delaying process. On the other hand, the Hitler model of dictatorship never asked any endorsement from any other bodies for taking decisions. The power was concentrated entirely on one point only in Hitler’s fascist model of administration. In terms of democracy, Hitler believed that "...democracy is fundamentally not German: it is Jewish...this Jewish democracy with its majority decisions has always been without exception only a means toward the destruction of any existing Aryan leadership". Hitler attributed the Jews' democratic success in their ability to make public opinion serve their own interests. Democracy will in practice lead to the destruction of a people's true values. And this also serves to explain how it is that people with a great past from the time when they surrender themselves to the unlimited, democratic rule of the masses slowly lose their former position; for the outstanding achievements of individuals...are now rendered practically ineffective through the oppression of mere numbers. Hitler believed that the Jews were involved with Communists in a joint conspiracy to take over the world. Like Henry Ford, Hitler claimed that 75% of all Communists were Jews. Hitler argued that the combination of Jews and Marxists had already been successful in Russia and now threatened the rest of Europe. He argued that the communist revolution was an act of revenge that attempted to disguise the inferiority of the Jews.2 Hitler’s blind and revenging attitudes towards Jews community have forced him to perceive everything against his views as the contributions of the Jew’s community. He has interpreted everything he hated in terms of Jew’s activities in order to strengthen his stand against the Jews. Hitler believed that communism and democracy were the contributions of the Jew’s community and encouraging this political system will destroy the true values of the people. For him the basic nature of mankind is to dominate others. Communism and democracy always argue for equality rather than domination. It was not acceptable for Hitler since he believed in the dominating characteristics of human kind. He has accused communism and democracy as the means of spreading corruption. He believed that the judiciary, parliament, executive like entities of democracy and communism are the means for people to escape from punishments after engaged in corrupted activities. He has accused that all the members of the communist and democratic administrative regimes as corrupted ones working for their own self interests rather than the country’s interests. He believed that only through dictatorship, corruption can be eliminated and the country can grow further. "We want to liberate Germany from the fetters of an impossible parliamentary democracy — not because we are terrorists, not because we intend to gag the free spirit. On the contrary, the spirit has never made themselves its master" Hitler did succeed in destroying democracy in Germany; in 1933 he was actually elected democratically. But once he was given the power to rule by decree and suppressed all opposition, his government was no longer democratic. Hitler's meaning of socialism, therefore did not refer to a specific economic system, but to "an instinct for national self-preservation" or nationalism. Concerning the Socialist aspects of the 25-Point program, Hitler made promises "because in 1920, the German working class and the lower middle classes were saturated in a radical anti-capitalism; such phrases were essential for any politician who wanted to attract their support" 3 Trade unionism of the working class was also not acceptable to Hitler. The rights of the working class have been taken away by the Nazi administration since they believed that it was the duty of the people to work for the country rather than protecting their rights. Hitler was of the view that the country’s progress will definitely improve the conditions of the working class as well and for that purpose, the trade unionism is a wasted effort. Moreover Hitler has ordered that all the individuals should perform maximum at the workplace irrespective of the benefits they receive. The idea of a Germanic people without sufficient space dates back to long before Adolf Hitler brought it to prominence. The term Lebensraum in this sense was coined by Friedrich Ratzel in 1897, and was used as a slogan in Germany referring to the unification of the country and the acquisition of colonies, based on the English and French models. Ratzel believed that the development of a people was primarily influenced by their geographical situation and that a people that successfully adapted to one location would proceed naturally to another.4 Even though the meaning of the word ‘Lebensraum’ is living space, Hitler has modified the meaning of Lebensraum for the German’s advantage. Lebensraum was the major reason for the Nazi expansion into its neighbouring territories. It was intolerable for Hitler to believe that the Germans are living without enough space in Germany being the major race in the world. Adolf Hitler considered Aryans race as the ancestors of Germans and he believed that Aryans are far superior to other races in world. It was not tolerable for him to accept the fact that the Germans/Aryans are living without enough living spaces in Germany. Motivated by the Ratzel model of Lebensraum, he started to expand the boundaries of Germany. Hitler accused that some of the lands controlled by other countries near the boundaries of Germany actually belong to Germany and he has demanded a territorial revision of lands. He was of the opinion that Germany