Talk:Peace for our time

Lebensraum
I have removed the following: "The Munich Agreement gave the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler in an attempt to satisfy his desire for Lebensraum ("living space") for Germany" as it makes it sound like that Chamberlain approved of the idea of Lebensraum. That's not really true; however misguided Chamberlain was, he was not in favor of the idea of Germany annexing vast stretches of Eastern Europe for German colonization. The Anglo-German Declaration says nothing about Lebensraum; all it does say is that the German Chancellor and the British Prime Minister hope that their two countries never got to war again. The idea of Lebensraum was a key concept in National Socialism, however Hitler contrary to what is being claimed here, always tried to justify his foreign policy under the grounds that the Treaty of Versailles was monsterous unjust to Germany, and he was just merely trying to right that wrong. Personally, I think that the harshness of Versailles has been grossly exaggerated, but nonetheless, most people in the English-speaking world (includding Chamberalain) believed that by the 1930s, which is one of the prime rationales for appeasement, namely that the Versailles was very unfair to Germany and Hitler's interests were limited only as he had said many times in public to revising Versailles in Germany's favour. Now of course, what Hitler had to say in private was a little different, but only in public, his foreign policy statements were he was only trying to revise Versailles. From the viewpoint of Chamberlain, appeasment thus made perfect sense; Hitler only wanted to revise Versailles, and since the treaty was (supposedly) unfair to Germany anyway, why not? The way the above statement was phrased, it makes it sound like what Hitler was saying in private was being said in public, and that Chamberlain was aware of and approved of Hitler's plans for Lebensraum. Personally, I think this background info should be included in this article, and I will do so when I get the time.--A.S. Brown (talk) 02:11, 6 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Germans immigrants arrived to the Czech Lands in every century, including many since 1850. These foreigners rarely accepted the Czech language.
 * So what is the connection between Sudeten Germans minority in the Czech Lands and Treaty of Versailles? A minority is not a nation and most countries
 * in Europe have minorities.
 * --Posp68 (talk) 09:23, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

peace in our time
I added a bit to the page since it was abysmal before. I don't know if this is enough context or not. Worldbound 19:04, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Definitely needs a bit more context, pulling out of my arse, I believe the phrase originates in the Book of Common Prayer's insertion into The Lord's Prayer "Lord, grant us peace in our time" - likely the reference Chamberlain was making himself. Sherurcij (talk) (Terrorist Wikiproject) 08:19, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, since the phrase is from the Book of Common Prayer I am surprised to see the assertion that it was actually "Peace for our time". I think a link to a reference for this assertion would be needed since it is so widely believed to be "Peace IN our time" Apple Rancher 04:51, 18 August 2006 (UTC)


 * All the same, it isn't a "cultural reference" since it predates the speech! 138.237.165.140 10:38, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Agreed that the Book of common prayer "Cultural Reference should be moved into the main text. However I disagree that the cultural references should be removed from this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.46.90.128 (talk) 15:19, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

Is the Fred Thompson reference really applicable here? it seems the spirit of this article is more focused on the Neville Chamberlain story and not "famous times people have said 'Peace in/for our time'" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.175.161.178 (talk) 06:18, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

Cultural references
I've removed this section. The trivia tag is over 2 years old and the section was this there. The content is below in case anyone want to these items to their respective articles. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 00:38, 20 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Peace In Our Time is also the title of a 1947 stage  play by Noel Coward.  Set in an alternative 1940, the Battle of Britain has been lost, the  Germans have supremacy in the air and the British Isles are under Nazi  occupation. Inspired to write this play in 1946 after seeing the effects  of the occupation of France, the famously patriotic Coward wrote: "I  began to suspect the physical effect of four years' intermittent bombing  is far less damaging to the intrinsic character of a nation than the  spiritual effect of four years of enemy occupation."
 * "Peace In Our Time" is a 1984 song by Elvis Costello  which is critical of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The lyric refers to Neville Chamberlain, imperialism, totalitarianism and social control, commenting on their relation to  then current world politics and social conditions in Europe and the  United States.
 * "Peace in Our Time" is also the  title of Big Country's  fourth studio album.
 * Monty Python's Flying Circus made a reference to Peace for our  time in their sketch The Funniest  Joke in the World, where the treaty is referred to as  "Britain's great pre-war joke".
 * Freeciv peace treaties are concluded with the quote "Yes, peace in our time."
 * The line was parodied in a controversial Daily Mirror  front page during Euro 96  before England's semi-final game against Germany, as "Pearce  in our time".
 * In the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,  Klingon general Chang shouts "no peace in our time!"  when discussing the upcoming peace between the United  Federation of Planets  and the Klingon Empire.
 * The satirical paper The Onion's 1999 book Our Dumb Century features a phony 1938 issue  headlining Chamberlain's promise of "London Laid Waste In Our Time."
 * In the Babylon 5 episode "The Fall of Night", an Earth Alliance diplomat named  Frederick Lantz comes to the station to negotiate a non-aggression pact  with the increasingly expansionist Centauri Republic.  When confronted  by Captain Sheridan, he says, "We will, at last, have peace in our  time."
 * The Marvel Comics 2006 crossover event, "(Phunk Art Time)Planet Hulk",  had a 4-part  lead-in  story called "Peace in our Time".
 * Fred Thompson's Republican Party National  Convention Speech used the phrase "peace in our time" on September 2,  2008.
 * A sketch in the 1980 series 'Peter Cook & Co' contains a sketch called 'out-takes  from history' which features John Cleese taking endless takes to say  the famous speech.

