Just Finished Reading: Munich by Robert Harris (FP: 2017) [429pp]

September, 1938. With war clouds gathering on the horizon it looks increasingly likely the Europe will be at war for the second time in twenty years. But all hope is not lost. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain has an idea, something that has never been attempted before – a personal appeal to Herr Hitler to come back from the brink. Chamberlain is convinced, as are some of his cabinet, that Hitler is a man they can do business with. He is, they tell themselves, above all else a pragmatist who knows that Germany, even re-armed, cannot stand against the combined forces of France and Great Britain backed up by her globe spanning Empire. Hitler, Chamberlain feels in his heart of hearts, will see sense. So begins four days of what would, in later decades, be called ‘shuttle diplomacy’ with the world’s peace in the balance. With a front row seat is Hugh Legat, attached to Number 10 from the Foreign Office, who has been pulled into the very centre of the action by his friendship with German diplomat Paul Hartmann who has information that could help stop the proposed invasion of Czechoslovakia. The British Secret Service are initially sceptical that Hartmann has much credibility but the German Secret Service are taking things very seriously indeed and could put the whole diplomatic effort in jeopardy as well as both friends very lives.

The Munich Crisis of 1938 and the whole Appeasement process has, over the years, received a lot of attention – most of it bad. The very word ‘appeasement’ has become very pejorative because, with the advantage of 20-20 hindsight it failed spectacularly in 1939 with the outbreak of World War Two (spoiler!). Here the author gives a much more nuanced and honestly sympathetic treatment of those four decisive days and the thinking behind both Chamberlain’s proposals and Hitler’s ultimate rejection of ‘peace in our time’. The overall tone of the book was that of a political thriller which was pretty impressive since most readers will go in already knowing the outcome. What was even more impressive, now knowing much more about the background to the events in September 1938 from subsequent reading, was just how close to actual events were portrayed here in fiction (or probably more accurately that horrible word ‘faction’). The only non-historical main characters were Legat (British) and Hartmann (German) which allowed the reader to be ‘in the room’ during most of action/conversations/debates around the events themselves. In effect Legat/Hartmann *was* the reader and very well handled that was too! Everything else, from the public pronouncements to the private conversations (I can only vouch for the British side on this) were pretty much accurate and taken from subsequently published diaries and letters. In other words the author’s research was spot on and he even, which I personally love, listed some of his researched books in a bibliography at the back. Not many novels would do this (unfortunately) and not many authors would bother (ditto). It just goes to show how confident the author was in the historical accuracy of his work – and he was right to be so.

Both this novel and my subsequent reading (review on Monday) actually paint a much more sympathetic picture of what Chamberlain was trying to achieve and both his motivation and doubts about doing so. His generation had lived through a cataclysmic war only 20 years previously and were willing to do almost anything to avoid a new one. In this Chamberlain and his cabinet were certainly not alone, indeed most of British public opinion was 100% behind his efforts to avoid war. But Chamberlain also was more than aware that he, the British government and the French were selling Czechoslovakia ‘down the river’ in the hope that they could avoid a wider war that could devastate the continent. They knew, as they indeed found out, that if their efforts failed they would be vilified by history but how would history have judged them if the Entente had gone to war with German over Czechoslovakia if such a thing had indeed been avoided? What a truly horrible position to be in and, in this exceptionally good novel, we ourselves are put right in the heart of things to make our own minds up about it. What would you do without the knowledge of what was coming next? It’s not anywhere near as cut and dried as you might assume. Definitely recommended for all thriller buffs and anyone interested in the last year of peace in Europe.