has lost many of its territories to neighbouring countries in previous wars which needed to be regained. He has gathered support from the German people to expand German territories using his mesmerising speeches in which he made the German people aware of the shame of living as slaves. Jews were the strong opponents for the Germans as far as races were concerned. Many of the prominent scientists and world leaders were of Jewish origin which was not acceptable to Hitler. Hitler thought that the Germany’s lost lands during the previous wars were occupied by Jews and he has started the war against the Jews. Hitler has started the racial restructuring process by attacking and capturing the neighbouring lands of France, Alsace etc. Moreover the German military has ordered the Jews to submit documents of the lands possessed by Jews. “The Nazis basic intent was to make survival for the Jews more difficult and to create a loss of identity for the Jews. The Nazis occupying the towns asserted that the consequence of dissension was severe punishment or death”5 The main motivating forces of life are self-preservation and the safeguarding of future generations, and politics is none other than the struggle of peoples for their existence. This urge to live is universal and governs the whole nation. The urge to live must lead to conflict because it is insatiable, while the basis of life, territory, is limited. Thus brutality rather than humanity is the basis of life! Man has become master of the world through conflict and continual struggle… But mankind is not a uniform and equal mass. There are differences between races. The Earth has received its culture from elite peoples; what we see today is ultimately the result of the activity and the achievements of the Aryans. Don’t think that you can combat an illness without killing its causative organ, without destroying the bacillus (bacteria), and don’t think that you can combat racial tuberculosis without seeing to it that the people is freed from the causative organ of racial tuberculosis. The impact of Jewry will never pass away, and the poisoning of the people will not end, as long as the causal agent, the Jew, is not removes from our midst. - Hitler in a speech in 19286 The above words sum up Hitler’s attitude towards other races. He has believed in the supremacy of Aryans over other races rather than anything else. He thought that only Aryan community can contribute to the world and other races or ethnic groups should simply obey the instructions of the Aryan dominated German people. Thus Hitler has utilized anticommunist stands, racial issues and the principles of Lebensraum to motivate German people towards the Second World War. Hitler was a good orator and he has mesmerised the German people with his sharp criticism towards the Jews, and communism in particular. German re-armament in 1930 was the result of Hitler’s consistent attack against the Jews and communism. German re-armament during the 1930’s One of the aims of the peace treaty “The Treaty of Versailles” in 1919 which ended the World War 1 between Germany and allied forces was aimed at the disarmament of Germany. But when Hitler came into the power he has taken every step to avoid the conditions of The Treaty of Versailles. Tragically, it was not only Hitler and his Nazi supporters who wanted Germany's rearmament, but many influential figures in Britain and elsewhere. One prominent exception, however, was Winston Churchill7. Churchill was probably the only world leader who has perceived German plans correctly under Hitler’s fascist Nazi regime. He has realized the dangers in allowing Germany’s re-armament. But his efforts were not succeeded in making the world leaders aware of German re-armament because of some selfish motives of other leaders. The German re-armament was a massive effort led by Hitler’s NSDAP early in the 1930s which violated the essence of the earlier peace treaty signed. NSDAP has promised the German people that they will take every effort to regain the lost German pride in the World War 1. For that purpose, military re-armament was necessary and the Hitler’s party has taken pledge to take revenge upon the allied forces for the embarrassments they faced in the First World War. The public speeches and other measures taken by Hitler and his allies succeeded in getting the much needed power for them in the German elections. Hitler has undertaken one of the greatest efforts to boost the German economy by heavy industrialization Germany has ever witnessed. Unemployment was almost 0% during this re-armament and industrial revolution period in Germany even though the wages were very less. Hitler was successful in ensuring maximum productivity from the German public by giving all of them compulsory work schedules and employments. Thus massive industrial production at low costs made the Germany economy grow at a rapid pace. Many industries which were running on loss were re-vitalized by Hitler’s revolutionary policies and they not only improved their performances, but even started to diversify their activities. Hitler’s main aim during this period was to prepare Germany for a possible Second World War. He has realized that Germany might not get any support from the external world and hence they should be able to find the resources for the possible war by themselves. The rearmament process which started in early 1930’s has strengthened and equipped Germany for a possible Second World War by the end of the 1930’s. In 1938 an international crisis developed around Czechoslovakia, populated mostly by ethnic Germans known as Sudetenland, has