Up until 1938, the myth helped to convince most Germans that Hitler was a politician of conviction who was standing up for Germany's rights. Before the start of World War II, the Führer myth was almost complete, but it was still missing an important trait: Hitler being a military genius. Even before the start of the war, the Nazi propaganda machine was working towards portraying that image to the German people. This was preceded by the myth of Hitler's diplomatic and foreign policy genius, which was spawned by his triumphs in the Remilitarization of the Rhineland, the "Anschluss" with Austria, being given the Sudetenland by the Western powers in Munich, and the bloodless invasion and partition of Czechoslovakia. By the lead-up to the Invasion of Poland, foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was threatening to execute anyone on his staff who doubted Hitler's prediction that Poland would collapse in days and that England would not intervene on its behalf.