We explain what the Locarno Treaties were, as well as their causes, consequences and main protagonists.
Gustav Stresemann, Austen Chamberlain and Aristide Briand were the protagonists of the Locarno Treaties.
What were the Locarno Treaties?
The Locarno Treaties were a set of agreements by which Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Italy sought to ensure the maintenance of peace in Western Europe. The treaties were negotiated in the Swiss city of Locarno in October 1925 and were signed in London on 1 December 1925.
The most important of the Locarno Treaties was the one that established an agreement on Germany’s borders with France and BelgiumThis agreement meant German recognition of the western borders laid down in the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and a mutual guarantee to respect them. Another important point was the commitment to resolve conflicts by peaceful means.
The Locarno Treaties marked the beginning of an era known as the Briand-Stresemann era, named after the French and German foreign ministers, characterized by the easing of tensions between the two countriesThis détente was also called the “Locarno spirit”.
Following the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany, the Soviet Union and France signed an agreement to which Germany responded with the remilitarization of the Rhineland. in 1936. This fact represented a violation of the terms of the Locarno Treaty and inaugurated the German expansionism that led to the start of the Second World War in September 1939.
Frequent questions
What were the Locarno Treaties?
The Locarno Treaties were a series of agreements signed by Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Italy to ensure peace in Western Europe in the interwar period. The main agreement was the mutual recognition of Germany’s western borders.
Who signed the Locarno Treaties?
The Locarno Treaties were signed by the governments of Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Italy.
When were the Locarno Treaties signed?
The Locarno Treaties were agreed in October 1925 in the Swiss city of Locarno and signed on 1 December 1925 in London.
Why was the spirit of Locarno important?
The Locarno spirit was the climate of political harmony between the countries of Western Europe that characterised the period opened by the Locarno Treaties in 1925. It coincided with a time of economic prosperity after the difficulties of the immediate post-war period. The economic prosperity was interrupted by the crisis that began in 1929 and the Locarno spirit ended after Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in 1933 and the German remilitarisation of the Rhineland in 1936.
The historical context
The Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr caused a serious economic crisis in Germany in 1923.
Following the German defeat in the First World War (1914-1918), The governments of the victorious countries imposed a series of conditions on Germany by signing the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
The territorial clauses of the Treaty of Versailles meant that Germany lost 13% of its territory. The military clauses led to a sharp reduction in Germany’s armament and troops, as well as the demilitarisation of the Rhineland (a region bordering France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and the Allied occupation of the western part of that region.
These clauses were added to war reparations, that is, the expensive economic compensation that Germany had to pay to the victorious countries. Germany’s problems in meeting war reparations led to the French and Belgian occupation of the German Ruhr region in 1923.This caused a major economic crisis in Germany. The United States and the United Kingdom put pressure on the French and German governments to negotiate.
In 1924, the parties involved agreed to the Dawes Plan, drawn up by a commission chaired by the American financier Charles Dawes, which facilitated Germany’s payment of reparations. This situation of economic harmony was related to A new era of political cooperation which was reflected in the signing of the Locarno Treaties in 1925.
What were the agreements of the Locarno Treaties?
The negotiations that led to the signing of the Locarno Treaties began when German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann proposed to his French counterpart Aristide Briand that they discuss the issue of legal recognition of Germany’s western borders.
In October 1925, Stresemann and Briand met in the Swiss city of Locarno together with the foreign ministers of Belgium (Émile Vandervelde) and the United Kingdom (Austen Chamberlain). The President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, Benito Mussolini, also took part in the meetings. The Locarno Treaties were signed on 1 December 1925 in London.
The agreements signed were as follows:
- A treaty of mutual guarantee concerning Germany’s borders with France and Belgium (signed by Germany, France and Belgium, with the United Kingdom and Italy as guarantors).
- An arbitration treaty between Germany and Belgium, and another between Germany and France.
- An arbitration treaty between Germany and Poland, and another between Germany and Czechoslovakia.