started to shake the global peace and Hitler has threatened to go to war with Czechoslovakia unless so-called Sudetenland was immediately ceded to Germany. Czechoslovakia had military alliances with France and the Soviet Union. Therefore, a war between the two countries threatened to escalate into another world war -- that no one wanted -- and might engulf all the great powers, including Great Britain. It was a most unwelcome prospect. The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, believed he could defuse this crisis through direct negotiations with Hitler8 The British Prime Minister Chamberlain flew to Germany in order to avoid a possible Second World War which resulted in the Munich Peace of 1938. The Munich Peace of 1938 Hitler’s main aim of raising the Sudetenland issue was to shake the world. He had a point to prove the world that Germany has already ready for a possible war and the even the combined power of the rest of the nations is not agitating Germany. The Sudetenland problem has been rectified by accepting all the demands of Hitler in a negotiation consisting of Chamberlain, Daladier (the French prime minister) and Hitler gathered in Munich, with Mussolini as mediator. Mussolini was the senior statesman of Europe at the time and his role as mediator during the negotiations was received by the other participants in this light. The solution he offered was in fact prepared by the German Foreign Office. Even so, a final agreement was quickly reached. In return, Chamberlain received a "friendship" note signed by Hitler9. The surprising fact about the Munich peace treaty was the fact that one of the parties of the conflict Czechoslovakia has not been a party in the Munich negotiation process. The agreement reached between the negotiators mentioned above has been transmitted to Czechoslovakia, threatening them that their disapproval of the agreement may result in a possible war which could destroy the entire Czechoslovakian territory. Czechoslovakia has accepted this agreement because of the stiff international pressure to avoid a possible war. The confidence attained from Munich peace of 1938 has made Hitler overconfident about the abilities of Germany in spreading their countries wings to the neighboring countries. The interest taken by British prime minister and their allies to prevent a possible war with Germany in the Sudetenland issue has misinterpreted by Hitler as the weakness of other countries in dealing with the threats posed by Germany to its neighbouring countries in Europe. Germany has slowly tried to interfere in the internal matters of its neighbouring countries and the Polish situation of 1939 is the best example for that and also the start of World War 2 has marked with that. The Polish Situation of1939 Poland was quite sure about a possible attack from Germany and started to mobilize its army by strengthening it to 700000 by the end of August 1939. Hitler anticipated that Britain and France may not take side of the Poland if an encounter occurs between Poland and Germany. But Poland was sure that France and Britain would come into the rescue of Polish people. Poland’s military strength was negligible compared to that of the German’s and hence Hitler calculated an easy walkover against Poland. Even though the official war between Poland and Germany was declared on September 3, 1939, even after two days from the start of the war, nobody was sure about France’s involvement in that war despite previous resolutions and promises. Even though Britain was the first who come forward to the rescue of Poland in order to honour the previous treaties and agreements, France was reluctant initially in interfering in the matters between Poland and Germany. But later France was also forced to declare war against Germany after a 6 hour time delay10. Hitler was sure that England and France would not back down over the Polish situation. Given this, Hitler needed to secure the eastern front so that he could deal with England and France (thus avoiding a two-front war). Once done, Hitler could then turn his attention east towards his goal of defeating Communism and Lebensraum. Even though France and Britain declared war against Germany in order to rescue Poland from German intrusion, they did not commit any serious attacks against the Germans. The war declared by Britain and France remained on papers only and Germany was able to conquer Poland easily. It was not possible for the Poland soldiers to negotiate the technically sound attacks by the German military. “The destruction of Poland was followed by the disintegration of all other sovereign states in East Central Europe. The unfolding of events in East Central Europe in 1938-1940 is evidence of the close interdependence of the countries of the area. The collapse of Czechoslovakia was followed by the downfall of Poland and the Baltic States, and finally of the remaining independent nations situated between Germany and Russia”11. German advancement towards the Soviet territories created a matter of concern for the Soviet communist president Joseph Stalin. The anticommunist stand and Lebensraum policies of Hitler have created terror in the minds of Soviet communist leaders. Soviet Union was by far the strongest country in Europe which was capable of raising stiff challenges to Germany. Both Germany and Soviet Union has realized that a possible war between them would not safeguard their interests in Europe which forced them to arrive at a compromise even though they were politically and ideologically different. Some have seen Stalin's decision to grab as much territory as he