Weight of words
A curated archive of speeches that shaped the posture of states, the fate of alliances, and the international order.
Speech is an instrument of state. Monarchs, presidents, revolutionaries, and secretaries-general have used the set-piece address to declare war and to sue for peace, to bind allies and to unsettle them, to claim legitimacy and to deny it to others. This is a curated archive of such speeches, from Elizabeth I at Tilbury to the present day, chosen for their bearing on the posture of states, the shape of alliances, and the international order.
Each is presented from the record: the speaker, the occasion, and the text as delivered or as reliably transcribed. Where a speech was not given in English or French, the original is offered alongside a translation. The Centre supplies context, not commentary, and leaves the words to stand.
30 September 1938
Peace for our time
Returning from the Munich Conference on 30 September 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain told a crowd at Downing Street he believed the agreement meant 'peace for our time.' The phrase became emblematic of appeasement after war broke out within a year.
First of all, I have received an immense number of letters during all these anxious times, and so has my wife. Letters of support, and approval, and gratitude and I can't tell you what an encouragement that has been to me. I want to thank the British people for what they have done.
Next. And next I want to say that the settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace.
This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you,
"We, the German Fuhrer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for the two countries and for Europe.
"We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German naval agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.
"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.
[Chamberlain later appeared together with the King and Queen on the Buckingham Palace balcony. Still later, he spoke from the window of 10 Downing Street the following:]
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.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.
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