Locarno Treaties: Difference between revisions

Locarno Treaties
	From left to right, Gustav Stresemann, Austen Chamberlain and Aristide Briand during the Locarno negotiations
Type	Multilateral treaty
Signed	1 December 1925
Location	London, England, UK
Effective	14 September 1926
Condition	Germany's entry into the League of Nations

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The Locarno Treaties were seven post-World War I agreements negotiated amongst Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Czechoslovakia in late 1925. In the main treaty, the five western European nations pledged to guarantee the inviolability of the borders between Germany and France and Germany and Belgium as defined in the Treaty of Versailles. They also promised to observe the demilitarized zone of the German Rhineland and to resolve differences peacefully under the auspices of the League of Nations. In the additional arbitration treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia, Germany agreed to the peaceful settlement of disputes, but there was notably no guarantee of its eastern border, leaving the path open for Germany to attempt to revise the Versailles Treaty and regain territory it had lost in the east under its terms.

The Locarno Treaties significantly improved the political climate of western Europe from 1925 to 1930 and fostered expectations for continued peaceful settlements which were often referred to as the "spirit of Locarno". The most notable result of the treaties was Germany's acceptance into the League of Nations in 1926.

The treaties effectively went out of force on 7 March 1936 when troops of Nazi Germany entered the demilitarized Rhineland and the other treaty signatories failed to respond.

Background

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost 13% of its European territory and 12% of its population,^[1] primarily to France (Alsace–Lorraine) and a restored Poland. In order to make sure that Germany could no longer threaten France militarily, its territory west of the Rhine was occupied by Allied troops and all German military activity in the region prohibited; an area fifty kilometres east of the Rhine was also demilitarized. Germany had not been allowed to participate in the treaty negotiations and deeply resented what it considered to be the humiliating terms.^[2] Revising the Versailles Treaty became the main goal of German foreign policy during the Weimar Republic.^[3]

Foreign policy goals

Germany thought that only by revising the Treaty of Versailles could it restore the full internal and diplomatic independence it had lost under the treaty's restrictions. Gustav Stresemann, who had been chancellor and foreign minister of Germany in late 1923 and then stayed on as foreign minister in the following cabinets, had hoped that by attempting to fulfil the terms of the treaty he could gain the goodwill of the Allies and restore some freedom of diplomatic movement.^[4] He wanted to secure the peace, especially with France, recover the land lost to Poland, end reparations payments and the occupation of the Rhineland, and by so doing gradually make Germany a great power again.^[5]

For its part, France was concerned primarily with security against further German aggression. It had signed treaties with Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia, creating a cordon sanitaire ringing Germany on the east.^[6] In the west, France had occupied the Ruhr in order to force the reparations payments, which Germany had defaulted on several times. France was also seeking additional security guarantees from Britain.^[7]

British foreign policy during the interwar years was radically different from France's. It sought to restore Germany as a peaceful, prosperous nation.^[8] Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain hoped that if Franco-German relations improved, France would gradually abandon its cordon sanitaire. Once France had ended its alliances in Eastern Europe as the price of better relations with Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia would have no great power ally to protect them and would be forced to adjust to German demands. Chamberlain believed that the chances for a lasting peace in Europe would improve after they handed over the territories claimed by Germany such as the Sudetenland, the Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig.^[9]

Initiation of the treaties

The push for the Locarno Treaties came as an indirect result of the Allies' refusal to withdraw their troops from the Cologne region and areas of the occupied Rhineland to the north of it. The Treaty of Versailles stipulated the withdrawal five years after the signing of the treaty if Germany had faithfully fulfilled its terms.^[10] An Allied inspection of Germany's military installations had found significant violations of Versailles' disarmament provisions, most notably its failure to adhere to the 100,000-man limit on its army. As a result, the planned withdrawal was postponed.^[11]^[12] On 5 January 1925, the Allies justified their decision in a note with vague references to German "breaches of the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles".^[13]

In order to resolve the issue, German foreign minister Stresemann sent secret memorandums to Great Britain (January 1925) and France (in February) suggesting a treaty which would require all parties interested in the Rhine borders to solve their issues peacefully. Germany, he stated, was ready to guarantee the current border status and to conclude an arbitration pact with France.^[14] Privately, Stresemann hoped that settling border issues with France would make it possible for Germany to adjust its eastern border with Poland to Germany's advantage.^[15]

Following Great Britain's muted expression of openness to the German proposal, France cautiously followed suit.^[16] It wanted Belgium to be included in the treaty and assumed that it would not go into effect until Germany joined the League of Nations. A French condition that particularly concerned Germany asked that the signers of the treaty on Germany's western border be guarantors of the arbitration treaties Germany would sign with Poland and Czechoslovakia.^[17] Germany agreed to accept France's conditions with the important reservation that it would not make guarantees about its eastern borders. Great Britain also did not support France on the issue. Stresemann's diplomatic feelers faced strong opposition at home, especially regarding the renunciation of Germany's claim to Alsace–Lorraine, which was west of the Rhine. The objections came from Chancellor Hans Luther, Defence Secretary Otto Gessler, the political parties of the Right and the leadership of the Reichswehr.^[18]

Following discussions in London in early September between representatives of Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy, the parties agreed to meet in Locarno, Switzerland in October to finalize the treaty.^[17]

Parties and agreement

Attendees

The key attendees at the Locarno meeting between 5 and 16 October 1925 were:^[17]

Signatories of the main treaty (the "high contracting parties" referred to in the text of the treaty):

Germany: Chancellor Hans Luther and Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann
France: Minister of Foreign Affairs Aristide Briand
Great Britain: Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain
Belgium: Minister of Foreign Affairs Emile Vandervelde
Italy: Senator Vittorio Scialoja, with periodic attendance by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini

Signatories of the four separate treaties (in addition to Germany and France)::

Poland: Minister of Foreign Affairs Aleksander Skrzyński
Czechoslovakia: Foreign Minister Edvard Beneš

Treaties and agreements

The seven treaties and agreements were:^[19]

Treaty of mutual guarantee between Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Italy (main treaty)
Arbitration agreements between:
- Germany and France
- Germany and Belgium
Arbitration treaties (rather than agreements because they were not addenda to the main treaty) between:
- Germany and Poland
- Germany and Czechoslovakia
Separate treaties between
- France and Poland
- France and Czechoslovakia

Main terms of the treaty of mutual guarantee

Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium and Italy guaranteed to maintain the inviolability of the borders between Germany and Belgium and between Germany and France as established by the Treaty of Versailles. They also pledged to observe the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland as defined in Articles 42 and 43 of the Treaty of Versailles.
Germany and Belgium, and also Germany and France, mutually promised that they would in no case resort to war against each other. Three exceptions were allowed, including breach of the terms of the demilitarized Rhineland.
Germany, France and Belgium resolved to settle disputes peacefully with the involvement of the League of Nations Council.
Articles 4 and 5 spelled out the mutual guarantees of the provisions and the actions to be taken against a signatory who violated the treaty. The League of Nations was to play a central role in adjudicating violations. If it determined that a breach had occurred, the other signatories were to assist the country against which the violation had taken place.

