Runciman’s mission to Czechoslovakia was a key part of Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement. Mike has not delivered this talk in about 12 years so why revisit it now? It initially occurred to him when he recognised that Putin spoke of the Russian speakers in Ukraine similarly to how Hitler spoke of the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia. The decision was confirmed when he heard the former head of the British military state that we are at the 1937 stage with Russia.

Mike will discuss how Runciman’s mission became a significant precursor of the Munich agreement with Hitler.