could, even in alliance with Hitler, as a rejection of the ideological premises of Communism and definite shift in the traditional Russian approach to territorial expansion. Probably some such shift had occurred. The loss of a broad belt of territory in the West to Russia's western neighbours at the end of World War I has been painful to all Great Russian nationalists, with whom Stalin by then came to identify himself. These losses, a humiliating reminder of Russia's defeats during 1914-1920, had also damaged the U.S.S.R.'s strategic situation by depriving it of Baltic ports in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland, thus making Leningrad a dangerously exposed frontier city.12 The mutual respects and concerns finally forced Germany and Soviet Union to reach a non-aggression treaty. “On August 14, 1939, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop contacted the Soviets to arrange a deal. Ribbentrop met with the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov in Moscow and together they arranged two pacts - the economic agreement and the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact”13 . The economic agreement between Soviet Union and Germany was resulted in the transfer of food products to Germany from Soviet Union in exchange of machineries and furnished goods from Germany. The economic agreement with Soviet Union has helped Germany to overcome the food scarcity in Germany. Details of the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact As the name indicates, this agreement was intended for preventing a possible aggression between these major powers of Europe during that period. This agreement urged both countries to solve problems by means of diplomatic methods rather than aggressive methods. As per this agreement Soviet Union agreed to stay away from German the warfront of Germany with Poland, Britain and France. Thus Germany has succeeded in preventing Soviet Union from opening a second war front in Europe which could have been a disaster for Germany as it was quite difficult for the Germans to negotiate the combined efforts of France, Britain and Soviet Union. Apart from the declared aims of the non aggression pact between these countries there were some secret agendas also which was denied by both the countries till 1989. The secret protocol held an agreement between the Nazis and Soviets that greatly affected Eastern Europe. For the Soviets for agreeing to not join the possible future war, Germany was giving the Soviets the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). Poland was also to be divided between the two - along the Narew, Vistula, and San rivers. The new territories gave the Soviet Union the buffer (in land) that it wanted to feel safe from an invasion from the West. It would need that buffer in 194114. Even though Soviet Union stayed away from the battle between Germany and Poland, after around two weeks from the beginning of the war, they have posted their troops in some of the Polish territories as per the secret agreement reached between Germany and Soviet Union. Soviet Union has thought that the non-aggression pact might be beneficial to them and also they could have escaped from possible German threats through this agreement. But Hitler has other ideas. Hitler has used this agreement only for avoiding two war fronts in Europe. He never developed any interests or friendship with the Soviet Union because of his anticommunist beliefs. Immediately after securing Germany’s place in Poland quite unexpectedly Germany attacked Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Even though the non aggression agreement was aimed for ten years, it lasted only two years.15 Stalin was actually afraid of a possible invasion by Germany and he has tried to counter it with the help of other European nations. Stalin has calculated that Adolf Hitler might not start a war against united Europe if Soviet Union and other prominent European countries like Britain and France form an alliance. But Germany and France were never interested in establishing ties with the communist Soviet administration led by Stalin. Thus Stalin had no other ways than an agreement with Germany to avoid a possible war with Germany. Stalin's own interpretation of Britain's rejection of his plan for an antifascist alliance, was that they were involved in a plot with Germany against the Soviet Union. This belief was reinforced when Neville Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler at Munich in September, 1938, and gave into his demands for the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Joseph Stalin now believed that the main objective of British foreign policy was to encourage Germany to head east rather than west. Stalin realized that war with Germany was inevitable. However, to have any chance of victory he needed time to build up his armed forces. The only way he could obtain time was to do a deal with Hitler. Stalin was convinced that Hitler would not be foolish enough to fight a war on two fronts. If he could persuade Hitler to sign a peace treaty with the Soviet Union, Germany was likely to invade Western Europe instead16. The non-aggression pact between Soviet Union and Germany was taken by surprise by the rest of the world since both of them kept a long distance earlier because of political and ideological differences. But both Joseph Stalin and Hitler had a common element in their approaches and characteristics; opportunism. Both of them were smarter in taking advantages of the opportunities. Joseph Stalin had a history capturing the power in Soviet Union against the will