Arbitration agreements and treaties

Germany–France and Germany–Belgium

The terms of the two arbitration agreements were identical and were intended to peacefully handle "all disputes of every kind between Germany and France / Belgium with regard to which the parties are in conflict as to their respective rights, and which it may not be possible to settle amicably by the normal methods of diplomacy." Each arbitration agreement set up a five-member Permanent Conciliation Commission with one member named by Germany, one by France or Belgium and three others by common agreement from three different countries. If the Permanent Conciliation Commission(s) were not able to reach an agreement, the matter was to be passed to either the Permanent Court of International Justice or an arbitral tribunal as established by the Hague Convention of 1907. If the two parties had not been able to reach an agreement within a month after the Permanent Conciliation Commission finished its work, either party could request that the question be brought before the Council of the League of Nations.

The parties could choose to bypass the Permanent Conciliation Commissions and go directly to the Permanent Court of International Justice or an arbitral tribunal.

Germany–Poland and Germany–Czechoslovakia

The arbitration treaties between Germany and Poland and Germany and Czechoslovakia were in their major points nearly identical to Germany's arbitration agreements with France and Belgium.^[7] The independent treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia were, however, non-binding,^[20] and there was no guarantee of Germany's eastern borders that mirrored the statements in the main treaty that fixed its western borders where they had been set by the Treaty of Versailles.^[21] Stresemann did not want an "Eastern Locarno". His goal was to use economic means to push Poland into border negotiations.^[5]

Poland especially was unhappy about the addendum to the Locarno Treaties titled "Collective Note to Germany Regarding Article 16 of the Covenant of the League of Nations".^[22] Article 16 required member nations to participate in sanctions or military action against a country that attacked a member state of the League. The Collective Note stated that the League would take into consideration a country's military capability when invoking Article 16. Germany interpreted the note to mean that after it joined the League of Nations, it would be free to make its own decision on how to respond if the League invoked Article 16 against the Soviet Union (e.g. for attacking Poland).^[21]^[7]

France–Poland and France–Czechoslovakia

The treaties between France and Poland and France and Czechoslovakia guaranteed mutual assistance under Article 16 of the Covenant of the League of Nations if either party was attacked without provocation due to a failure of the terms of the Locarno Treaties to be observed.^[23]^[24]

Effects and evaluations

In November 1925 the German Reichstag approved the Locarno Treaties by a vote of 291 to 174 with 3 abstentions;^[25]^[26] in the British House of Commons, the vote to pass was 375 to 13.^[27] The treaties were formally signed in London on 1 December.^[28] In Germany the approval led to the collapse of the Luther government. The parties of the Right were angry over the loss of Alsace–Lorraine, while those on the Left feared that Germany could be drawn into a "capitalist war" against the Soviet Union.^[5]

Locarno contributed to the worsening of the atmosphere between Poland and France and weakened the Franco-Polish alliance. Since Germany did not commit to guarantees on its eastern borders, the Locarno Treaties were a defeat for Poland^[20] and one of the contributing factors to the fall of the Grabski cabinet on 14 November 1925. Józef Beck, at the time Poland's military attaché to France, ridiculed the treaties, saying that "Germany was officially asked to attack the east in return for peace in the west."^[29] Józef Piłsudski said that "every honest Pole spits when he hears the word [Locarno]".^[30] Proposals in 1934 (after Adolf Hitler had become German chancellor) for an "eastern Locarno" pact securing Germany's eastern frontiers foundered on German opposition^[31] and on Poland's insistence that its eastern borders should be covered by a western guarantee.

Overall the Locarno Treaties marked a dramatic improvement in the political climate of western Europe from 1925 to 1930. They promoted expectations for continued peaceful settlements, often called the "spirit of Locarno".^[32] As a result of the treaties, the delayed withdrawal of British troops from the Cologne region took place in January 1926, and Germany was accepted into the League of Nations with a permanent seat on the Council on 10 September 1926.^[5] In additional signs of the improved relations between Germany and the Allied powers, the Inter-Allied Commission overseeing Germany's disarmament was disbanded in 1927, the Young Plan for settling reparations issues was signed in 1929, and the last of the occupying troops left the Rhineland in 1930, five years earlier than set by the Treaty of Versailles.^[33]

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the lead negotiators of the treaty: Austen Chamberlain in 1925^[34] and Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann jointly in 1926.^[35]

Historian Sally Marks wrote in her 1976 book "The Illusion of Peace":^[36]

Henceforth the spirit of Locarno would reign, substituting conciliation for enforcement as the basis for peace. Yet for some peace remained a desperate hope rather than an actuality. A few men knew that the spirit of Locarno was a fragile foundation on which to build a lasting peace.

Hans Mommsen, in "The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy", summed up the Locarno Treaties in the following words:^[37]

The "Spirit of Locarno" as a symbol for a new era of international understanding and commitment to avoid European military conflict, however, concealed a tenacious struggle over the interests of national states in which Stresemann, unlike Aristide Briand, showed no inclination whatsoever to make generous concessions. The memorable words of the French premier that Locarno marked "the beginning of an era of trust" never became reality. … In Stresemann's verdict, Locarno represented no more than a first step on the road to the "gradual reacquisition of German sovereignty through a network of European treaties."

End of the treaties

The Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler repudiated the Locarno Treaties when it sent troops across the Rhine on 7 March 1936. Hitler justified the remilitarization of the Rhineland and the breaking of both the Treaty of Versailles and of Locarno by citing Germany's right to self-determination and the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance of 2 May 1935, which he called a breach of the Locarno Treaties. There was no reaction from the signatories of the Locarno Treaties other than verbal condemnation. Italy had already promised not to act, and France did not have the support of Great Britain.^[38] Although the Locarno Treaties remained technically in force, the German remilitarization of the Rhineland and the lack of response to it marked their practical end.

