What 1938 agreement allowed Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland?

The 1938 Munich Agreement allowed Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland. It was reached in Munich on September 30, 1938, by Germany, Britain, France, and Italy, with Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, and Benito Mussolini representing the participating governments.

The Sudetenland was a border region of Czechoslovakia with a large German-speaking population. Under the agreement, Czechoslovakia had to surrender the territory to Germany, despite not being invited to the negotiations. The transfer began on October 1, 1938, and weakened Czechoslovakia’s defenses and territorial integrity.

The pact is closely associated with the policy of appeasement because British and French leaders hoped concessions would prevent a wider war. Hitler soon broke those expectations: Germany occupied the remaining Czech lands in March 1939. The agreement is often confused with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but that later 1939 treaty divided spheres of influence between Germany and the Soviet Union.