The Munich Agreement was a settlement reached in September 1938 between Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It allowed Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, to annex the Sudetenland, a region of Czechoslovakia, without facing military intervention. The agreement aimed to prevent war in Europe by appeasing Hitler's territorial ambitions. However, the Munich Agreement is often criticized for its failure to protect Czechoslovakia and for encouraging further aggression from Germany. The policy of appeasement ultimately did not stop the outbreak of World War II, which began less than a year later in September 1939.