The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Six

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/3)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 3)

The leader of the Sudeten German Nazis was Konrad Henlein. Henlein and his associates were essentially instructed by Hitler to keep the pressure on the Czech government, but to avoid agreeing to any solution to German grievances. In the meantime, Hitler instructed the German military to prepare a plan for an attack on Czechoslovakia. There has been some debate by historians whether Hitler ever really intended to launch an invasion of Czechoslovakia, or whether he simply intended to threaten to use force to achieve his aims. I go with the latter. Again, this is not an attempt to "whitewash" Hitler, for while he was evil, he wasn't always stupid. The Czechoslovak military was seen as potentially very good, and given their defensive system and the mountainous terrain, there's no question in my mind that Czechoslovakia would have been one tough nut for Hitler to crack, especially since it is doubtful that Britain and France would have stood by idly, if indeed Hitler had launched an attack. With the German military not fully prepared for war at that point, I can't imagine how they would have successfully fought a war on two fronts; against the French and British in the west, and against the Czechs in the east.* Czechoslovakia also had an alliance with the Soviet Union, but the Czechs looked "westward," especially given that the Soviets were communist, and they didn't completely pursue getting the Soviets involved in this crisis. If, however, you add in the "potential" of intervention by the Soviet Union, there is just no way that Germany could have prevailed. Hitler's plans, however, rattled the German generals, some of whom feared he was going to bring about Germany's destruction if he attacked Czechoslovakia. Some of the less inhibited generals began to plot to remove Hitler from power. This is significant, because it marked the beginning of a limited, but true, and more organized "resistance" to Hitler within Germany.

The problem for Czechoslovakia was public opinion; that is, public opinion in other countries, especially in Britain (and also America), where people tended to favor the German point of view that Germans in the Sudetenland belonged in Germany. The President of Czechoslovakia was Edvard Beneš, and he was a pretty smart man. He believed Hitler wanted not only the German population of the Sudetenland, but Czechoslovakia as a satellite country. Hitler often looked to the German past (fascists often look to the past), and the Czech areas, Bohemia and Moravia, had been a part of the old German Empire, which ended in 1806. Beneš hoped to show the world that Hitler and the Sudeten Germans were not really interested in reaching an agreement.

* France had an alliance with Czechoslovakia, but Britain did not; however, I certainly believe the British would have sent troops to reinforce the French, if Hitler had attacked Czechoslovakia.

WORD HISTORY:
Heal-Like its close relatives "health" and "whole," this goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo," with the idea of "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "hailjan(an)," a verb form meaning "to make whole, to make sound, to save." This gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "healan," with the same basic meaning. Later it became "helen," before the modern spelling. The other Germanic languages have: German has "heilen," Low German has both "helen" and "heele," depending upon dialect, Dutch has "helen," West Frisian has "hielje," Swedish has "hela," Danish has "leles," Norwegian has "helbrede." Icelandic no longer uses a form of the word. 

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Five

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/2)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 2)

Hitler seems to have wanted to deal with Czechoslovakia first, and let Austria become part of Germany by natural course; that is, Austrians wanted to become part of Germany so much, that the Austrian government would eventually let it happen, and by that time, with many Nazis in top positions, the "coordination" between Germany and Austria would have been so great, that Austria would not really have been an independent country anyway. Schuschnigg's plebiscite announcement took Hitler by surprise and by sending in troops, Hitler looked aggressive, even though there was huge support in Austria for its becoming part of Germany, and there was no fighting whatsoever.*

Czechoslovakia, but especially the Sudetenland, provided Hitler with three potential benefits: 1) uniting more Germans with Germany (there were more than three million Germans in the Sudetenland); 2) removing a well trained and equipped army from a nation with close ties to Britain and France that jutted into Germany; and 3) depriving Czechoslovakia of defensive positions along its border areas, leaving the nation vulnerable to attack afterward.**

Czechoslovakia needed the support of Britain and France, but these countries were in western Europe, and neither had moved to do anything to help Schuschnigg. The French government had been in a state of confusion when the Austrian events took place, as the previous government had fallen just days before the Austrian situation fully developed, but the new French government was willing to call up some troops to put pressure on Hitler, "IF" Britain consented. Britain did not respond, so nothing happened.***

* This is not to "whitewash" Hitler. It just seems that, at that point in time, he believed Austria would become part of Germany without the use of force, until Schuschnigg's action, after which he sent in troops. Now, some say this exposed him to the world for what he was, a megalomaniac willing to use force to achieve his goals, and I would agree with that, but I'm just saying that, in this particular case, Schuschnigg's announcement of a vaguely worded plebiscite forced Hitler's hand. Remember, Germany was not a democratic nation subject to debating such issues. If Hitler was "offended" by some action, like Schuschnigg's, that was it, he could act without consent from anyone. Forget the "morality" arguments. I understand those arguments, but Hitler wasn't interested in morality, except when it worked in his favor, as we'll see in the very near term regarding Germans in Czechoslovakia, and later, elsewhere.

