On September 29, 1938, the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, and Italy signed an agreement in Munich to sell Czechoslovakia, which stipulated that the Czech government must immediately cede the Sudetenland to Germany without destroying any fortifications or removing a single local population, even though 800,000 of the Sudetenland's 3.6 million people were Czechs. In addition, the Czech government must release the ****** represented by the "Sudetenland" and stop all discrimination and repression against the remaining Germanic people in the country.

Seeing that Britain and France were willing to do justice for themselves, and that Poland and Romania were resolutely refusing to allow Soviet troops to pass through their borders, the isolated Czech government had no choice but to give in despair. On 1 October, the Germans marched into the Sudetenland and were greeted by a stormy welcome by the local Germanic population. And this undoubtedly put a layer of justice on Hitler's conquest, and it seems that Germany's annexation of this land is really a righteous move that is in line with heaven and human feelings, and does not tolerate any outsiders' beaks!

For the Czechs, the Munich Agreement was undoubtedly the death knell for them. The slaughter conference, dominated by the great powers and completely excluded them, cost them 21 percent of their territory and 35 percent of their population, along with 66 percent of their coal, 86 percent of their chemicals, 70 percent of their steel, and 70 percent of their electricity. Czechoslovakia's railways, roads, telephones, and telecommunications systems were all destroyed, and the well-behaved industrial country fell into a state of bankruptcy and depression almost overnight.

In addition, the national security of Czechoslovakia was also irreparably devastated. Not only did they lose their natural mountain barrier against the German invasion, but they also lost the strong border defense line they had painstakingly built up for 20 years. Once the Germans raised their magic knives again, the Czechs would no longer have any strength to resist the invasion of the other side in a flat land. As Colonel Jodl, a staff officer of the Supreme High Command, gleefully wrote in his diary, "Czechoslovakia ceased to exist as a national power."

Just as depressed and desperate as the Czechs were the German conspirators who opposed Hitler. They have to face the brutal truth of their perceptions. Foolishness that has once again been proven to be a gross mistake as it was during the two-and-a-half-year march to the Rhine. Many changed their attitudes and became staunch supporters of Hitler, and even core members such as Halder, the current chief of the General Staff, and Witzleben, the commander of the Berlin Military District, began to reflect on whether they really underestimated the corporal-turned-fellow. The conspiracy was also dealt a heavy blow by this, and with the exception of the former Chief of the General Staff, General Baker, there was no one in the army at this time who wanted to oppose Hitler.

With this victory, Hitler's prestige reached new heights. Throughout October, Fang Yan, who was in Germany, could feel the strong euphoria of the people around him, relieved that war had been averted. The German people were overjoyed at Hitler's bloodless victory. This was a victory not only over Czechoslovakia, but also over Britain and France. Their pride and euphoria clearly had strong roots: in just six months, Hitler had conquered Austria and the Sudetenland, adding more than 10 million people to the Third Reich and a vast territory of deep strategic importance, opening the door to German domination in southeastern Europe. And to win such a great feat without sacrificing the life of a German!

Clearly, with the wisdom and suddenness of a genius rarely seen in German history, he saw through not only the weaknesses of the small countries of Central Europe, but also those of the two major democracies of the West, Britain and France, and forced them to bend to his will. He invented a completely new set of strategies and tactics that could be called "political warfare". And with astonishing results, this kind of political warfare has made real wars unnecessary.

In less than six years, this man of humble origins has turned a politically disrupted, militarily disarmed, and economically collapsed Germany. The weakest of the European powers was considered the most powerful in the Old Continent. And all the other countries, even England and France, tremble before it. And in the process of this dazzling and fantastic leap. No victorious power at the Treaty of Versailles stood in its way; Not only did they not have the courage to do so, but they also failed to see the grave consequences that their connivance with Hitler's every step of aggression would have in the near future.

