Chapter 107 Chapter Seventeen "Stepping on the Edge" (7)

Mussolini was also given a grand welcome.This reception, he himself considered, was the greatest he had received in his entire twenty years of fascist career.At every train station and intersection, countless people waited for his train and cheered.Many people knelt down to greet them.In Rome, he ambled down the Via Nacional in a convertible, passing under a triumphal arch of foliage—and he was greeted with a welcome only a Caesar could have enjoyed.As the convoy entered Piazza Venezia, the crowd chanted: "Leader! Leader!" and when he finally emerged from the balcony, the crowd cheered deafeningly.The situation suggests that he has perhaps never been more popular.

Nevertheless, among the participants of the Munich conference, Chamberlain was the most respected in the world.With his thin frame and hooked nose, he has become a household symbol of peace.The former successor Prince of Wales sent him a secret letter thanking him for "saving the peace".The abdicating Kaiser also wrote to Queen Mary saying that he had no doubt that the chancellor had averted “one of the most terrible disasters” and that “here was both a sign and God’s guidance.” Most Germans felt the same way. Waking up on the morning of October 1, the people were praying that their troops should not be hindered as they crossed into Sudetenland.At dawn, Hitler's special train arrived at the Czech border.The language used by the first general to pledge his allegiance to Hitler - Reichnau - surprised Weidmann when he reported to him: "My Fuhrer, today the army is doing the best that the soldiers can do for them. The greatest sacrifice a commander can make is to advance into enemy territory without firing a single shot!"

Weidmann did not believe that a German general would say such absurd things.Another general interjected: "Yes, my Fuehrer, this morning I went to my old regiment. Many soldiers were crying because of the ban on attacking Czech bungalows!" Hitler said: "The defeatists have been muttering to me that my politics will lead to war!" Who are the Christians?In the Prime Minister's Office, the tension and fatigue of the past few hours have exhausted Chamberlain. "I have never been like that in my life. My spirits almost broke," he admitted in a letter, "and I picked myself up because, in Parliament, I had to suffer yet another torture. "On Monday, October 3, Parliament opened.By then, the excitement had passed for many, and the relief of having survived the Great War had been replaced by shame.In the House of Commons, Duff Guber submitted his resignation, resigned from the cabinet and provoked a debate on the Munich question.He said that the invasion of Czechoslovakia would inevitably lead to a European war. "The Prime Minister has always believed that Mr. Hitler can be reached with reasonable language. I believe that he prefers the language of iron fists."

Chamberlain, weary and angry, got up and replied that the agreement he had signed with Hitler in the Führer's apartment was of great significance.There was sincerity and good intentions on both sides; Hitler made this so emphatically that it was extremely difficult for him to back down.He was applauded, but with little enthusiasm because of a sense of guilt hanging over parliament.The debate lasted for three days, and Churchill's eloquent condemnation brought the debate to a climax. "It's all over," he said, "Czechoslovakia, silent and mournful, sinks into darkness. It's abandoned and broken." The loyal and brave British people, upon hearing the news of the treaty, spontaneously elated and relieved.This, he is not jealous. "However, they should know the truth. They should know that our country's defenses have been inadequate and largely neglected for a long time; That's the end of the matter, and this is only the beginning of a reckoning."

Before that, Chamberlain and his accommodating colleagues had proposed a revised solution to the problem of central Eastern Europe (which Hitler would vouch for).However, as of today, it is clear that the Führer's plan is completely opposite to this and no mediation is possible.Chamberlain and his umbrella are becoming symbols of cowardice.This worries him.He then turned to Adolf Hitler for help.He wrote secretly to Hitler, asking if the Führer, in his speech in the stadium that evening, could "give the Chancellor some support in directing British public opinion".Hitler readily agreed, launching an onslaught against the vicious assailants within Chamberlain's parliament.However, this consolation and assistance is actually unnecessary.The next day, October 6, the House of Commons hastily approved Chamberlain's policy by which war was averted in the latest crisis.The vote was 366 in favor and 144 against. Thirty-five defectors - including Cooper, Eden and Churchill - abstained.

The attacks by the aforementioned trio had far greater repercussions in Berlin.Hitler took every word they attacked Chamberlain as a personal attack.After signing this agreement, he came out of the Fuehrer building cheerfully—as agreed by his aides and entourage—believing that the Czech question had been settled once and for all.He also has the heart to fulfill his obligations in this transaction. A chorus of British condemnation changed all that.Already in Wilhelmstrasse, whispers were heard that Ribbentrop and Himmler took advantage of Hitler's annoyance to tell him that in Munich he had not fully exploited the fear of war in the Western democracies and that the purpose of the British negotiations was to In order to buy time, in order to launch an attack when the equipment is better in the future.

After François Bense learned of this discontent, he tried to calm Hitler down.To this end, he specifically suggested that Hitler conclude an agreement with France similar to that signed with Chamberlain. "I want to show before his eyes the possibility of more agreements. They can be economic, they can be fiscal. They may lead to organizing in Europe. I also hope to direct his thinking towards non-violence prospects and directions.” Yet Hitler believed, or pretended to believe, that the perfidious Albion had deceived him. He expressed this thought in a caustic speech delivered in Saarbrücken on October 9, comparing the English attitude to that of a governess.He went on to attack the malicious troika of Churchill, Cooper, and Eden with far more vitriol than his stadium speech.

