By 1938, Hitler was on the road to war. His march across Europe would multiply his enemies and put him in the sights of foreign powers. Hitler’s first grab for land came in March 1938, when he occupied his homeland – Austria. The ease with which he achieved this encouraged him to move on swiftly to threaten another neighbour – Czechoslovakia. But his ambition was now causing concern in an unexpected place – his own armed forces. Several senior generals were concerned that their rapidly-expanding army was not ready for war, and when Hitler refused to listen to them a coup was planned. Hitler would be arrested – and almost certainly killed – as soon as he ordered an invasion of Czechoslovakia. Amazingly, Hitler’s bodyguard remained unaware of the plot – and the generals were poised to launch it when the rug was pulled out from under them by the decision of Britain’s Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, to negotiate an agreement which gave Hitler everything he wanted. It was the end of the most serious and well prepared plot to overthrow Hitler before war began.