References

^ "Approximate German territorial losses, and related loss of resources, following the Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919". Statista. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
^ "Treaty of Versailles". Encyclopedia Britannica. 9 September 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
^ Scriba, Arnulf (2 September 2014). "Weimarer Republik: Außenpolitik" [Weimar Republic: Foreign Policy]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2024.
^ FCO Historians (2000). "Locarno 1925: The Treaty, the Spirit and the Suite". History Notes (3). Foreign & Commonwealth Office: 14.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Verträge von Locarno" [Locarno Treaties]. Deutsche Geschichten (in German). Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
^ Stephen Schuker, “The End of Versailles”, pp. 38–56 in Gordon Martel, ed. The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered (1999), pp. 48–49.
^ ^a ^b ^c Krüger, Peter. "Der Vertrag von Locarno, 16. Oktober 1925: Einführung" [The Treaty of Locarno, 16 October 1925: Introduction]. 100(0) Schlüsseldokumente zur deutschen Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert (in German). Retrieved 4 September 2024.
^ Magee, Frank (1995). "'Limited Liability'?: Britain and the Treaty of Locarno". Twentieth Century British History. 6 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1093/tcbh/6.1.1.
^ Stephen Schuker, "The End of Versailles" in The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered: A.J.P. Taylor and the Historians edited by Gordon Martel (Routledge: 1999) pp. 48–49.
^ Treaty of Versailles/Part_14 – via Wikisource.
^ Mommsen, Hans (1996). The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy. Translated by Forster, Elborg; Jones, Larry Eugene. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-807-82249-4.
^ Winkler, Heinrich August (1993). Weimar 1918–1933. Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie [Weimar 1918–1933. The History of the FIrst German Democracy] (in German). Munich: C.H. Beck. p. 134. ISBN 3-406-37646-0.
^ "Außenpolitik 1925" [Foreign Policy 1925]. Das Bundesarchiv (in German). Retrieved 8 September 2024.
^ Winkler 1993, p. 306.
^ Weiss, Norman (2006). "Vor achtzig Jahren: Konferenz und Vertragswerk von Locarno" [Eighty Years Ago: The Conference and Treaty of Locarno] (PDF). Die Friedens-Warte (in German). 81: 105.
^ Mommsen 1996, p. 199.
^ ^a ^b ^c Weiss 2006, p. 107.
^ Mommsen 1996, pp. 200–201.
^ FCO Historians 2000, p. 28.
^ ^a ^b Mommsen 1996, p. 205.
^ ^a ^b Manig, Bert-Oliver (5 October 2015). "Konferenz von Locarno. Wenig Anerkennung für erste Friedensordnung in Europa" [Conference of Locarno. Little Recognition for the First Peace Accord in Europe]. Deutschlandfunk (in German). Retrieved 31 August 2024.
^ "League of Nations – Treaty Series" (PDF). United Nations Treaty Collection. p. 301. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
^ "Appendix I : Franco-Polish Treaties of 1921 and 1925". Avalon Project. 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
^ "Franco-Czechoslovak Treaty of Mutual Assistance (October 16, 1925)" (PDF). forost.ungarisches-institut.de. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
^ Winkler 1993, p. 310.
^ "Gesetz über die Verträge von Locarno und den Eintritt Deutschlands in den Völkerbund" [Law on the Treaties of Locarno and Germany's Entry into the League of Nations]. documentArchiv.de (in German). Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^ Steele, John (19 November 1925). "Locarno Pacts Given Britain's O.K. by 375 to 13". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 6.
^ "Chronology 1925". indiana.edu. 2002. Archived from the original on 2 April 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^ Michael Brecher (2016). The World of Protracted Conflicts. Lexington Books. p. 204. ISBN 9781498531887.
^ Piotr Wandycz, France and Her Eastern Allies 1919–1925: French-Czechoslovak-Polish Relations from the Paris Peace Conference to Locarno (1962).
^ "The Eastern Pact". The Spectator. 14 September 1934. p. 1. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^ Stråth, Bo (2016). Europe's Utopias of Peace: 1815, 1919, 1951. London: Bloomsbury. p. 276. ISBN 978-1-474-23774-1.
^ FCO Historians 2000, p. 26.
^ FCO Historians 2000, p. 29.
^ Asmuss, Burkhard; Scriba, Arnulf (2 September 2014). "Die Konferenz von Locarno 1925" [The Locarno Conference]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^ Marks, Sally (1976). The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe 1918–1933. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 89.
^ Mommsen 1996, p. 206.
^ Prinz, Claudia (14 October 2015). "Der Einmarsch ins Rheinland 1936" [The March into the Rhineland]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2024.

External links

Text of the main treatY
Final Protocol and arbitration agreements
Final Protocol and Collective Note to Germany
Map of Europe at time of Locarno Treaties Archived 16 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine at omniatlas.com

[1] "Approximate German territorial losses, and related loss of resources, following the Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919". Statista. Retrieved 12 September 2024.

[2] "Treaty of Versailles". Encyclopedia Britannica. 9 September 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.

[3] Scriba, Arnulf (2 September 2014). "Weimarer Republik: Außenpolitik" [Weimar Republic: Foreign Policy]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2024.

[:2-4] FCO Historians (2000). "Locarno 1925: The Treaty, the Spirit and the Suite". History Notes (3). Foreign & Commonwealth Office: 14.

[:3-5] "Verträge von Locarno" [Locarno Treaties]. Deutsche Geschichten (in German). Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Retrieved 7 September 2024.

[:4-6] Stephen Schuker, “The End of Versailles”, pp. 38–56 in Gordon Martel, ed. The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered (1999), pp. 48–49.

[:1-7] Krüger, Peter. "Der Vertrag von Locarno, 16. Oktober 1925: Einführung" [The Treaty of Locarno, 16 October 1925: Introduction]. 100(0) Schlüsseldokumente zur deutschen Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert (in German). Retrieved 4 September 2024.

[8] Magee, Frank (1995). "'Limited Liability'?: Britain and the Treaty of Locarno". Twentieth Century British History. 6 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1093/tcbh/6.1.1.

[9] Stephen Schuker, "The End of Versailles" in The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered: A.J.P. Taylor and the Historians edited by Gordon Martel (Routledge: 1999) pp. 48–49.

[10] Treaty of Versailles/Part_14 – via Wikisource.

[11] Mommsen, Hans (1996). The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy. Translated by Forster, Elborg; Jones, Larry Eugene. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-807-82249-4.

[12] Winkler, Heinrich August (1993). Weimar 1918–1933. Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie [Weimar 1918–1933. The History of the FIrst German Democracy] (in German). Munich: C.H. Beck. p. 134. ISBN 3-406-37646-0.

[13] "Außenpolitik 1925" [Foreign Policy 1925]. Das Bundesarchiv (in German). Retrieved 8 September 2024.

[FOOTNOTEWinkler1993306-14] Winkler 1993, p. 306.

[15] Weiss, Norman (2006). "Vor achtzig Jahren: Konferenz und Vertragswerk von Locarno" [Eighty Years Ago: The Conference and Treaty of Locarno] (PDF). Die Friedens-Warte (in German). 81: 105.

[FOOTNOTEMommsen1996199-16] Mommsen 1996, p. 199.

[FOOTNOTEWeiss2006107-17] Weiss 2006, p. 107.

[FOOTNOTEMommsen1996200–201-18] Mommsen 1996, pp. 200–201.

[FOOTNOTEFCO_Historians200028-19] FCO Historians 2000, p. 28.

