Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Was it Locarno treaties that made Europe peaceful by the end of the 1920s?

The Locarno Pact of 1925 was an agreement signed by Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, and Germany to keep the peace in Europe. Overall, the Pact had three aims: to secure the borders of the nations of Europe, to ensure the permanent demilitarization of the Rhineland, and to begin negotiations that would allow Germany to be admitted to the League of Nations. There were high hopes for the Pact, not least among the members of the German government, who believed that it provided a map toward Germany's eventual re-admittance to the international family of nations.
In the short term, the Locarno Pact contributed greatly to the general peace and stability of Europe. At the same time, however, it overlooked the volatile domestic political situation that existed in Germany at the time. To the Weimar Republic's many enemies on the Right, the Locarno Pact was a humiliating deal that merely confirmed the so-called "betrayal of Versailles" six years previously. In particular, the German Right was scathing of the provision for the demilitarization of the Rhineland, which they felt was an insult to national honor.
The Locarno Pact, whatever its short-term value and however well received it may have been in the international community, gave the Weimar Republic's enemies a huge propaganda gift, which they would use to further undermine the stability of the already fragile German political system, thus endangering the long-term peace of Europe.

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