Winston Churchill was the loudest and most important critic of Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement. He believed that Hitler and Germany needed to be dealt with more firmly. The following excerpt is from part of a speech Churchill made to the House of Commons as they debated the Munich Agreement.
I will begin by saying what everybody would like to ignore or forget but which must nevertheless be stated, namely, that we have sustained a total defeat. . . .
The utmost he [Chamberlain] has been able to gain for Czechoslovakia and in the matters which were in dispute has been that the German dictator, instead of snatching his victual’s from the table, has been content to have them served to him course by course.
I have always held the view that the maintenance of peace depends upon the accumulation of deterrents against the aggressor, coupled with a sincere effort to redress grievances. . . . After the [German] seizure of Austria in March, I ventured to pledge that in conjunction with France and other powers they would guarantee the security of Czechoslovakia while the Sudeten-Deutsch question was being examined either by a League of Nations Commission or some other impartial body, and I still believe that if that course had been followed events would not have fallen into this disastrous state.
I venture to think that in the future the Czechoslovak State cannot be maintained as an independent entity. You will find that in a period of time, which may not be measured by years, but may be measured only by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi regime. . . .
We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude which has befallen Great Britain and France. . . . This is only the beginning of the reckoning.
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