<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The German occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938--1945) began with the German annexation of Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, formerly being part of German - Austria known collectively as the Sudetenland, under terms outlined by the Munich Agreement . German leader Adolf Hitler's pretext for this action was the alleged privations suffered by the ethnic German population living in those regions . New and extensive Czechoslovak border fortifications were also located in the same area . </P> <P> Following the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany, in March 1938, the conquest of Czechoslovakia became Hitler's next ambition . The incorporation of the Sudetenland into Germany that began on 1 October 1938 left the rest of Czechoslovakia weak, and it became powerless to resist subsequent occupation . Part of the borderland region known as Zaolzie was occupied and subsequently returned to Poland after Czechoslovakia previously annexed it from Poland prior during the Polish - Soviet War . On 15 March 1939, the German Wehrmacht moved into the remainder of Czechoslovakia and, from Prague Castle, Hitler proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . The occupation ended with the surrender of Germany following World War II . </P>

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