- A treaty of mutual assistance between France and Poland, and another between France and Czechoslovakia, in case of a German attack.
The Treaty of Mutual Guarantee of Germany’s Borders with France and Belgium was the main agreement signed. It established the following:
- That Germany’s western borders, with France and Belgium, were inviolable.
- That France, Belgium and Germany would never attack each other except in case of legitimate defence or as a consequence of an obligation of the League of Nations.
- That they would resolve their disputes by peaceful means.
- That, in the event that any of the signatories broke these agreements, the other signatories would come to the aid of the attacked party in accordance with the agreement of the League of Nations.
The treaties between France, Czechoslovakia and Poland provided for mutual assistance in the event of an unprovoked attack.
Consequences of the Locarno Treaties
The Locarno Treaties initiated a period of cooperation that ended when Hitler came to power in Germany.
As an indirect result of the Locarno Treaties, Germany joined the League of Nations on 8 September 1926 and the Allies evacuated the Rhineland in 1930.five years ahead of the schedule provided for in the Treaty of Versailles.
However, the great problem with the Locarno Treaties was that neither Stresemann nor No subsequent German government recognized Germany’s eastern borders.The Treaty of Mutual Guarantee applied to the western borders, while the eastern borders were subject only to an arbitration agreement. It was precisely in the east that the Second World War ultimately originated.
The Locarno Treaties were definitively annulled by Adolf Hitler when, shortly after coming to power in Germany, he pushed for the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936. Hitler subsequently breached the arbitration agreement with Czechoslovakia and Poland and invaded both countries. The invasion of Poland sparked the start of World War II.
Protagonists of the Locarno Treaties
Aristide Briand (1862-1932)
Aristide Briand He was a French socialist politician who was elected deputy in 1902. Over the next thirty years he played key roles in French politics. He was Prime Minister and held several cabinet posts.
Briand was expelled from the Socialist ranks in 1906 for accepting the post of Minister of Public Education in the “bourgeois” government of Ferdinand Sarrien of the Radical Party. He believed that the Socialists should collaborate with the Radicals to implement reforms. In 1911 he joined the Republican-Socialist Party.
Briand served as Prime Minister a few years before the outbreak of World War I and during part of the war. He returned to office in 1921 but resigned the following year after failing to secure a security pact with the United Kingdom.
In 1925, Briand was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Paul Painlevé. He held this post for more than five years and under various governments. This was the apogee of his career.
He accepted the proposal of the German Foreign Minister, Gustav Stresemann, to sign the Locarno Treaties in 1925 and convinced the British Foreign Secretary, Austen Chamberlain, to do so.
He also promoted the signing of the Briand-Kellog Pact in 1928 and He proposed an ambitious project for European unity to the League of NationsHe died unexpectedly in 1932.
Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929)
Gustav Stresemann was a German politician who, after succeeding in business, entered politics as a member of the National Liberal Party, a right-wing party through which he supported the imperialist policies of Wilhelm II.
During the First World War, Stresemann was an enthusiastic advocate of German expansionism. After the disappointment of defeat, he quickly became a “realistic republican”. Rejected for his right-wing ideas in the German Democratic Party of Friedrich Naumann and Max Weber, He founded his own party, the German People’s Party..
In 1919 he opposed the Treaty of Versailles and the Weimar Constitution. Then the crisis precipitated by the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in 1923, He took office as chancellor at the head of a broad coalition of parties. His first decision was renounce the policy of “passive resistance” which was ruining the German economy and had precipitated hyperinflation.
Despite managing to stabilise the currency, he had to resign after losing the vote of confidence. From then on, He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs until his death in 1929.
Stresemann did not give up his goals of restoring Germany to a great power role, but opted for a policy of negotiationThe main fruits of this policy were the Dawes Plan, the Locarno Treaties (which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926, shared with the Frenchman Aristide Briand), Germany’s entry into the League of Nations and its adherence to the Pact…