West European Studies

Hitler is known to have been a risk taker. He believed that he would most probably die when he was young just like his parents. His father died when he was young from a liver complication while his mother died from cancer when he was just a teenager. He was therefore convinced that he would not live to an old age and believed that he would rather fight when he is young irrespective of whether he was going to win or not than fight when he was old. Although he was able to capture Austria without any military operation or even a gun short, he decided that he should take the risk of using military force to capture Czechoslovakia. He therefore ordered his general to prepare the army to attack the small country in October 1938.

This order was not taken without due consideration by Hitlers advisers and generals. They were appalled by Hitlers decision to attack the small country using full military force. The generals knew very well that it was a big risk to use military force to attack the Czechoslovakia. They predicted that any attempt by the Germans to attack the country would provoke other countries such as Britain, Soviet Union and France who would rise against the Germans. The German military was not powerful enough to beat the countries that would be hungered by the attack of Czechoslovakia. Although most of the people living in Czechoslovakia by that time were German speaking and believed that they were German, the independence of the small country was supported by many nations in Europe. The country was established after the First World War and enjoyed a good relationship with many European superpowers. For this reason, the generals warned Hitler of the risk associated with provoking other nations in the European continent against the Germans by attacking Czechoslovakia. They warned him that the small country had a strong army and a rough terrain due to the mountains which could have been used against them by their army. The possible support of the other country proved that the Germans would fail in their attempt. Hitler did not consider the advices he was given by his generals and went ahead with the planned attack. The risk involved was so big such that one of the Hitlers general threatened to overthrow him if he continued with the plan but Hitler was not moved.  

Although Hitler was able to capture Czechoslovakia after the attack, the magnitude of the risk was big enough. The Czechoslovakian army was not strong enough to resist the attack while other countries such as Britain felt that they should keep off from military intervention to avoid the repeat of the First World War incidences where many people died. However, assuming that Czechoslovakia was alone and had a strong army to defeat Hitler army, Hitler must have been a risk taker. Czechoslovakians had an excellent intelligence compared to the Germans and were able to monitor Hitlers plan to attack them from the beginning. Some of the generals under Hitler such as Beck who served as the chief of the general staff analyzed the risks associated with the attack which led to his resignation when his advices were not taken seriously. This was a big blow to Hitlers army which could have been an advantage to the Czechoslovakia army if they were strong enough to fight the Germans.