The Carlsbad Programme (, , ) was an eight-point series of demands, addressed to the government of Czechoslovakia, issued by Konrad Henlein, the leader of the Sudeten German Party (SdP), at a party gathering in Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) on 24 April 1938.The programme demanded full autonomy for the mainly German-inhabited areas of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland. Under pressure from its allies, Britain and France, the Czechoslovak government reluctantly accepted the demands. But the SdP, instructed by Nazi Germany not to reach a settlement with the Czechoslovak authorities, broke off negotiations, thus precipitating the Munich crisis.
Background
Following the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Czechoslovak Republic emerged on the territory of the modern-day Czech Republic, Slovakia and part of Ukraine. For a combination of economic and strategic reasons, the western border of the newly formed state maintained the historic boundary with Germany and included the predominantly German-speaking Sudetenland. As a result, Czechoslovakia contained a substantial German minority population of over 3 million. Czechs and Slovaks together numbered fewer than 9 million.
The Sudeten Germans did not want to belong to a Czechoslovak state after the First World War, because they were used to being part of the Habsburg monarchy and they did not suddenly want to be a minority in a state of Czechs and Slovaks. The new constitution was worked out without them and they were not consulted about whether they wished to be citizens of Czechoslovakia. Although the constitution of Czechoslovakia guaranteed equality for all citizens, there was a tendency among political leaders to transform the country "into an instrument of Czech and Slovak nationalism" and the Sudeten Germans believed they were not granted enough rights as a minority group. Some progress was made to integrate the Germans and other minorities, but they continued to be under-represented in the government and the army.
During the Great Depression the highly industrialized and export-oriented regions populated by the German minority, together with other peripheral regions of Czechoslovakia, were hurt by the economic depression more than the interior of the country which was mainly inhabited by Czech and Slovak populations. By 1936, 60 percent of the unemployed people in Czechoslovakia were Germans. The Sudeten Germans were represented by parties from across the political spectrum. German nationalist sentiment was strong in the Sudetenland from the early years of the republic and there was strong calls for autonomy and even union with Germany and Austria. The high unemployment, as well as the imposition of Czech in schools and all public spaces, made people more open to populist and extremist movements such as fascism, communism, and German irredentism. In these years, the parties of German nationalists and later the Sudeten German Party (SdP) with its radical demands gained immense popularity among Germans in Czechoslovakia.
The Sudeten German Party (SdP) was formed in 1933 by Konrad Henlein with the merger of the German National Socialist Workers' Party (Czechoslovakia) and the German National Party after these parties were outlawed. The party represented many of the German nationalist positions, which approximated to those of Nazi Germany. Historians differ as to whether the SdP was from its beginning a Nazi front organization, or evolved into one. The Sudeten German Party was "militant, populist, and openly hostile" to the Czechoslovakian government and soon captured two-thirds of the vote in districts with a heavy German population. By 1935, the SdP was the second largest political party in Czechoslovakia as German votes concentrated on this party while Czech and Slovak votes were spread among several parties.
Declaration of demands
Following the annexation of Austria in March 1938, Hitler's attention turned to Czechoslovakia. At a meeting with Henlein in Berlin on 28 March 1938, Hitler instructed the leader of the SdP to make unacceptable demands of the Czechoslovak government for political reforms. The aim was to maintain tension but to avoid reaching a resolution of the issues until Hitler was ready to intervene directly.
On 24 April 1938, speaking at a meeting of the SdP held in Carlsbad, Henlein issued a series of demands addressed to the Czechoslovak government. The list of demands - known as the Carlsbad Programme - consisted of the following eight points: