Public Opinion between Munich and Prague: The View from the French Embassy

Abstract

This article examines the role of the French embassy in London during the pivotal period between the Munich Agreement of September 1938 and Germany's occupation of the rump Czechoslovakian state in March 1939. In particular, it focuses on the reports sent to the French foreign ministry by the ambassador, Charles Corbin, and his colleagues on the subject of British public, press and political opinion vis-à-vis appeasement. The aim of this article is threefold. First, it illustrates how French embassy staff perceived British public opinion, the sources from which such perceptions were derived, and the extent to which their reading of opinion was accurate. Second, it reveals how the apparent evolution of British public opinion, from support for appeasement at Munich to support for resistance after the Prague coup, was interpreted by French embassy officials and subsequently conveyed to Paris. Finally, it assesses the impact of French embassy reports on the wider foreign policy-making process, suggesting tentatively that indications of a British public tiring of appeasement encouraged Paris to pursue a politique de fermeté independently of Britain.