This is not a list of "trivia" but cultural references and appropriate to the article. The content is not trivia as defined by the guideline and suitable according to the cultural references essay. I intend return the above content to the article. patsw (talk) 23:56, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Another "Cultural Reference", though not a popular known:


 * The cancelled (at the time controvertial) Sitcom Heil_Honey_I'm_Home! revolves (or should have revolved) around the appeasement politics toward Hitler. In the first Episode Hiler meet Chamberlain and ultimately signs the "Peace for our Time" Agreement. --78.52.196.116 (talk) 15:32, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

"I have in my hand a piece of paper"
I can only assume that "I have in my hand a piece of paper", etc is one of those well-remembered-but-not-accurate misquotes? i.e.. I guess it might be worth mentioning this, as it's quote a commonly-remembered phrase alongside the actual text (in the same way as the for/in our time misquote is discussed). Can anybody shed any light on where this misquote came from? Bob talk 08:17, 27 October 2012 (UTC)

"Good man" telegram
I removed the "Good man" quote from here, since it seems that telegram was actually sent before the deal was signed. Thus, I added it to Munich Agreement instead. Superm401 - Talk 05:16, 5 October 2013 (UTC)

"background" of Chamberlain in reference to "Peace in our time"
Isn't the statement, in the paragraph following the introductory, that "anyone of his [Chamberlain's] background would have been familiar with" Peace in our time from the Anglican Prayer Book etc rather vague? More clarification would be welcome - is it background of class, religion, nationality etc? Religiously, Chamberlain came of a nonconformist (Unitarian) family background.Cloptonson. (talk) 21:04, 14 April 2015 (UTC)


 * I believe that 'Peace in/for our time' was a headline in one of the notable newspapers on the day (The Sketch), and that Chamberlain was persuaded by a reporter/advisers to use the words, although the headline had already been planned. This memory of mine is from a long ago BBC documentary. I have quickly looked, but cannot find sources for this claim.Pincrete (talk) 15:56, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

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Missing Audio links
I have heard the old audio recordings of Chamberland's speech before. They should be linked to by the article — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.250.123.228 (talk) 02:35, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

'Peace for our time' speech wording
I have reverted the 21Jan2023 revision to the quoted 'Peace for our time' speech, as it was not in the original cited transcription, nor was it wholly supported by any single reference that I can find so far. Version 1 is the citation prior to 21Jan2023. See below, six online versions. Versions 1 to 3 (only) include "British Prime Minister" and "bringing". Version 4 to 6 (only) include "to Downing Street".

Version 1. "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." eudocs.lib.byu.edu

Version 2. "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." Neville Chamberlain, 30 September 1938. (Pasture, P. (2015). 'Peace for Our Time': The European Quest for Peace. In: Imagining European Unity since 1000 AD. Palgrave Macmillan, London.) do.org springer.com

Version 3. "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British prime minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." irishtimes.com

Version 4. "This is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time." gov.uk

Version 5. "My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time." ... "Now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds." history.com and emersonkent.com

Version 6. "My good friends this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace in our time." "Excerpted from "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." (author William L. Shirer) fordham.edu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Third_Reich

So, we have multiple variations of possible wording, and I hope that someone can help dig further into the issue. I suspect that the variations are due to a lack of a sound recording, lack of official transcript, and/or inadequate written notes by journalists.PeterWD (talk) 23:58, 22 January 2023 (UTC)


 * I now have the opportunity to view a printed source, that is essentially the same as Version 1 above: PeterWD (talk) 12:34, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

Disraeli's "Peace for our time"
Is there any primary source attesting this phrase by Disraeli? The contemporary 1878 report in The Times attributes to him "peace with honour", not "peace for our time". Вечный подмастерье (talk) 21:18, 16 April 2024 (UTC)