The Soviets, the Munich Crisis, and the Coming of World War II [Paperback]

The findings in this book contribute to a considerable shift in the conventional wisdom on the subject of the Munich crisis.The Munich crisis is everywhere acknowledged as the prelude leading to World War II. If Hitler had been stopped at Munich, then World War II as we know it could not have happened. The subject has been thoroughly studied in the British, French, and German documents, and consequently we know that the weakness in Western position at Munich consisted in the Anglo-French opinion that the Soviet commitment to its allies France and Czechoslovakia was utterly unreliable. What has never been seriously studied in the Western literature is the whole spectrum of East European documentation.The Munich crisis is everywhere acknowledged as the prelude leading to World War II. If Hitler had been stopped at Munich, then World War II as we know it could not have happened. The subject has been thoroughly studied in the British, French, and German documents, and consequently we know that the weakness in Western position at Munich consisted in the Anglo-French opinion that the Soviet commitment to its allies France and Czechoslovakia was utterly unreliable. What has never been seriously studied in the Western literature is the whole spectrum of East European documentation.Hugh Ragsdale's analysis of East European documentation sheds new light on the Munich Crisis. If Hitler had been stopped at Munich, World War II, as we know it, could not have happened. The Crisis has been thoroughly studied in British, French, and German documents, and, consequently, we have learned that the weakness in the Western position at Munich consisted of the Anglo-French opinion that the Soviet commitment to its allies--France and Czechoslovakia--was utterly unreliable. Ragsdale's findings will contribute to a considerable shift of opinion.List of maps; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Foreword; Preface. A test case of collective security; Introduction. The nature of the problel“‘