[FOOTNOTEMommsen1996205-20] Mommsen 1996, p. 205.

[:0-21] Manig, Bert-Oliver (5 October 2015). "Konferenz von Locarno. Wenig Anerkennung für erste Friedensordnung in Europa" [Conference of Locarno. Little Recognition for the First Peace Accord in Europe]. Deutschlandfunk (in German). Retrieved 31 August 2024.

[22] "League of Nations – Treaty Series" (PDF). United Nations Treaty Collection. p. 301. Retrieved 7 September 2024.

[23] "Appendix I : Franco-Polish Treaties of 1921 and 1925". Avalon Project. 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2024.

[24] "Franco-Czechoslovak Treaty of Mutual Assistance (October 16, 1925)" (PDF). forost.ungarisches-institut.de. Retrieved 13 September 2024.

[FOOTNOTEWinkler1993310-25] Winkler 1993, p. 310.

[26] "Gesetz über die Verträge von Locarno und den Eintritt Deutschlands in den Völkerbund" [Law on the Treaties of Locarno and Germany's Entry into the League of Nations]. documentArchiv.de (in German). Retrieved 11 September 2024.

[27] Steele, John (19 November 1925). "Locarno Pacts Given Britain's O.K. by 375 to 13". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 6.

[chronology_1925-28] "Chronology 1925". indiana.edu. 2002. Archived from the original on 2 April 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2024.

[29] Michael Brecher (2016). The World of Protracted Conflicts. Lexington Books. p. 204. ISBN 9781498531887.

[30] Piotr Wandycz, France and Her Eastern Allies 1919–1925: French-Czechoslovak-Polish Relations from the Paris Peace Conference to Locarno (1962).

[31] "The Eastern Pact". The Spectator. 14 September 1934. p. 1. Retrieved 11 September 2024.

[32] Stråth, Bo (2016). Europe's Utopias of Peace: 1815, 1919, 1951. London: Bloomsbury. p. 276. ISBN 978-1-474-23774-1.

[FOOTNOTEFCO_Historians200026-33] FCO Historians 2000, p. 26.

[FOOTNOTEFCO_Historians200029-34] FCO Historians 2000, p. 29.

[35] Asmuss, Burkhard; Scriba, Arnulf (2 September 2014). "Die Konferenz von Locarno 1925" [The Locarno Conference]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 11 September 2024.

[36] Marks, Sally (1976). The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe 1918–1933. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 89.

[FOOTNOTEMommsen1996206-37] Mommsen 1996, p. 206.

