About the book: 2018 / The Munich agreement of 1938 became a key episode on the path to the outbreak of World War II. How and why did exemplary democracies Great Britain and France come to an agreement with the fascist regimes of Germany and Italy and sacrifice the union state of Czechoslovakia? What results did the “imperial snobs” expect and what results did they get? Why did the main Westernizer of Czechoslovakia, President Edvard Benes, remain a stranger to the West? What could and did the USSR do in a situation when a big war was brewing, and one of its ally betrayed the other? How was the baton of national swagger passed from old empires to new ones? The Munich Agreement taught difficult lessons to Europe and the whole world: to learn them or repeat old mistakes - this is the choice facing politicians and societies today. The book is intended for a wide range of readers interested in the history of Europe and the Second World War. “Munich was, above all, clear evidence that European parliamentary democracies... had fallen to rock bottom. They wanted to ensure peace, in their words, peace for Europe, but only for their Europe and at the cost of reorienting the Nazi war golem to the East." - Ludvik Svoboda, President of Czechoslovakia "Our friends and allies forced us to accept the terms that are usually offered to a defeated enemy. It was not a lack of courage that forced us to make a decision that makes our hearts ache... Let us not condemn those who left us at the time of the catastrophe: history will pronounce its judgment on these days." - Hugo Vavrechka, Minister of the Government of Czechoslovakia "If a country is choosing between war and shame, chooses shame, she gets both war and shame.”—Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain