30 September
‘My good friends, for the second time in our history a British prime minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.’
Most people will know that Neville Chamberlain was the prime minister who spoke these words on his return to Britain on 30 September 1938. He did so after doing a deal with Adolf Hitler to abandon Czechoslovakia to the Nazis in return for a promise of no further territorial demands.
But who was the other British PM to bring back ‘peace with honour’ from Germany?
Chamberlain was referring to Benjamin Disraeli at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. The main purpose of the congress was to sort out competing national and imperial claims in the Balkans, which in fact remained a cauldron of conflict until finally acting as the trigger to the first world war. A week before it took place, Disraeli had cut a secret deal with the Ottoman Empire to curb Russian influence.
Some peace, some honour.
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365 days is co-authored by Steve Platt and Fiona Osler
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