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.he appeared ten years younger.”162 The prime minister told the House that, in response to Mussolini, Hitler had deferred mobilization for twenty-four hours.Raising his face to the sun-light, he smiled:This is not all.I have something further to say to the House yet.I have now been informed by Herr Hitler that he invites me to meet him at Munich tomorrow morning.He has also invited SignorMussolini and Monsieur Daladier.Signor Mussolini has accepted and I have no doubt that Monsieur Daladier will also accept.I need not say what my answer will be.The Commons erupted.Many MPs stood on the seats, throwingtheir Order Papers in the air.Amid the cheers the prime minister proposed an adjournment for a few days, after which “perhaps we may meet in happier circumstances.” It was an amazing piece of brinkmanship.Chamberlain later called it “the last desperate snatch at the last tuft on the very verge of the precipice.”163Next morning, Thursday, September 29, the atmosphere in Lon-don was like that of two weeks before, when Chamberlain madehis first flight to Germany.There was almost an explosion of relief that war had been averted, at least for the moment.The whole Cabinet was at Heston to see Chamberlain off.“When I come back,” he told reporters, “I hope I may be able to say, as Hotspur says in Henry IV, ‘out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.’” He also recalled “as a little boy” repeating the maxim:“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.”16490reynolds_01.qxd 8/31/07 10:30 AM Page 91mun i c h 1938Figure 2-2 Get out on the streets! To ensure that the people of Munich gave a warm welcome to the Führer and his guests, the Nazi party printed thousands of notices giving details of the route they would follow on the morning of September 29, 1938.(U.S.National Archives)91reynolds_01.qxd 8/31/07 10:30 AM Page 92sum m i t sJaundiced critics rendered it:“If at first you don’t concede, fly, fly, fly again.” But, that Thursday, the critics did not speak out.Though fearful that the prime minister would sacrifice the Czechs, they were obliged to wait impotently on events.As a summit, Munich was very different from Berchtesgaden andGodesberg.For one thing Daladier and Mussolini were present—the French premier subdued and ill at ease, the Italian leader relishing his role as broker.Over dinner on the overnight train from Rome, he had been full of contemptuous sociological observations about the British, ascribing the country’s passion for peace to its gender imbalance after the Great War.“Four million sexually deprived women.Being unable to embrace a man, they embrace all of humanity.”165In further contrast to the earlier summits, arrangements at Munich were shambolic.166 Chamberlain arrived at the airport atnoon, with the inevitable Wilson, and also Strang and Malkin.They drove straight to the Führerbau—the Nazi party’s headquarters near Königsplatz in the northwest of Munich—and were told that proceedings would start at once.Chamberlain had not consulted with Daladier in advance, whereas Hitler and Mussolini had talked at length.Both dictators were also supported by their foreign ministers, whereas Halifax had again been left at home.The participants did not sit around a table but on chairs in a large circle, with the British too far away from the French to concert business—not that Chamberlain had any desire to do so.167Schmidt, acting as master of ceremonies, announced that the discussions would be interpreted as necessary into English, French and German (Mussolini understood all three languages and liked tothink of himself as an accomplished linguist).168 The Duce read out a memorandum he had prepared as a basis for discussion.It soon became clear that this was based on the German response to the last Anglo-French proposals—essentially a reiteration of the proposals made at Godesberg.Chamberlain and Daladier agreed towork through it clause by clause, though it was some time before written copies were produced.After adjourning for a very late lunch at 3:15 p.m., discussions 92reynolds_01.qxd 8/31/07 10:30 AM Page 93mun i c h 1938resumed at 4:30 p.m
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