Gold Coin Turning Eights of Our History - 1938 Munich Agreement 2018 Proof

RAZITKO_POSTOVNE_ZDARMA_NENI

Revolutionary Eights of our history

The third issue of the miniseries "Revolutionary Eights" returns to 1938. The Czech Mint's gold coin commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Munich Agreement, when our own Allies dictated to us as the underdogs and broke up Czechoslovakia to satisfy the growing demands of Hitler's Germany.

When World War I ended in 1918, French Field Marshal Foch said: "This is not peace. This is an armistice for twenty years." He was right. Exactly two decades later, another conflict - even more devastating - was about to take place, with Czechoslovakia at its centre. At the beginning of 1938, the situation in the border areas of the young republic was very tense. Austria had recently been annexed and German organisations in Czechoslovakia were becoming increasingly radicalised with the aim of breaking up the democratic state. In response to the imminent threat of Nazi Germany, a general mobilisation was announced in September and the Czechoslovaks were ready to defend their homeland with arms in hand. But foreign diplomacy got in the way. The European powers, on whose help the Czechoslovak government relied most heavily to defend itself against German aggression, had no desire for another world conflict. The French and the English still had vivid memories of the millions of dead from the "Great War" and therefore decided to make a deal with the Nazis at any cost. Even at the cost of sacrificing an ally. Then, on 29 September 1938, representatives of four countries - Neville Chamberlain (Great Britain), Édouard Daladier (France), Adolf Hitler (Germany) and Benito Mussolini (Italy) - met in Munich and decided that Czechoslovakia must cede the German-majority borderlands to Germany. Czechoslovak representatives were not invited to the negotiations, and it is no wonder that this "agreement" has entered our history as a "dictate" and a "betrayal". "I have brought you peace," thundered British Prime Minister Chamberlain upon his return to his homeland. He was wrong. His future successor, Winston Churchill, was right when he declared: 'Britain and France had a choice between war and disgrace. They chose shame. They will have war."

As in the case of the previous two issues in the series, the medalist MgA. Josef Oplištil through the transformation of the two-tailed Czech lion. This time, our national symbol is broken by four wedges, which symbolize the signatories of the Munich Dictate (GB, FRA, DEU, ITA), and takes the shape of a swastika. As the coins of the Czech Mint are issued under the licence of a foreign issuer, which is the State of Samoa, their obverse side bears the following necessary elements - the national emblem, the name and profile of Queen Elizabeth II, the face value of 25 DOLLARS (WST) and the year of issue 2018. The composition of the obverse is then completed by the text "TRUTH WINS" displayed on a ribbon hanging from a lime branch.