of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. Lenin never trusted Stalin and he in fact wrote a letter to the party authorities, making them aware of the dangers in the appointment of Stalin as his successor. But Stalin has exploited the weak health of Lenin and formulated every strategy to exploit the opportunity to capture the power in Soviet Union. On the other hand Hitler was also a pure opportunist which was evident from his activities after his appointment as the coalition leader of Germany from 1930 onwards as mentioned in the beginning part of this paper. Conclusions Even though, Hitler was a dictator, he was an intelligent person as far as his administrative strategies were concerned. He believed in the Aryan’s supremacy on global issues and has perceived the Jews community s the major obstacle in the path for the Aryans to dominate in the world matters. He was motivated by his dislike against the Jews along with the Lebensraum principles. He was not satisfied by the living space provided to the “privileged” German people. He has accused other European countries for capturing and controlling the German territories they attained from earlier wars like World War 1. Hitler has taken pledge for regaining the German pride lost in World War 1 and to take revenge up on for the embarrassments suffered by Germany, when he got power. Hitler has initially concentrated in making Germany an economically stable country by heavy industrialization. Hitler has forced the German public to provide maximum productivity to the country’s progress even though he has cut down the wages. In fact almost the entire German public got employment during this period and Germany became a stable economic power in Europe. After attaining economic stability, Germany has started to expand its wings and the initial claim they put forward was a claim about a Czechoslovakian territory, Sudetenland, populated mostly by ethnic Germans. In order to avoid a possible war, the British Prime Minister Chamberlain flew to Germany and signed an agreement with Germany under the mediation Italy’s fascist ruler Mussolini. As per this agreement Czechoslovakia was forced to surrender its disputed land to Germany even though they could not participate in the negotiation process directly. The lessons from the Sudetenland issue has made Hitler more powerful and his self confidence of expanding German territories to the entire Europe has blossomed and attained a fearful proposition. The next war front he opened was in Poland. He has realized that Poland was a weak country and their allies Britain and France may not put many efforts to save Poland if he attacks it. His calculations were right and in order to avoid a second war front in Europe, Germany has reached an agreement (non-aggression pact) with Soviet Union. As per the secret protocols in this agreement Germany allowed Soviet Union to control some of the portions of Poland. Both Stalin and Hitler were opportunists and Soviet Union never thought that Germany had some hidden agenda in reaching this agreement with them. Hitler never liked communism because he believed that communism and democracy are the two sides of the same coin. He believed that both communism and democracy were created by Jews in order to conserve their interests. Hitler believed only in the supremacy of his community, Aryans over other ethnic groups. The dislike of communism together with the thirst for acquiring supremacy over Europe forced Hitler to attack Soviet Union immediately after he had secured his place in Poland which resulted in intensification of World War 2. References 1. Brundage, Matthew. 2009. “Adolf Hitler's Views and Opinions of Democracy”. Available from Internet, http://mattbrundage.com/publications/hitler-and-democracy/, Accessed 12 September 2009 2. Dziewanowski, Kamil M.. 2008. “The Polish Campaign of September 1939 in Perspective”. Polish News. Available from Internet, http://www.polishnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=93:historiapolish-history&id=402:the-polish-campaign-of-september-1939-in-perspective&Itemid=329, Accessed 12 September 2009. 3. Kitson, Alison. “Germany, 1858-1990: hope, terror, and revival”. Oxford University Press, 2001. Available from Internet, http://books.google.com/books?id=mwyp6RYFNhsC&pg=RA3-PA1924-IA5&lpg=RA3-PA1924-IA5&dq=Hitler%E2%80%99s+Views+on+Communism+and+Lebensraum&source=bl&ots=b11VK6SE47&sig=p6q13oWsmjM_vGRPuztPOfNvy3o&hl=en&ei=ZhaqStPaGdSAkQW6x9mVBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false, Accessed 12 September 2009 4. “Lebensraum”. 2009. Answers.com. Available from Internet, http://www.answers.com/topic/lebensraum, Accessed 12 September 2009 5. LEBENSRAUM: LIVING SPACE FOR THE GERMAN RACE. Holocaust Teacher resource centre. Available from Internet, http://www.holocaust-trc.org/wmp15.htm, Accessed 12 September 2009 6. “Nazi-Soviet Pact”. Available from Internet, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSnazipact.htm, Accessed 12 September 2009 7. “Supporting Germany’s Rearmament”. Essay from “Australia’s Foreign Wars: Origins, Costs, Future Available from Internet, http://users.cyberone.com.au/ibuckley/slideto_ww2.pdf, Accessed 12 September 2009 8. Rosenberg Jennifer, 2009, The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, About.com. Available from Internet, http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/nonaggression.htm, Accessed 12 September 2009 9. Zuljan Ralph, 2003. “Munich 1938”. Articles On War" at OnWar.com on July 1, 2003 Available from Internet, http://www.onwar.com/articles/0004.htm, Accessed 12 September 2009 Read More