[38] Prinz, Claudia (14 October 2015). "Der Einmarsch ins Rheinland 1936" [The March into the Rhineland]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2024.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{short description|1925 territorial settlements between the Allies of WWI and the new European states}}
+{{short description|1925 agreements between Germany and its neighbours}}
 {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
 {{infobox treaty
@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 | location_signed      = [[London]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom|UK]]
 | date_sealed          =
-| date_effective       =
+| date_effective       = {{Start date|df=yes|1926|9|14}}
-| condition_effective  =
+| condition_effective  = [[Weimar Republic|Germany]]'s entry into the [[League of Nations]]
 | date_expiration      =
 | date_expiry          =
@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 {{Paris Peace Conference sidebox}}
+The '''Locarno Treaties''' were seven post-World War I agreements negotiated amongst Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] and [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]] in late 1925. In the main treaty, the five western European nations pledged to guarantee the inviolability of the borders between Germany and France and Germany and Belgium as defined in the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. They also promised to observe the demilitarized zone of the German [[Rhineland]] and to resolve differences peacefully under the auspices of the [[League of Nations]]. In the additional arbitration treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia, Germany agreed to the peaceful settlement of disputes, but there was notably no guarantee of its eastern border, leaving the path open for Germany to attempt to revise the Versailles Treaty and regain territory it had lost in the east under its terms.
-The '''Locarno Treaties''' were seven agreements negotiated at [[Locarno]], [[Switzerland]], during 5 to 16 October 1925 and formally signed in [[London]] on 1 December, in which the [[World War I|First World War]] [[Western Europe]]an [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] powers and the new states of [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] sought to secure the post-war territorial settlement, in return for normalising relations with the defeated [[German Reich]] (the [[Weimar Republic]]). It also stated that Germany would never go to war with the other countries. Locarno divided borders in Europe into two categories: western, which were guaranteed by the Locarno Treaties, and [[Germany–Poland border#History|eastern borders]] of Germany with [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], which were open for revision.
+The Locarno Treaties significantly improved the political climate of western Europe from 1925 to 1930 and fostered expectations for continued peaceful settlements which were often referred to as the "spirit of Locarno". The most notable result of the treaties was Germany's acceptance into the League of Nations in 1926.
-==Planning the treaties==
-{{more citations needed|section|date=September 2020}}
-German foreign minister [[Gustav Stresemann]] made his highest priority the restoration of German prestige and privileges as a leading European nation. French withdrawal from the [[Occupation of the Ruhr]] was scheduled for January 1925, but Stresemann sensed that France was very nervous about its security and might cancel the withdrawal. Having realized that France deeply desired a British guarantee of its postwar borders, but that London was reluctant, Stresemann came up with a plan whereby all sides would get what they wanted: through a series of treaties that promised these guarantees. Upon hearing this proposal, British Foreign Minister [[Austen Chamberlain]] enthusiastically agreed. France realized that its occupation of the Ruhr had caused much financial and diplomatic damage.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/history_notes_cover_hphn_3 |title=History Notes Issue 3 Locarno 1925: The Treaty, the Spirit and the Suite |publisher=Foreign And Commonwealth Office |year=1991 |pages=13}}</ref> The foreign ministers then convened in the Swiss resort of Locarno in October 1925, where they came to an agreement on the treaties.
+The treaties effectively went out of force on 7 March 1936 when troops of [[Nazi Germany]] entered the demilitarized Rhineland and the other treaty signatories failed to respond.
-The first treaty was the most critical: a mutual guarantee of the frontiers of Belgium, France, and Germany, guaranteed by Britain and Italy. The second and third treaties called for arbitration between Germany and [[Belgium]], and Germany and France, regarding future disputes. The fourth and fifth were similar arbitration treaties between Germany and Poland, and Germany and Czechoslovakia. Poland especially, and Czechoslovakia as well, felt threatened by the Locarno agreements and these treaties were an attempt to reassure them. Thanks to the [[Dawes Plan]], Germany was now making regular reparations payments. The success of the Locarno agreements led to the admission of Germany to the [[League of Nations]] in September 1926, with a seat on its council as a permanent member.<ref>Norman Rich, ''Great Power Diplomacy since 1914 '' (2003) pp. 148–49.</ref>
-==Goals==
+== Background ==
+[[File:German losses after WWI.svg|left|thumb|German territorial losses under the Treaty of Versailles (in pale yelllow)]]
-For the British government, the main goals were promoting Franco-German reconciliation, and the expectation that reconciliation would lead to France dissolving its ''[[Cordon sanitaire (international relations)|Cordon sanitaire]]'', as the French alliance system in [[Eastern Europe]] was known between the wars.<ref>Stephen Schuker, “The End of Versailles”, pp. 38–56 in Gordon Martel, ed. ''The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered'' (1999), pp. 48–49.</ref> If France were to dissolve its alliances in Eastern Europe, Poland would peacefully hand over the territories ceded by Germany in the Versailles Peace Treaty: the [[Polish Corridor]], the [[Free City of Danzig]] (modern [[Gdańsk]], Poland) and [[Upper Silesia]].<ref>Schuker, “The End of Versailles” in ''The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered'' pp. 48–49; J W Bruegel, "German Diplomacy and the Sudeten Question before 1938" in ''International Affairs'' vol. 37 no. 3 (Jul 1961): 323-326, discusses the lack of German revisionism towards German-speaking Czechoslovakia in the 1920s.</ref>
+Under the terms of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], Germany lost 13% of its European territory and 12% of its population,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Approximate German territorial losses, and related loss of resources, following the Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086370/territorial-resource-loss-treaty-of-versailles/#:~:text=Parts%20II%20and%20III%20of,percent%20of%20their%20respective%20totals). |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=Statista}}</ref> primarily to France ([[Alsace–Lorraine]]) and a restored [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]]. In order to make sure that Germany could no longer threaten France militarily, its territory west of the Rhine was [[Occupation of the Rhineland|occupied by Allied troops]] and all German military activity in the region prohibited; an area fifty kilometres east of the Rhine was also demilitarized. Germany had not been allowed to participate in the treaty negotiations and deeply resented what it considered to be the humiliating terms.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 September 2024 |title=Treaty of Versailles |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Versailles-1919 |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> Revising the Versailles Treaty became the main goal of German foreign policy during the [[Weimar Republic]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scriba |first=Arnulf |date=2 September 2014 |title=Weimarer Republik: Außenpolitik |trans-title=Weimar Republic: Foreign Policy |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/aussenpolitik.html |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref>
-==Parties and agreement==
+==Foreign policy goals==
+Germany thought that only by revising the Treaty of Versailles could it restore the full internal and diplomatic independence it had lost under the treaty's restrictions. [[Gustav Stresemann]], who had been chancellor and foreign minister of Germany in late 1923 and then stayed on as foreign minister in the following cabinets, had hoped that by attempting to fulfil the terms of the treaty he could gain the goodwill of the Allies and restore some freedom of diplomatic movement.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=FCO Historians |date=2000 |title=Locarno 1925: The Treaty, the Spirit and the Suite |url=https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/history_notes_cover_hphn_3 |journal=History Notes |publisher=Foreign & Commonwealth Office |issue=3 |page=14}}</ref> He wanted to secure the peace, especially with France, recover the land lost to Poland, end [[World War I reparations|reparations payments]] and the occupation of the Rhineland, and by so doing gradually make Germany a great power again.<ref name=":3" />
