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Munich: The Eleventh Hour
In September 1938, Britain and France signed the Munich Agreement, allowing Nazi Germany to occupy parts of Czechoslovakia. This agreement would become the most controversial in modern European history.
While many at the time felt the agreement ensured peace in Europe, it would in fact contribute to the outbreak of the deadliest conflict in history within a year. Had Neville Chamberlain not tried to avoid a war in Munich that September, it’s possible that World War II may not have happened; at the very least, the world would have almost certainly been spared the worst of its horrors. Chamberlain’s supporters, however, argue that the agreement allowed Britain crucial time to prepare before the war eventually did come.
Robert Kee describes Munich as a ‘grotesque’ event for which in fact the need to find a historical explanation transcends in interest all argument and special pleading. Threading his way, detective-like, through the preceding history of Germany, Czechoslovakia and above all the strained relations between Britain and France in the 1930s, he finds a disturbing inevitability in the final tragedy which he narrates with consummate clarity and drama.
Robert Kee, 1919 – 2013 gained an Oxford History degree and wrote ever since he left the RAF, in which he was a bomber pilot, in 1946. He worked for Picture Post , the Observer and the Sunday Times , and was a literary editor of the Spectator. His other titles include 1939, The World We Left Behind , 1945, The World We Fought For and Trial and Error , about the Guildford Pub bombings.
While many at the time felt the agreement ensured peace in Europe, it would in fact contribute to the outbreak of the deadliest conflict in history within a year. Had Neville Chamberlain not tried to avoid a war in Munich that September, it’s possible that World War II may not have happened; at the very least, the world would have almost certainly been spared the worst of its horrors. Chamberlain’s supporters, however, argue that the agreement allowed Britain crucial time to prepare before the war eventually did come.
Robert Kee describes Munich as a ‘grotesque’ event for which in fact the need to find a historical explanation transcends in interest all argument and special pleading. Threading his way, detective-like, through the preceding history of Germany, Czechoslovakia and above all the strained relations between Britain and France in the 1930s, he finds a disturbing inevitability in the final tragedy which he narrates with consummate clarity and drama.
Robert Kee, 1919 – 2013 gained an Oxford History degree and wrote ever since he left the RAF, in which he was a bomber pilot, in 1946. He worked for Picture Post , the Observer and the Sunday Times , and was a literary editor of the Spectator. His other titles include 1939, The World We Left Behind , 1945, The World We Fought For and Trial and Error , about the Guildford Pub bombings.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 3, 2019
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About the author
Robert Kee
58 books12 followersRobert Kee, CBE was a broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland.
He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and read history at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a pupil, then a friend, of the historian A.J.P. Taylor.
During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force as a bomber pilot. His Hampden was shot down by flak one night while on a mine-laying operation off the coast of German-occupied Holland. He was imprisoned and spent three years in a German POW camp. This gave him material for his first book A Crowd Is Not Company. It was first published as a novel in 1947 but was later revealed to be an autobiography. It recounts his experiences as a prisoner of war and his various escapes from the Nazi camp. The Times describes it as "arguably the best POW book ever written."
His career in journalism began immediately after the Second World War. He worked for the Picture Post, then later became a special correspondent for The Sunday Times and The Observer. He was also literary editor of The Spectator.
In 1958 he moved to television. He appeared for many years on both the BBC and ITV as reporter, interviewer and presenter. He presented many current affairs programmes including Panorama, ITN's First Report and Channel 4's Seven Days. He was awarded the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award in 1976.
Kee wrote and presented the documentary series Ireland – A Television History in 1980. The work was widely shown in the United Kingdom and the United States and received great critical acclaim, winning the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Following its transmission on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, Kee won a Jacob's Award for his script and presentation.
He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and read history at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a pupil, then a friend, of the historian A.J.P. Taylor.
During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force as a bomber pilot. His Hampden was shot down by flak one night while on a mine-laying operation off the coast of German-occupied Holland. He was imprisoned and spent three years in a German POW camp. This gave him material for his first book A Crowd Is Not Company. It was first published as a novel in 1947 but was later revealed to be an autobiography. It recounts his experiences as a prisoner of war and his various escapes from the Nazi camp. The Times describes it as "arguably the best POW book ever written."
His career in journalism began immediately after the Second World War. He worked for the Picture Post, then later became a special correspondent for The Sunday Times and The Observer. He was also literary editor of The Spectator.
In 1958 he moved to television. He appeared for many years on both the BBC and ITV as reporter, interviewer and presenter. He presented many current affairs programmes including Panorama, ITN's First Report and Channel 4's Seven Days. He was awarded the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award in 1976.
Kee wrote and presented the documentary series Ireland – A Television History in 1980. The work was widely shown in the United Kingdom and the United States and received great critical acclaim, winning the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Following its transmission on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, Kee won a Jacob's Award for his script and presentation.
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