For France. The Munich Agreement was a catastrophe. France's military position in Europe was ruined. Since France was far inferior in population and military production to Germany, postwar Paris took great pains to forge alliances with smaller countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Romania, whose combined military potential might be able to make up for the difference. Thirty well-trained and well-equipped Czech divisions deployed in fortified mountain fortifications were able to hold down twice as many German troops in defensive warfare. Now that France has betrayed the Czechs, losing this force is tantamount to cutting off an arm of their own.

But that's not all. After the Munich incident, who of France's remaining allies in Eastern Europe could have any trust in its oath? What is the value of an alliance with France? The answer to be heard in Warsaw and Bucharest was that it was of little value. Now both countries were scrambling to make a deal with the German conquerors before it was too late.

Although there was no rush in Moscow, it also caused quite a stir. Stalin was exasperated to find that the French government had excluded the Soviet Union from the Munich Conference without saying a word, having dealt directly with Germany and Great Britain, given that the Soviet Union had military alliances with both Czechoslovakia and France. This hand was something that Stalin must never forget. He had already decided that he wanted to reconsider the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, would be less friendly to its ally France, and would have a "more positive attitude" towards Germany. Although the wind was still very weak at the end of 1938, it would not be a year before it would have decisive and major consequences.

The chill of late autumn gradually descended on Europe, absorbing the aftermath of the Munich Conference; With the exception of the Czechs, almost all Europeans rejoiced that a major European war on the brink had been averted. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, known for its impartiality and open-mindedness, even nominated Hitler as a candidate for the Nobel ****** in 1938 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the creation of Greater Germany and his efforts to restore calm to Europe. To this day, Hitler's impression to the world has always been that of peace and wisdom: leaving aside all the peace-loving tunes he played in the years before he came to power, the Berlin Olympics held in the summer of 1936 alone were enough to spread Hitler's reputation beyond Germany to the whole of Europe and even the world!

If the script continues to develop in the current situation, the Nobel Prize, the world's most famous and supreme honor, may really slip into the world's ridiculous jokes. However, Hitler's disguise ended there. Because of a fortuitous incident, his extremely anti-Semitic ideas that annihilated humanity were completely exposed to the world, and this became an invisible and important turning point in his life and destiny.

Since the day of Hitler's coming to power, the persecution of German Jews has been increasing day by day; Five years later, the behavior became more blatant and almost unscrupulous. In the autumn of that year, 10,000 German Jews were deported in closed wagons, which immediately sparked a strong hatred and indignation within the Jewish community. In order to avenge the ill-fated fate of his father and compatriots, on November 7, 17-year-old Jewish teenager Greensborne assassinated the secretary of the German embassy, Rattle, in Paris, who eventually died of his wounds two days later. What the former did not expect in any case was that his actions brought unprecedented disasters to his own people.

On the evening of November 9, the top brass of the National Socialist Party, under Hitler, held its annual celebration of the Munich Beer Hall coup. As soon as the celebration ended, the Third Reich's most frantic anti-Jewish campaign to date began. According to Dr. Goebbels and the newspapers he controlled, it was a "spontaneous" demonstration by the German people after hearing the murderous news in Paris. The fact was, however, that the SS leader Himmler directly organized the operation: not only did he incite the spirited teenagers of the Hitler Youth to riot, but he also ordered the SS to disguise themselves as civilians in civilian clothes and commit horrific crimes of force against the Jews.

The night was dark and the sky was like ink, but the entire 580,000 square kilometers of Germany erupted in loud shouts and fires. Jewish homes, shops, and churches were destroyed and burned, and Jews fleeing the fire caves were brutally beaten, dozens of them to death. More than 20,000 Jews were taken to concentration camps, and their "sins" were simply for resisting when the mob destroyed their homes and beat their relatives. The night was given an ironic name: Kristallnacht, because of the sparkling crystal-like sparkle of broken glass from the smashed Jewish shops.

The fact that such barbarism has taken place in such a country with a cultural tradition of Christianity and humanism for thousands of years has led to an almost one-sided outrage and condemnation of world public opinion. The United States announced the recall of its ambassador to Germany, and some countries even claimed to have severed diplomatic relations with Germany. Hitler's hidden disguise began to be revealed, and this caused far-reaching repercussions at home and abroad. (To be continued.) )