-The principal treaty concluded at Locarno was the Rhineland Pact between Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Germany formally recognised its new western borders as established by the Treaty of Versailles. Furthermore, the first three signatories undertook not to attack each other, with the latter two acting as guarantors. In the event of aggression by any of the first three states against another, all other parties were to assist the country under attack.<ref>Jon Jacobson, ''Locarno diplomacy: Germany and the west, 1925–1929'' (2015).</ref>
+For its part, France was concerned primarily with security against further German aggression. It had signed treaties with Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia, creating a ''[[Cordon sanitaire (international relations)|cordon sanitaire]]'' ringing Germany on the east.<ref name=":4">Stephen Schuker, “The End of Versailles”, pp. 38–56 in Gordon Martel, ed. ''The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered'' (1999), pp. 48–49.</ref> In the west, France had [[Occupation of the Ruhr|occupied the Ruhr]] in order to force the reparations payments, which Germany had defaulted on several times. France was also seeking additional security guarantees from Britain.<ref name=":1" />
-Germany also agreed to sign arbitration conventions with France and Belgium and arbitration treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia, undertaking to refer future disputes to an arbitration tribunal or to the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]].
+British foreign policy during the interwar years was radically different from France's. It sought to restore Germany as a peaceful, prosperous nation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Magee |first1=Frank |date=1995 |title='Limited Liability'?: Britain and the Treaty of Locarno |journal=Twentieth Century British History |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1093/tcbh/6.1.1}}</ref> Foreign Secretary [[Austen Chamberlain]] hoped that if Franco-German relations improved, France would gradually abandon its {{Lang|fr|cordon sanitaire}}. Once France had ended its alliances in Eastern Europe as the price of better relations with Germany, Poland and [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]] would have no great power ally to protect them and would be forced to adjust to German demands. Chamberlain believed that the chances for a lasting peace in Europe would improve after they handed over the territories claimed by Germany such as the [[Sudetenland]], the [[Polish Corridor]] and the [[Free City of Danzig]].<ref>Stephen Schuker, "The End of Versailles" in ''The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered: A.J.P. Taylor and the Historians'' edited by Gordon Martel (Routledge: 1999) pp. 48–49.</ref>
-France signed further treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia, pledging mutual assistance in the event of conflict with Germany. These essentially reaffirmed existing treaties of alliance concluded by France with Poland on 19 February 1921 and with Czechoslovakia on 25 January 1924. These treaties also showed that relations between France and Germany had not improved to a large extent.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
+==Initiation of the treaties==
-==Effect==
+The push for the Locarno Treaties came as an indirect result of the Allies' refusal to withdraw their troops from the [[Cologne]] region and areas of the occupied Rhineland to the north of it. The Treaty of Versailles stipulated the withdrawal five years after the signing of the treaty if Germany had faithfully fulfilled its terms.<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part_14}}</ref> An Allied inspection of Germany's military installations had found significant violations of Versailles' disarmament provisions, most notably its failure to adhere to the 100,000-man limit on its army. As a result, the planned withdrawal was postponed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mommsen |first=Hans |author-link=Hans Mommsen |title=The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-807-82249-4 |location=Chapel Hill |page=197 |translator-last=Forster |translator-first=Elborg |translator-last2=Jones |translator-first2=Larry Eugene}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Winkler |first=Heinrich August |author-link=Heinrich August Winkler |title=Weimar 1918–1933. Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie |title-link=Heinrich August Winkler |publisher=C.H. Beck |year=1993 |isbn=3-406-37646-0 |location=Munich |page=134 |language=de |trans-title=Weimar 1918–1933. The History of the FIrst German Democracy}}</ref> On 5 January 1925, the Allies justified their decision in a note with vague references to German "breaches of the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles".<ref>{{cite web |title=Außenpolitik 1925 |trans-title=Foreign Policy 1925 |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/lut/lut1p/kap1_1/kap2_1/para3_2.html |accessdate=8 September 2024 |website=Das Bundesarchiv |language=de}}</ref>
-The Locarno Treaties marked a dramatic improvement in the political climate of western Europe in 1925–1930. They promoted expectations for continued peaceful settlements, often called the "spirit of Locarno". This spirit was made concrete when Germany joined the League in 1926, and the withdrawal of Allied troops occupying Germany's [[Rhineland]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Bo Stråth|title=Europe's Utopias of Peace: 1815, 1919, 1951 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sMY7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT398 |year=2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury |page=398 |isbn=9781474237741}}</ref>
+[[File:Locarno F1 (2).jpg|left|thumb|293x293px|The German delegation at Locarno. [[Gustav Stresemann]] is fifth from the left; [[Hans Luther]] is standing slightly behind him, to his left.]]
-The [[Nobel Peace Prize]] was given to the lead negotiators of the treaty, going to Chamberlain in 1925 and jointly to [[Aristide Briand]] and Stresemann in 1926.
+In order to resolve the issue, German foreign minister Stresemann sent secret memorandums to Great Britain (January 1925) and France (in February) suggesting a treaty which would require all parties interested in the Rhine borders to solve their issues peacefully. Germany, he stated, was ready to guarantee the current border status and to conclude an arbitration pact with France.{{Sfn|Winkler|1993|p=306}} Privately, Stresemann hoped that settling border issues with France would make it possible for Germany to adjust its eastern border with Poland to Germany's advantage.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weiss |first=Norman |date=2006 |title=Vor achtzig Jahren: Konferenz und Vertragswerk von Locarno |trans-title=Eighty Years Ago: The Conference and Treaty of Locarno |url=https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/44196/file/pjr6.pdf |journal=Die Friedens-Warte |language=de |volume=81 |page=105}}</ref>
+Following Great Britain's muted expression of openness to the German proposal, France cautiously followed suit.{{Sfn|Mommsen|1996|p=199}} It wanted Belgium to be included in the treaty and assumed that it would not go into effect until Germany joined the [[League of Nations]]. A French condition that particularly concerned Germany asked that the signers of the treaty on Germany's western border be guarantors of the arbitration treaties Germany would sign with Poland and Czechoslovakia.{{Sfn|Weiss|2006|p=107}} Germany agreed to accept France's conditions with the important reservation that it would not make guarantees about its eastern borders. Great Britain also did not support France on the issue. Stresemann's diplomatic feelers faced strong opposition at home, especially regarding the renunciation of Germany's claim to Alsace–Lorraine, which was west of the Rhine. The objections came from Chancellor [[Hans Luther]], Defence Secretary [[Otto Gessler]], the political parties of the Right and the leadership of the ''[[Reichswehr]]''.{{Sfn|Mommsen|1996|pp=200–201}}
-Historian Sally Marks says:
-{{blockquote|Henceforth the spirit of Locarno would reign, substituting conciliation for enforcement as the basis for peace. Yet for some peace remained a desperate hope rather than an actuality. A few men knew that the spirit of Locarno was a fragile foundation on which to build a lasting peace.<ref>{{cite book |author=Sally Marks |title=The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe 1918–1933 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5OonBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT89 |year=2003 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=89 |isbn=9781137127327}}</ref>}}
+Following discussions in London in early September between representatives of Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy, the parties agreed to meet in [[Locarno]], Switzerland in October to finalize the treaty.{{Sfn|Weiss|2006|p=107}}
-Hitler repudiated Locarno by sending troops into the [[Remilitarization of the Rhineland|demilitarized Rhineland]] on 7 March 1936.
+== Parties and agreement ==
