Lhe diplomat negotiates to avoid or, on the contrary, to conclude a conflict whose conduct falls to the soldier. In other words, one enters the scene when the other leaves it. This scheme has always been a caricature. A negotiation is often conducted on the basis of the balance of power, which forces the diplomat to know the means available to the soldier if it fails. “Are we ready to fight if necessary? is the recurring question of most crises in our history.
When Édouard Daladier went to Munich on September 29, 1938, he knew that the answer was negative: the British could only send two divisions to France; the country’s military strategy is strictly defensive, which prevents it from coming to the aid of Czechoslovakia and, to its…
