<P> In effect, the British and French had, through the Munich negotiations, pressured their ally Czechoslovakia to cede part of its territory to a hostile neighbor in order to preserve peace . Winston Churchill likened the negotiations at Berchtesgarten, Bad Godesberg and Munich to a man demanding £ 1, then, when it is offered, demanding £ 2, then when it is refused settling for £ 1.17 s. 6d . British leaders committed to the Munich Pact in spite of their awareness of Hitler's vulnerability at the time . In August 1938, General Ludwig Beck relayed a message to Lord Halifax explaining that most of the German General Staff were preparing a coup against the Fuhrer, but would only attack with "proof that England will fight if Czechoslovakia is attacked ." When Chamberlain received the news, he dismissed it out of hand . In September, the British received assurance that the General Staff's offer to launch the coup still stood, with key private sector, police and army support, even though Beck had resigned his post . Chamberlain ultimately ceded to all of Hitler's demands at Munich because he believed Britain and Nazi Germany were "the two pillars of European peace and buttresses against communism ." </P> <P> Czechoslovakia had a modern, well - prepared military and Hitler, on entering Prague, conceded that a war would have cost Germany much blood . But the decision by France and Great Britain not to defend Czechoslovakia in the event of war (and the exclusion from the equation of the Soviet Union, whom Chamberlain distrusted) meant that the outcome would have been uncertain . This event forms the main part of what became known as Munich betrayal (Czech: Mnichovská zrada) in Czechoslovakia and the rest of Eastern Europe, as the Czech view was that Britain and France pressured them to cede territory in order to prevent a major war that would involve the West . The Western view is that they were pressured in order to save Czechoslovakia from total annihilation . </P> <P> By August 1939 Hitler was convinced that the democratic nations would never put up any effective opposition to him . He expressed his contempt for them in a speech he delivered to his Commanders in Chief: "Our enemies have leaders who are below the average . No personalities . No masters, no men of action...Our enemies are small fry . I saw them in Munich ." </P> <P> On 1 September 1939, German forces invaded Poland; Britain and France joined the war against Germany . Following the German invasion of Norway, opinion turned against Chamberlain's conduct of the war; he resigned, and on 10 May 1940 Winston Churchill became Prime Minister . In July, following the Fall of France, when Britain stood almost alone against Germany, Hitler offered peace . Some politicians inside and outside the government were willing to consider the offer but Churchill would not . Chamberlain died on 9 November the same year . Churchill delivered a tribute to him in which he said, "Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights and strove to the utmost of his capacity and authority, which were powerful, to save the world from the awful, devastating struggle in which we are now engaged ." </P>

Why was appeasement an ineffective strategy for dealing with german expansion before world war 2