On the eve of September 29th, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain entered his hotel room exhausted. He had just returned from a secret, day-long deliberation in Munich, where he and a group of powerful world leaders had drafted “The Munich Agreement,” a settlement which promised to return the Sudetenland to Germany — and hopefully avoid war in the process.
He carried the heavy stack of paper as he paced back and forth through the room. Chamberlain knew the natural reserves local to the land, and he knew of its tactical position relative to Poland and France. He knew Germany, sore after the events of The First World War, might use that land to instigate an attack. But most of all, he knew that Adolph Hitler was not to be trusted.
He dumped the draft on the desk and put his head in his hands. He looked at the oak clock on the wall. 11:58. A sigh escaped him. Ultimately, his signature would change the draft to a document, and he felt the weight of the future falling on his shoulders. It would be a long night.