Prior to the outbreak of WW2, Neville Chamberlain along with France, Italy, and Germany agree to allow Hitler to annex the Sudentanland of Czechoslovakia, assuring that Britain and France will not go to war with Germany for the time being. Chamberlain then signs a separate peace agreement with Hitler, and upon returning to England waves the signed agreement in front of the press famously stating it promises "peace in our time."

The movie, "Munich - The Edge of War" does a great job portraying these events, but the end of the movie seems to imply that Neville Chamberlain knew war was inevitable and was simply trying to buy time for Britain and its allies to build up their strength, painting him in better light than the cowardly appeaser he is seen as today.

There is no question that after the slaughter in WW1 that Chamberlain wanted to do everything possible to avoid another war. All the narratives I'm aware of have always portrayed Chamberlain as naive or cowardly. This idea that he knew war was coming and wanted to buy time to build strength is new to me. Is this true, and has been disregarded by popular history over time? Or is it a revisionist attempt to salvage his reputation?

Edit for typo