<P> "How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a far - away country between people of whom we know nothing ." </P> <P> Neville Chamberlain, 27 September 1938, 8 p.m. radio broadcast, on Czechoslovak refusal to accept Nazi demands to cede border areas to Germany . </P> <P> Under the Versailles Settlement, Czechoslovakia was created with the territory of the Czech part more or less corresponding to the Czech Crown lands as they had existed within the Austria - Hungary and before . It included Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia and had border areas with a majority German population known as the Sudetenland and areas with significant numbers of other ethnic minorities (notably Hungarians, Poles, and Ruthenes). In April 1938, Sudeten Nazis, led by Konrad Henlein, agitated for autonomy and then threatened, in Heinlein's words, "direct action to bring the Sudeten Germans within the frontiers of the Reich". An international crisis ensued . </P> <P> France and Britain advised Czech acceptance of Sudeten autonomy . The Czech government refused and ordered a partial mobilization in expectation of German aggression . Lord Runciman was sent by Chamberlain to mediate in Prague and persuaded the Czech government to grant autonomy . Germany escalated the dispute, the German press carrying stories of alleged Czech atrocities against Sudeten Germans and Hitler ordering 750,000 troops to the German - Czech border . In August, Henlein broke off negotiations with the Czech authorities . At a Nazi Party Rally in Nuremberg on 12 September, Hitler made a speech attacking Czechoslovakia and there was an increase of violence by Sudeten Nazis against Czech and Jewish targets . </P>

What does appeasement mean and how does it relate to ww2