** Because the vast bulk of the German population of Czechoslovakia lived in the border regions called the Sudetenland, if Hitler could get these areas ceded to Germany, Czechoslovakia's defensive positions would also be removed, because, naturally, that's where the border defenses were. By the way, the Czech army was highly respected, as were some of their weapons of that time, including tanks.

*** In fairness, the British and French have taken a lot of criticism for their "inaction" at various times regarding Hitler's aggressiveness, but there was not a hell of a lot they could really do. Would they go to war for Austria, a German country that openly and cheerfully welcomed Hitler and German troops over the border? Would you go into such a war, or would you want to send your kids to fight such a war? After World War One, France wanted provisions in the treaties and in the new borders drawn throughout much of Europe to make them feel safer from any future German attack (they were always fearful the Germans would come back after Alsace-Lorraine). The problem was, the new boundaries were not based upon Woodrow Wilson's principle of self determination for the various ethnic groups, but rather (surprise!), by politics and self interest (I'm shocked!). These moves left "German" Austria out of Germany, even though sentiment in both countries was for unification; it left more than three million Germans in Czechoslovakia, and cranky as hell over it; left lots of Germans in Poland and equally cranky, and put the overwhelmingly German city of Danzig under a League of Nations Commissioner, but economically dependent upon Poland. Once an aggressive leader like Hitler took power, who seemed much more concerned with actually seeking remedies for German grievances (real or perceived) than just complaining, the fuse on the powder keg was just waiting for the match.

WORD HISTORY:
Health-This word, closely related to "whole," goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo," which meant "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This then gave Old Germanic "(k)hailitho," with the sense of "wholeness, state of being unharmed or damaged." This then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "haelth," meaning "the state of being whole, being sound." Later it was spelled "helthe," before acquiring the modern spelling. See this article for forms of the word in the other Germanic languages: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/07/german-question-part-one-hundred-twenty_31.html

Understand, the other Germanic languages do not always use their forms with the exact same meaning as English "health," but they all revolve around "being whole, wholeness."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Four

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/1)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 1)

First a little background:
Czechoslovakia was formed after World War One from parts of the former "Austria-Hungary." The western areas, usually referred to as "Bohemia and Moravia," were Czech majority, and the eastern areas were Slovak majority. When Austria and Hungary agreed to share power in 1867, Hungary had ruled the Slovak areas and Austria had ruled Bohemia and Moravia. The significant thing was, the outer border areas of Bohemia and Moravia (sort of a semi-circle and much of it mountainous or hilly) were populated by Germans, some settlements dating back hundreds of years, and indeed, the area was part of the Old German Empire, and specifically became a Habsburg family possession in the 1500s. Poles, Hungarians and Ruthenians also formed smaller minorities within the nation's boundaries. When the Old German Empire was dissolved, these lands remained under Habsburg control, and thus became part of what was then called, the Austrian Empire, which later became Austria-Hungary, as noted above. When Czechoslovakia was formed, the Czechs essentially dominated the government, and although closely related to the Slovaks, both ethnically and linguistically, the two peoples did not always get along well together. The German population was upset that it then found itself as a distinct minority, with somewhat less than 25% of the population.* Later, when the Great Depression struck, the German areas were heavily hit by unemployment, which only caused further discontent. When Hitler came to power in Germany, and German nationalism surged, the German population of Czechoslovakia began to stir, and the situation was eventually set for Hitler to make claims against Czechoslovakia.

* It should be noted that some Germans also lived in the "interior" parts of the Czech lands, and also, but to a lesser degree, in the Slovak areas, but the vast majority lived in the outer edges of the Czech lands. This outer boundary area came to be called the "Sudentenland" by Germans, after the Sudeten Mountains in the area.

WORD HISTORY:
Whole-This word goes back to Indo European "koilas/kailo," which seems to have meant "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "(k)hailaz," with the same general meaning. This produced Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "hal," with the same meanings, but the meaning "complete" eventually began to dominate. That meaning comes from the notion, if you are "unharmed, healthy," you are "complete." Later it was spelled "hool" and then "hole," but by the late 1400s or early 1500s, the "w" was added to differentiate it from the word of the same spelling, but meaning "opening, orifice, or perforation." In northern England and parts of Scotland it came to be pronounced and spelled "hale," where it also retained the meaning, "healthy," and indeed, "whole" and "hale" are closely related to "health and healthy." Numerous forms are common in the other Germanic languages, although with variations in exact meaning, but all generally centering around "healthy" and "unharmed," and some even with a similar meaning to English "whole;" that is "complete:" German has "heil," Low German has both "heel" and "heil," Dutch has "heel," West Frisian has "hiel," Norwegian has "heil," Swedish and Danish have "hel," and Icelandic has "heill."