Read the sources and then answer both parts of the question. Source A It is my unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia by military action soon. I will wait for, or create, the most suitable moment from a political and military point of view. To this end, preparations are to be made immediately. The following are necessary for the intended attack: a) An apparent excuse; b) Adequate political justification; c) Action not expected by the enemy which will find it unprepared. Most favourable would be action as the result of provocation which, in the eyes of at least some international opinion, gives the moral justification for military measures. It is important to increase the total economic war effort so sparing, as far as military operations permit, Czech industrial and engineering establishments may be of decisive importance. Hitler's secret directive for the invasion of Czechoslovakia, 30 May 1938. Source B The creation of Czechoslovakia after the war was complete insanity. This Czech illness must be dealt with. It is like a cancer which will infect international relations until they finally break down. As an ally of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia points like a dagger at the heart of Germany. It has reinforced my determination to create a mighty German Luftwaffe. If we fail to resolve the crisis now, Göring would soon be asking me to double the Luftwaffe's forces once again, then Britain and France would double theirs as well, and so the insane race would go on. Seven million Czechs oppress eight million minority peoples. It was a deed of insanity and ignorance to have a handful of obviously inferior Czechs rule over minorities. Sudeten Germans have absolutely no respect for the Czechs and will not submit to their rule. Hitler speaking in an interview with a British journalist, 17 September 1938. Source C The problem of relations between races in the territory now called Czechoslovakia has existed for many centuries with periods of fierce struggle and periods of relative calm. Sudeten extremists provoked the riots after Hitler's speech; they were responsible for the breakdown of negotiations between Czechoslovakia and Germany, encouraged by their followers at home and abroad. However, I have great sympathy for the Sudetenland cause. It is hard to be ruled by a foreign race. My impression is that the Czechoslovak government, although not actually oppressive, was marked by tactlessness and discrimination that has led to the resentment of the German population. Czech officials and policemen who did not speak German were appointed to German districts, and many believe that the state provided work and aid to the Czechs much more willingly than to the Germans. I think these complaints are largely justified. The rise of Nazi Germany gave the Sudeten Germans new hope and a very large majority of their population wishes to merge with Germany. Lord Runciman to Prime Minister Chamberlain, 21 September 1938. A mission of British diplomats led by Lord Runciman was sent to Prague on 3 August 1938. Source D Prague was accused of systematically mistreating the Germans of Sudetenland, much like the Vienna government had been accused of mistreating the German part of the population. The German press echoed the complaints and exposed at length and indignantly the injustices they suffered; it called for a speedy end to this intolerable abuse, which incidentally had never been mentioned before Hitler gained power. The German newspapers recalled with suspicious perseverance the atrocities committed in the distant past by the ancestors of the Czechs. The entire policy reeked of evil intent which the Nazi chiefs did not even trouble to conceal. One evening at dinner at the French Embassy, when champagne had disposed him to be indiscreet, Göring tackled the subject squarely. 'Consider the shape of Czechoslovakia on the map,' he told me. 'Isn't this a challenge to common sense? We shall have to eliminate it.' From the memoirs of the French Ambassador in Berlin from 1931 to 1938, published in 1949. Answer both parts of the question with reference to the sources.