‘Peace for Our Time’: The European Quest for Peace

Abstract

‘Peace for our time’, the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain was proud to proclaim on 30 September 1938, commenting on the Munich Agreement between Great Britain and Nazi Germany that he had signed earlier that day. With this agreement, Chamberlain hoped to have appeased the German Reich and to have rescued peace in Europe — a hope widely shared at the moment. The very next day, however, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, as the agreement did indeed permit the German annexation of the Sudetenland. The sacrifice of little Czechoslovakia, whose objections the boasting statesman ignored, obviously did not prevent WW II. Hence, Chamberlain’s words are usually invoked to illustrate either the cynicism of politicians or the irony of history, but what they express above all is the deep longing for peace in Europe, which obliterated all other considerations. Europeans were already doves well before 1945, it seems.²

My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.

Neville Chamberlain, 30 September 1938¹