Churchill’s “Disaster of the First Magnitude” Speech

Despite Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s promises of peace, Winston Churchill continued to warn of the dangers of Nazi Germany. On October 5, Churchill addressed the House of Commons and denounced the Munich Agreement. In what is known as the “Disaster of the First Magnitude” speech, Churchill described the Munich Agreement as “a total and unmitigated defeat.” He stated that it gave Hitler everything he wanted with the “sacrifice [of] Czechoslovakia.” In his speech, Churchill correctly predicted that the Munich Agreement and Nazi aggression would draw Britain into war within “a very few years.”