-In Poland, the public humiliation received by Polish diplomats was one of the contributing factors to the fall of the Grabski cabinet. Locarno contributed to the worsening of the atmosphere between Poland and France, weakening the [[Franco-Polish alliance]]. [[Józef Beck]] ridiculed the treaties saying, "Germany was officially asked to attack the east, in return for peace in the west."<ref>{{cite book |author=Michael Brecher |title=The World of Protracted Conflicts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQ4XDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA204 |year=2016 |publisher=Lexington Books |page=204 |isbn=9781498531887}}</ref> [[Józef Piłsudski]] would say that "every honest Pole spits when he hears this word [Locarno]".<ref>Piotr Wandycz, ''France and Her Eastern Allies 1919–1925: French-Czechoslovak-Polish Relations from the Paris Peace Conference to Locarno'' (1962).</ref> Proposals in 1934 for an "eastern Locarno" pact securing Germany's eastern frontiers foundered on German opposition and on Poland's insistence that its eastern borders should be covered by a western guarantee of her borders. The Locarno treaty was heavily undermined by the [[Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance]] on 2 May 1935, which the German government claimed was a violation of its "spirit".{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
+{{Further|First Luther cabinet#Security policy and the Locarno Treaties}}
+=== Attendees ===
+[[File:Verträge von Locarno, 1925.jpg|thumb|383x383px|Group photograph of the Locarno conference attendees]]
+The key attendees at the Locarno meeting between 5 and 16 October 1925 were:{{Sfn|Weiss|2006|p=107}}
+Signatories of the main treaty (the "high contracting parties" referred to in the text of the treaty):
+* Germany: Chancellor [[Hans Luther]] and Foreign Minister [[Gustav Stresemann]]
+* France: Minister of Foreign Affairs [[Aristide Briand]]
+* Great Britain: Foreign Secretary [[Austen Chamberlain]]
+* Belgium: Minister of Foreign Affairs [[Emile Vandervelde]]
+* Italy: Senator [[Vittorio Scialoja]], with periodic attendance by Prime Minister [[Benito Mussolini]]
+Signatories of the four separate treaties (in addition to Germany and France)::
+* Poland: Minister of Foreign Affairs [[Aleksander Skrzyński]]
+* Czechoslovakia: Foreign Minister [[Edvard Beneš]]
+=== Treaties and agreements ===
+The seven treaties and agreements were:{{Sfn|FCO Historians|2000|p=28}}
+* Treaty of mutual guarantee between Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Italy (main treaty)
+* Arbitration agreements between:
+** Germany and France
+** Germany and Belgium
+* Arbitration treaties (rather than agreements because they were not addenda to the main treaty) between:
+** Germany and Poland
+** Germany and Czechoslovakia
+* Separate treaties between
+** France and Poland
+** France and Czechoslovakia
+=== Main terms of the treaty of mutual guarantee ===
+* Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium and Italy guaranteed to maintain the inviolability of the borders between Germany and Belgium and between Germany and France as established by the Treaty of Versailles. They also pledged to observe the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland as defined in Articles 42 and 43 of the Treaty of Versailles.
+* Germany and Belgium, and also Germany and France, mutually promised that they would in no case resort to war against each other. Three exceptions were allowed, including breach of the terms of the demilitarized Rhineland.
+* Germany, France and Belgium resolved to settle disputes peacefully with the involvement of the League of Nations Council.
+* Articles 4 and 5 spelled out the mutual guarantees of the provisions and the actions to be taken against a signatory who violated the treaty. The League of Nations was to play a central role in adjudicating violations. If it determined that a breach had occurred, the other signatories were to assist the country against which the violation had taken place.
+=== Arbitration agreements and treaties ===
+==== Germany–France and Germany–Belgium ====
+[[File:1925 Belgian Delegation Locarno.jpg|thumb|[[Autochrome Lumière|Autochrome]] of the Belgian delegation. Left to right: [[Henri Rolin]], Joseph de Ruelle, [[Emile Vandervelde]], Pierre van Zuylen and Ferdinand du Chastel]]
+The terms of the two arbitration agreements were identical and were intended to peacefully handle "all disputes of every kind between Germany and France / Belgium with regard to which the parties are in conflict as to their respective rights, and which it may not be possible to settle amicably by the normal methods of diplomacy." Each arbitration agreement set up a five-member Permanent Conciliation Commission with one member named by Germany, one by France or Belgium and three others by common agreement from three different countries. If the Permanent Conciliation Commission(s) were not able to reach an agreement, the matter was to be passed to either the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]] or an arbitral tribunal as established by the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907|Hague Convention]] of 1907. If the two parties had not been able to reach an agreement within a month after the Permanent Conciliation Commission finished its work, either party could request that the question be brought before the Council of the League of Nations.
+The parties could choose to bypass the Permanent Conciliation Commissions and go directly to the Permanent Court of International Justice or an arbitral tribunal.
+==== Germany–Poland and Germany–Czechoslovakia ====
+The arbitration treaties between Germany and Poland and Germany and Czechoslovakia were in their major points nearly identical to Germany's arbitration agreements with France and Belgium.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Krüger |first=Peter |title=Der Vertrag von Locarno, 16. Oktober 1925: Einführung |trans-title=The Treaty of Locarno, 16 October 1925: Introduction |url=https://www.1000dokumente.de/index.html?c=dokument_de&dokument=0003_loc&object=context&st=&l=de |access-date=4 September 2024 |website=100(0) Schlüsseldokumente zur deutschen Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert |language=de}}</ref> The independent treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia were, however, non-binding,{{Sfn|Mommsen|1996|p=205}} and there was no guarantee of Germany's eastern borders that mirrored the statements in the main treaty that fixed its western borders where they had been set by the Treaty of Versailles.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Manig |first=Bert-Oliver |date=5 October 2015 |title=Konferenz von Locarno. Wenig Anerkennung für erste Friedensordnung in Europa |trans-title=Conference of Locarno. Little Recognition for the First Peace Accord in Europe |url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/konferenz-von-locarno-wenig-anerkennung-fuer-erste-100.html |access-date=31 August 2024 |website=Deutschlandfunk |language=de}}</ref> Stresemann did not want an "Eastern Locarno". His goal was to use economic means to push Poland into border negotiations.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Verträge von Locarno |trans-title=Locarno Treaties |url=http://www.deutschegeschichten.de/popup/objekt.asp?OzIID=5591&ObjKatID=106&ThemaKatID=1002 |access-date=7 September 2024 |website=Deutsche Geschichten |publisher=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung |language=de}}</ref>
+Poland especially was unhappy about the addendum to the Locarno Treaties titled "Collective Note to Germany Regarding Article 16 of the [[Covenant of the League of Nations]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=League of Nations – Treaty Series |url=https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2054/volume-I-1292-English.pdf |access-date=7 September 2024 |website=United Nations Treaty Collection |page=301}}</ref> Article 16 required member nations to participate in sanctions or military action against a country that attacked a member state of the League. The Collective Note stated that the League would take into consideration a country's military capability when invoking Article 16. Germany interpreted the note to mean that after it joined the League of Nations, it would be free to make its own decision on how to respond if the League invoked Article 16 against the Soviet Union (e.g. for attacking Poland).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
+=== France–Poland and France–Czechoslovakia ===
+The treaties between France and Poland and France and Czechoslovakia guaranteed mutual assistance under Article 16 of the Covenant of the League of Nations if either party was attacked without provocation due to a failure of the terms of the Locarno Treaties to be observed.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008 |title=Appendix I : Franco-Polish Treaties of 1921 and 1925 |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/ylbka1.asp#:~:text=In%20the%20event%20of%20Poland,undertake%20to%20lend%20each%20other |access-date=13 September 2024 |website=Avalon Project}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Franco-Czechoslovak Treaty of Mutual Assistance (October 16, 1925) |url=http://www.forost.ungarisches-institut.de/pdf/19251016-1.pdf |access-date=13 September 2024 |website=forost.ungarisches-institut.de}}</ref>
+==Effects and evaluations ==
+[[File:Locarno Kantonspolizei.jpg|thumb|273x273px|The former court house in [[Locarno]] where the treaties were negotiated]]
