The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland, a border region of Czechoslovakia inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was signed by Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France—notably excluding Czechoslovakia itself from the negotiations. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain championed the policy of 'appeasement,' believing that satisfying Hitler's territorial demands would prevent another world war. Upon his return to London, he famously declared he had secured 'peace for our time.' However, the agreement only emboldened Hitler, who seized the rest of Czechoslovakia just months later. Today, 'Munich' is used as a historical metaphor for the failure of appeasement and the danger of making concessions to aggressive dictatorial regimes.