They both took actions to expand their territory in order to acquire more resources and more market to sell their products. They were gearing up for war as they all promised a brighter future for their respective citizens, therefore they must invade and gain actual benefit for their citizens or else their citizens would no longer support them, and their government would fall. They could not have been stopped, because they used nationalism as cover and political high-ground(Hitler taking over Austria and part of Czechoslovakia claiming to only unite all German people). The British, French, and Italian were trying to appease Germany, satisfying its demands sacrificing the interest and sovereignty of Czechoslovakia.