+In November 1925 the German [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] approved the Locarno Treaties by a vote of 291 to 174 with 3 abstentions;{{Sfn|Winkler|1993|p=310}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gesetz über die Verträge von Locarno und den Eintritt Deutschlands in den Völkerbund |trans-title=Law on the Treaties of Locarno and Germany's Entry into the League of Nations |url=http://www.documentarchiv.de/wr/1925/locarno-vertrag_ges.html |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=documentArchiv.de |language=de}}</ref> in the British House of Commons, the vote to pass was 375 to 13.<ref>{{cite news |last=Steele |first=John |date=19 November 1925 |title=Locarno Pacts Given Britain's O.K. by 375 to 13 |work=[[Chicago Daily Tribune]] |page=6}}</ref> The treaties were formally signed in London on 1 December.<ref name="chronology 1925">{{cite web |date=2002 |title=Chronology 1925 |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1925.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402163002/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1925.htm |archive-date=2 April 2020 |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=indiana.edu}}</ref> In Germany the approval led to the collapse of the [[First Luther cabinet|Luther government]]. The parties of the Right were angry over the loss of Alsace–Lorraine, while those on the Left feared that Germany could be drawn into a "capitalist war" against the Soviet Union.<ref name=":3" />
+Locarno contributed to the worsening of the atmosphere between Poland and France and weakened the [[Franco-Polish alliance]]. Since Germany did not commit to guarantees on its eastern borders, the Locarno Treaties were a defeat for Poland{{Sfn|Mommsen|1996|p=205}} and one of the contributing factors to the fall of the [[Władysław Grabski|Grabski]] cabinet on 14 November 1925. [[Józef Beck]], at the time Poland's military attaché to France, ridiculed the treaties, saying that "Germany was officially asked to attack the east in return for peace in the west."<ref>{{cite book |author=Michael Brecher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQ4XDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA204 |title=The World of Protracted Conflicts |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2016 |isbn=9781498531887 |page=204}}</ref> [[Józef Piłsudski]] said that "every honest Pole spits when he hears the word [Locarno]".<ref>Piotr Wandycz, ''France and Her Eastern Allies 1919–1925: French-Czechoslovak-Polish Relations from the Paris Peace Conference to Locarno'' (1962).</ref> Proposals in 1934 (after [[Adolf Hitler]] had become German chancellor) for an "eastern Locarno" pact securing Germany's eastern frontiers foundered on German opposition<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 September 1934 |title=The Eastern Pact |url=https://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/14th-september-1934/1/the-eastern-pact- |access-date=11 September 2024 |work=[[The Spectator]] |pages=1}}</ref> and on Poland's insistence that its eastern borders should be covered by a western guarantee.
+Overall the Locarno Treaties marked a dramatic improvement in the political climate of western Europe from 1925 to 1930. They promoted expectations for continued peaceful settlements, often called the "spirit of Locarno".<ref>{{cite book |author=Stråth |first=Bo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sMY7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT276 |title=Europe's Utopias of Peace: 1815, 1919, 1951 |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-474-23774-1 |location=London |page=276}}</ref> As a result of the treaties, the delayed withdrawal of British troops from the Cologne region took place in January 1926, and Germany was accepted into the League of Nations with a permanent seat on the Council on 10 September 1926.<ref name=":3" /> In additional signs of the improved relations between Germany and the Allied powers, the [[Inter-Allied Commission]] overseeing Germany's disarmament was disbanded in 1927, the [[Young Plan]] for settling reparations issues was signed in 1929, and the last of the occupying troops left the Rhineland in 1930, five years earlier than set by the Treaty of Versailles.{{Sfn|FCO Historians|2000|p=26}}
+The [[Nobel Peace Prize]] was awarded to the lead negotiators of the treaty: Austen Chamberlain in 1925{{Sfn|FCO Historians|2000|p=29}} and Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann jointly in 1926.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Asmuss |first=Burkhard |last2=Scriba |first2=Arnulf |date=2 September 2014 |title=Die Konferenz von Locarno 1925 |trans-title=The Locarno Conference |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/aussenpolitik/konferenz-von-locarno-1925.html |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref>
+Historian [[Sally Marks]] wrote in her 1976 book "The Illusion of Peace":<ref>{{cite book |author=Marks |first=Sally |author-link=Sally Marks |url= |title=The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe 1918–1933 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=1976 |isbn= |location=London and New York |page=89}}</ref><blockquote>Henceforth the spirit of Locarno would reign, substituting conciliation for enforcement as the basis for peace. Yet for some peace remained a desperate hope rather than an actuality. A few men knew that the spirit of Locarno was a fragile foundation on which to build a lasting peace.</blockquote>[[Hans Mommsen]], in "The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy", summed up the Locarno Treaties in the following words:{{Sfn|Mommsen|1996|p=206}}<blockquote>The "Spirit of Locarno" as a symbol for a new era of international understanding and commitment to avoid European military conflict, however, concealed a tenacious struggle over the interests of national states in which Stresemann, unlike Aristide Briand, showed no inclination whatsoever to make generous concessions. The memorable words of the French premier that Locarno marked "the beginning of an era of trust" never became reality. … In Stresemann's verdict, Locarno represented no more than a first step on the road to the "gradual reacquisition of German sovereignty through a network of European treaties."</blockquote>
+== End of the treaties ==
+The [[Nazi regime]] under Adolf Hitler repudiated the Locarno Treaties when it sent troops across the Rhine on 7 March 1936. Hitler justified the [[remilitarisation of the Rhineland|remilitarization of the Rhineland]] and the breaking of both the Treaty of Versailles and of Locarno by citing Germany's right to self-determination and the [[Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance]] of 2 May 1935, which he called a breach of the Locarno Treaties. There was no reaction from the signatories of the Locarno Treaties other than verbal condemnation. Italy had already promised not to act, and France did not have the support of Great Britain.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Prinz |first=Claudia |date=14 October 2015 |title=Der Einmarsch ins Rheinland 1936 |trans-title=The March into the Rhineland |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/ns-regime/aussenpolitik/einmarsch-ins-rheinland-1936.html |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> Although the Locarno Treaties remained technically in force, the German remilitarization of the Rhineland and the lack of response to it marked their practical end.
 ==See also==
@@ Line 72: / Line 136: @@
 * [[Little Entente]]
-==Notes==
+==References==
 {{reflist|2}}
@@ Line 93: / Line 157: @@
 ==External links==
 {{wiktionary|locarnize}}
-* [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1918p/locarno.html ''Text of the Treaties'']
+* ''[https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/locarno_001.asp Text of the main treatY]''
+* ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/20661099?seq=1 Final Protocol and arbitration agreements]''
-* [http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/World/Locarno.CP.htm ''Locarno Treaties'']
-* [http://www.fransamaltingvongeusau.com/documents/dl1/h2/1.2.3.pdf Final Protocol of the Locarno Conference of the same Date and Collective Note to Germany dated London, December 1, 1925, regarding Article 16 of the Covenant of the League of Nations]
+* [http://www.fransamaltingvongeusau.com/documents/dl1/h2/1.2.3.pdf Final Protocol and Collective Note to Germany]
+* [http://maps.omniatlas.com/europe/19251201/ Map of Europe at time of Locarno Treaties] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316055830/http://maps.omniatlas.com/europe/19251201/ |date=16 March 2015 }} at omniatlas.com
-* [http://treaties.un.org/Pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=08000002801683d0 Treaty of Mutual Guarantee, done at Locarno, October 16, 1925]
-* [http://maps.omniatlas.com/europe/19251201/ Map of Europe at time of Locarno Treaties] at omniatlas.com
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 [[Category:Treaties of the Weimar Republic]]

v t e Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)
League of Nations	Covenant of the League of Nations Members Organisation Minority Treaties Little Treaty of Versailles Mandates
Treaty of Versailles	"War guilt" clause Reparations Reparation Commission Dawes Plan Hague conference on reparations Young Plan Lausanne Conference Locarno Stresa Front Possible cause of the Second World War International Opium Convention
Subsequent treaties	Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine Treaty of Trianon
Treaty of Sèvres	Partition of the Ottoman Empire Conference of London (1920) San Remo conference Turkish National Movement Turkish War of Independence Treaty of Lausanne
Other	Big Four American Commission to Negotiate Peace Commission of Responsibilities The Inquiry List of participants
Paintings	A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors To the Unknown British Soldier in France

Authority control databases
International	VIAF 2
National	Germany France BnF data Japan
Other	IdRef