Chapter 14 – The Locarno Treaties of 1925

The famous Locarno Treaties comprised a group of seven treaties that took place at
Locarno in Switzerland from 5 th to 16th October 1925. The treaties were then formally accepted
and signed on December 1 of the same year in London. This pact holds significance as it was the
first time when the European victors of World War I along with Central and Eastern Europe
(which were new states) attempted to secure territories after the war in exchange for normalizing
their interactions with the war’s losers, the Reich (Weimar Republic). 1 Another important point
of agreement during the pact also prevented Germany from engaging in war with any other
countries in the future. The Locarno pact segregated the European borders into two classes:
Western and Eastern. The pact guaranteed the western parts of territorial settlements, however,
the eastern border of Germany which linked with Poland was still open for any amendments.
Stresemann followed the Dawes Agreement mostly with implementation on 16 October 1925 of
the Locarno (Locarno Pact) Negotiations in the area of foreign affairs, aided by the more
statesmanlike stance of Édouard Herriot and Aristide Briand in France. As a result of this action,
Germany reiterated declared that it has renounced the disputed area of Alsace-Lorraine.
Moreover, Germany also promised to not indulge in any sort of coercive activities to alter the
borders of this territory with either France or Belgium. This rather surprising pledge made by
Germany was guaranteed by other major powers of the Allied forces as well which included the
United Kingdom and Italy.2 After the successful signing of the Locarno treaties, all the troops of
the Allied forces were evacuated from the occupied region of Rhineland. This was the first zone
that had been evacuated by the Allied forces. The second zone of evacuation was Cologne. At
the end of these two steps, Germany went on to become not only a member of the League of
Nations but also granted a permanent seat on the council in September of 1926.
Gustave Stresemann, the former President and current foreign minister of the Weimar
republic took it into his hand to restore the prestige and honor of the German nation as one of the
leading nations in Europe. During this time, French troops were being planned to leave the
territories of Ruhr and this was scheduled to take effect by January of 1925. However,
Stresemann feared that France might be a little too concerned about its safety with Germany and
may not go ahead with the evacuation. Stresemann realized that one of the ways to assure France
of its territorial securities post-evacuation was to give them a guarantee from Great Britain.
However, the London authorizes were reluctant in offering such promises. Stresemann, being an
intelligent statesman devised a strategy where he stated that “all sides would get what they
want”.3 He penned down a set of agreements which would assure France and UK that Germany
shall not attack France after the evacuation of the troops. After hearing this offer from
Stresemann, Austen Chamberlain the British Foreign Minister, agreed to guarantee in Germany’s
favor with great zeal and enthusiasm. France also came up with the realization that due to its
military presence in Ruhr, there had been much damage done in terms of economy as well as of

1
Henig, R. B. (2015). The Weimar Republic, 1919-1933.

2
In Vascik, G. S., & In Sadler, M. R. (2016). The stab-in-the-back myth and the fall of the Weimar Republic: A history in documents and
visual sources.

