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I Am Speaking To You From The Cabinet Room At 10 Downing Street. This Morning The British Ambassador In Berlin Handed The German Government An Official Note Stating That Unless We Heard From Them By Eleven O'clock, That They Were Prepared At Once To Withdraw Their Troops From Poland, A State Of War Would Exist Between Us. I Have To Tell You Now That No Such Undertaking Has Been Received, And Consequently This Country Is At War With Germany.

-Neville Chamberlain

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I Am Speaking To

Neville Chamberlain

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I Am Speaking To You From The Cabinet Room At 10 Downing Street. This Morning The British Ambassador In Berlin Handed The German Government An Official Note Stating That Unless We Heard From Them By Eleven O'clock, That They Were Prepared At Once To Withdraw Their Troops From Poland, A State Of War Would Exist Between Us. I Have To Tell You Now That No Such Undertaking Has Been Received, And Consequently This Country Is At War With Germany.

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In War, Whichever Side May Call Itself The Victor, There Are No Winners, But All Are Losers.

Though I Never Shout At Labour Members Or Insult Them, I Can Never Understand The Psychology Of Some Of Our Men Who Endeavoured To Reason With Them.

It Is Evil Things That We Will Be Fighting Against-brute Force, Bad Faith, Injustice, Oppression And Persecution-and Against Them I Am Certain That The Right Will Prevail.

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I Believe It Is Peace For Our Time.

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My Good Friends, For The Second Time In Our History, A British Prime Minister Has Returned From Germany Bringing Peace With Honor. I Believe It Is Peace For Our Time... Go Home And Get A Nice Quiet Sleep.

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No Doubt The Jews Aren't A Lovable People; I Don't Care About Them Myself; But That Is Not Sufficient To Explain The Pogrom.

This Is A Sad Day For All Of Us, And To None Is It Sadder Than To Me. Everything That I Have Worked For, Everything That I Have Hoped For, Everything That I Have Believed In During My Public Life, Has Crashed Into Ruins. There Is Only One Thing Left For Me To Do; That Is, To Devote What Strength And Powers I Have To Forwarding The Victory Of The Cause For Which We Have To Sacrifice So Much... I Trust I May Live To See The Day When Hitlerism Has Been Destroyed And A Liberated Europe Has Been Re-established.

I Tell You That I'm Not Dictatorial, I'm Not Intolerant, I'm Not Overpowering! You're All Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, I Tell You! I'm The Most Relaxed And Understanding Of People! None Of You, I Insist, Must Ever Say I'm Dictatorial Again!

How Horrible, Fantastic, Incredible, It Is That We Should Be Digging Trenches And Trying On Gas-masks Here Because Of A Quarrel In A Faraway Country Between People Of Whom We Know Nothing.

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In The Event Of Any Action Which Clearly Threatened Polish Independence And Which The Polish Government Accordingly Considered It Vital To Resist With Their National Forces, His Majesty's Government Would Feel Themselves Bound At Once To Lend The Polish Government All Support In Their Power. They Have Given The Polish Government An Assurance To This Effect. I May Add That The French Government Have Authorized Me To Make It Plain That They Stand In The Same Position In This Matter.

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I Am Speaking To You From The Cabinet Room At 10 Downing Street. This Morning The British Ambassador In Berlin Handed The German Government An Official Note Stating That Unless We Heard From Them By Eleven O'clock, That They Were Prepared At Once To Withdraw Their Troops From Poland, A State Of War Would Exist Between Us. I Have To Tell You Now That No Such Undertaking Has Been Received, And Consequently This Country Is At War With Germany.

However Much We May Sympathize With A Small Nation Confronted By A Big And Powerful Neighbor, We Cannot In All Circumstances Undertake To Involve The Whole British Empire In A War Simply On Her Account. If We Have To Fight It Must Be On Larger Issues Than That.

We Are Resolved That The Method Of Consultation Shall Be The Method Adopted To Deal With Any Other Questions That May Concern Our Two Countries, And We Are Determined To Continue Our Efforts To Remove Possible Sources Of Difference, And Thus To Contribute To Assure The Peace Of Europe.

We Would Fight Not For The Political Future Of A Distant City [danzig], Rather For Principles Whose Destruction Would Ruin The Possibility Of Peace And Security For The Peoples Of The Earth.

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