Bingo – Success
I have been reading a lot of Robert Harris recently. His historical fiction is well researched, and even though one may know the real story, there is always a surprise at the end. Munich was no different.
The book is set in London and Munich over 4 days in September 1938 when then PM Neville Chamberlain was trying to convince Hitler not to invade Czechoslovakia and start another world war. Ultimately, we know Chamberlin was not successful, but over those four days, arguably, he did acheive what he set out to do.
The main characters are Hugh Legat (private secretary to Chamberlain) and Paul Hartmann (an employees of the German Foreign Office – and a secret member of the anti-Hitler resistance). Legat’s character is loosely based on British historian and writer A.L. Rowse, and Hartmann’s character is loosely based on Adam von Trott zu Solz, who did study at Oxford where he befriended Rowse, and worked in the German government as a cover for his role in the anti-Hitler movement.
In the story, the two men knew each other from Oxford, but had not been in touch for many years. Hitler is determined to invade and annex an ethnically German part of Czechoslovakia which would cause a Britain and France to intervene on behalf of the Czechs (per their agreement). When Chamberlain (as well as Daladier for France) decide to meet in Munich with a view towards stopping Hitler (Mussolini was there supporting Hitler), Hartmann sends a secret message to Legat and ultimately manouvers for him to come to Munich with a view towards getting Legat to help him to get a message to Chamberlain about Hitler’s true intentions.
The Munich Argeements were reached (so in that sense Chamerlain was sucessful), effectively granting Hitler the annexation of the German region without the consent of the Czechs, thereby briefly stopping Hitler from staring the war. In reality what happened was that Hitler took this as cart blanche to do what he wanted and ultimate invated Czechoslovakia, therebys starting WWII.
This book is not as suspenseful as some of Robert Harris’s other books, and not my favorite of his works. But is a short by intense read, that, like all of his work, is meticulously researched. Nonetheless, it is a good story, and I think that any WWII buff, or historical fiction fan would enjoy it. 4 stars only because I didn’t think it was as good as some of Harris’s other work. However with this and all of Harris’ work, I find that I want to learn more about the real story, so I guess in that sense the book is also a success.