Three days later, Hitler's invective had its effect.At the time, an international committee set up to implement the Munich Agreement voted unanimously in favor of not holding a referendum. The members of this committee had already succumbed to Hitler's demand that the 1910 census be used as the basis for deciding which areas should be ceded to the Reich.It became increasingly apparent that the original agreement had been distorted and that the Czech Republic would be deprived of its last defense. In mid-October, François Bence appealed to Hitler for the last time to be reasonable.That was at his farewell banquet to the Führer before his transfer to Rome.Hitler always liked the ambassador.In order to express his gratitude to the French ambassador for his seven years of service in Berlin, Hitler invited him to a teahouse built on the top of Kirstein Hill (a mile above the ground).The teahouse was built under Bowman's tireless command and is said to have cost 30 million marks.From an engineering standpoint, it's a feat.The same goes for the five-mile asphalt road from the Berghof to the summit.The road was twisty and completely blasted out of the mountains, and several people lost their lives.François Bence went up the mountain along this road in his car and entered a tunnel cut at the bottom of the mountain.At the end of the corridor, he was taken up an escalator inlaid with brass.The elevator's rungs are entirely excavated from the rock.After ascending some 400 feet, François Bence found himself in a passage whose columns were all Romanesque.At the end of the passage is a circular glass hall.Large chunks of wood were burning in the open fire.The hall is surrounded by mountains, giving the Frenchman the feeling of being in space.The view, bathed in the autumn evening light, is magnificent, almost to the point of fantasy.

The French ambassador and Führer are in this fantastic setting - Hitler visited here several times.Its grandeur was beginning to tire Hitler - the last meeting was held.Hitler was pale and tired.He said he was disappointed by the fallout from the Munich agreement.The crisis is far from over.In fact, if the situation does not improve, the crisis may deepen.Great Britain, he complained, was "threatening and calling for war". The ambassador pointed out that there was bound to be some sort of reaction in the over-excitement that followed the peace was maintained.Also, Hitler's own stern speeches at Saarbrücken spread the impression that Czech sacrifices only increased Germany's appetite and thus strengthened the position of the opponents of the Munich Pact.

Hitler retorted.The present trouble was first created by the Englishman, who never said a word against France.As Hitler continued to defend his treatment of the Czechs, François Bense interrupted him, admonishing him not to dwell on the past, but more importantly the future.Both democracies and totalitarian states have also shown that they can live in harmony, "gradually leading Europe in a more stable and normal direction".Hitler did not dispute the interruption, or the concept.He said he was ready for the effort. On the descent, François Bense relived the meeting. "I know that he is always in a hurry, pretending to be deaf and dumb, full of contradictions, and indecisive," he reported to Paris. "He was mild-mannered, a lover of natural beauty, and he spoke perfectly when discussing European politics at the dinner table; but, the same man, he could become wildly insane, intoxicated, and ambitious. Sometimes he stood in front of a globe He wished to overthrow the history and geography of countries and continents, like a mad creator. Sometimes he dreamed of being a hero of peace, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to erecting the most magnificent monuments."

These apparent contradictions in the Führer have led many foreigners to think that he is nothing more than a madman.One of them is Simon Floyd, who is now living in London. "It's hard to tell what a madman will do," he told a follower in the United States. "You know, he's an Austrian, and he's been in a lot of pain for years." When Hitler took over Austria, he seemed to be in a daze . One of Hitler's former disciples, Dr. Carl Gustav Jung, who had discussed the Führer many times with Hanfsteiner after his escape from Germany, had another theory.In October of that year, he met H. R. who had just returned from Prague.Dr. Nika said: "Medically, Hitler was an incredible type of person. His body did not show strength; the outstanding feature of his appearance was his lethargy. He was photographed in the crisis in Czechoslovakia. I have this impression especially in photographs. His eyes have the look of a prophet." After hearing this, Dr. Nika asked why Hitler could make almost every German admire him, while foreigners did not. Scorn him? "He was the first to tell every German what he subconsciously thought and felt about the fate of Germany, especially after the defeat in the World Wars. It was the typical German jealousy that colored every German soul. Bad view—Germany is inferior, the second child, the latecomer to the party. Hitler's power is not political, it is magical." Hitler's secret was that he allowed himself to be ruled by his subconscious.He was like a man who could concentrate on listening to some mysterious whispered suggestion, "and then act on it. In our case, even though our subconscious mind sometimes comes up in dreams, our rational mind Too much, too many brains to obey it. But Hitler not only listened to it, he obeyed it. True leaders are often led." Hitler sang in pure Teutonic tune, Germany People sounded pleasing to the ear, so they chose him as their representative.He was a demagogue statesman who could stir up primitive peoples, an echo of their tribal history. Jung asserted that Britain and France would not fulfill their new pledges to the Czechs. "No nation keeps its promises. The nation is a big blind wretch. What follows? Fate, perhaps. The nation has no honor. It has no promises to keep." So why expect Hitler to keep his promises? "Because Hitler was the state".