realistic chance of building such a force and so he was prepared to settle in 1937–1938 for a diplomatic bloc referred to as a "Third Europe", led by Poland, which might become the nucleus of a Międzymorze federation. Beck's "Third Europe" diplomatic concept comprised a bloc made up of Poland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania. His efforts failed for several reasons: Both Italy and Hungary preferred to align themselves with Germany, rather than Poland. The dispute between Romania and Hungary over Transylvania doomed efforts to include them in a common bloc. The desire of both Italy and Hungary to partition Yugoslavia blocked any effort to include Rome, Budapest and Belgrade in an alliance. None of the other four states that was meant to form the "Third Europe" with Poland was interested in accepting Polish leadership. From 1935 to 1939, Beck supported German claims against Czechoslovakia by citing purported mistreatment of Polish minorities in Czechoslovakia. In January 1938, he demanded publicly that the Poles living in Czechoslovakia be granted the rights enjoyed by the Germans. In 1937, Beck had also begun a diplomatic offensive in favour of Slovak independence. He supported Hitler's position in the Munich agreement in 1938. Within days, Poland invaded and seized Teschen, an industrial district of Czechoslovakia with 240,000 people, most of whom were ethnic Poles. 1939: German invasion In 1937, Hitler continued to assure Beck that Germany had no claims on Danzig, but at the start of 1939, Hitler changed his earlier position and now laid claim to Danzig, adding that military force would not be used. Beck played a decisive role in early 1939 by staunchly refusing Hitler's demands to subordinate Poland and to turn it into a German puppet state. Hitler demanded for Poland to give away strategic territories to Germany and to join the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was directed against the Soviet Union. Beck rejected Hitler's demands for annexation of Polish Pomorze (Pomerania), which would have cut off Polish access to the sea and its main trade route, effectively making the Polish economy dependent on Germany. He also rejected demands for an extraterritorial rail and highway corridor that was to run to East Prussia and the Free City of Danzig, in exchange for vague promises regarding trade and annexation of territories inhabited by Ukrainians and Belorussians in the Soviet Union after a future war. While Hitler had been planning to annex Polish territory