In 1938, Hungary annexed southern Slovakia following the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia at the Munich agreement in September.

CNN: Monday,

It then maintained a functioning parliamentary democracy from 1918 until 1938 when the Munich agreement led to the beginning of Nazi annexation and occupation.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: ��Free�� Czechoslovakia?: Shadows Over The Transition

In 1938, the Munich agreement was signed between France, Germany, Britain and Italy in which the German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland, was surrendered to Nazi Germany.

CNN: Monday,

British prime minister from 1937, he followed a policy of appeasement with Nazi Germany in the years before World War II, negotiating the Munich agreement with Adolph Hitler in 1938.

CNN: Saturday,

If you like closely reasoned historical monographs, you may spend your evenings examining the interplay between the Munich agreement (when Britain and France betrayed Czechoslovakia) and the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (when Hitler and Stalin carved up Europe).

ECONOMIST: Europe.view

He said the pact was one mistake among many, likening it to the Munich agreement of 1938 when Britain and France bullied Czechoslovakia into accepting dismemberment (a dismemberment, Mr Putin spikily pointed out, in which Poland participated).

ECONOMIST: Russia bandages a wound in Poland

The papers exchanged in Munich had been signed by US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev following an agreement made last April.

BBC: US-Russia New Start nuclear treaty comes into effect