3
Browne, H. (1969). Hitler and the rise of Nazism. London: Methuen.
important diplomatic relations. Finally, both the foreign minister of Germany and France met in
Locarno, the Swiss city, in October of 1925. This meeting produced a mutual agreement to the
evacuation of Ruhr by French troops along with the guarantee of post-evacuation peace offering
by Germany.4
The first of the seven treaties had the most importance. It ensured a mutual acceptance of
no alteration of any type of territorial integrity on the borders of Germany, France, and Belgium.
Considering that these three countries shared a bitter history among one and another especially
with a common Germany, the agreement on this point was of great significance. Treaty number
two and treaty number three mainly focused on establishing arbitration between Germany and
France, as well as Germany and Belgium in case of any future disputes that may arise due to any
reason whatsoever. Similar arbitration arrangements were made in treaties number four and five
as well which called for mediation in case of dispute between Germany and Czechoslovakia, as
well as Germany and Poland. Poland and Czechoslovakia were specifically concerned with the
normalization of political ties of European victors with Germany, and thus, these fourth and fifth
treaties were means of reassurance to both these countries. With all the positive strides going on
in Germany’s favor, the Dawes plan’s effects were evident in the regular payments being made
by Germany in the name of war reparations.
While on one hand, the Allied forces were moving towards normalization of political ties
with Germany through the Locarno agreements, on the second hand, the Soviet Union felt great
suspicion regarding the treaties. They feared that after the normalizing, and due to the
involvement of some specific countries in Locarno pacts, Germany might join the anti-Soviet
bloc and turn against them. Here, Stresemann again showed his diplomacy and in order to
remove these fears in the Soviet leaders, he signed a new set of Soviet-Germany treaty in Berlin
on the 24th of April, 1926. This treaty specifically catered to the removal of Soviet fears by
assuring friendly and pleasant relations between both nations. Unlike some disapprovals from
German politicians in signing the Locarno pacts with the Western countries, this agreement with
the Soviet Union was unanimously agreed and signed by all the political leaders of Germany,
even those belonging to the right-wing parties. These treaties were followed by several
commercial agreements in the following years which resulted in the gradual restoration of
Germany’s foreign trade.5 The end of January 1927 witnessed the end of the Allied military
control commission. Moreover, on a special request from Stresemann, the League of Nations
accepted his request of consideration on the issue of general disarmament on behalf of all
members. Owing to this request, the Kellogg-Briand pact was proposed through the League of
Nations. This pact mainly focused on the outlawing of war among countries that were a member
of the league. Stresemann, upon hearing this news, went to Paris with full enthusiasm for the
official signing ceremony of the pact on 27 th August 1928 and was received by the foreign
delegates very warmly. Germany had come along since its paralyzing financial and political
situation in 1923. It had stabilized its economy, worked for better relations with its neighbors,
and also gained a stable political situation. At this point, it would not be wrong to say that all
these achievements gained by Germany were the result of the single-handed efforts of their
foreign minister, Stresemann.6
4
Weitz, E. D. (2018). Weimar Germany: Promise and tragedy.

5
Michael, J., Pfeiffer, I., &Schirn-Kunsthalle Frankfurt. (2017). Splendor and misery in the Weimar Republic.

6
Michael, J., Pfeiffer, I., &Schirn-Kunsthalle Frankfurt. (2017). Splendor and misery in the Weimar Republic.
 Consequential to the success of the Dawes Plan and later, the Locarno Pacts, huge
amounts of foreign investments started pooling into the Weimar Republic. Most of these foreign
investments came in as short-term loans which Germany fully utilized to its benefits to gain
more importance as an industrial nation in Europe. As a result, the time period in the Weimar
Republic from 1925 till the end of 1928 is considered as the golden era of prosperity for the
Weimar Republic. Germany’s industry boomed, the daily wages for the working class were set
on a high bar, and during the year 1927, unemployment in Germany fell to a staggering value of
one million only. Along with all these developments, huge public works were commenced in the
country and the war reparations were constantly being met through a stable economy. For the
Great Britain, the primary objectives to achieve were to promote the reconciliation of France and
Germany. This reconciliation was particularly important for Britain as it expected that this
understanding between the nations will lead to a much peaceful region which was in the interest
of many countries, including the UK. It could happen by dissolution of France’s Cordon sanitaire
because the organization called French alliance was very well known for its involvement in most
of the regional conflicts. Moreover, if France was to dissolve all of its coalitions in the eastern
section of Europe, it would lead to a peaceful handing over of the territories conceded by
Germany by way of the Treaty of Versailles by Poland; specifically the Polish Corridor, Danzig
the free city (also known as Gdansk in modern day Poland) and also Upper Silesia. 7 This would
had been a great success in achieving regional peace in Eastern Europe if it were to happen,
which it did.
The main Locarno treaty was the Pact among the countries of Germany, Belgium, Great
Britain, France and Italy; known famously as the Rhineland Pact. As a result of this pact,
Germany for the first time formally accepted its western borders as acted through the Versailles
Treaty which it did not accept before this. In addition to this, three countries (Germany, France
and Belgium) pledged not to execute any kind of aggressive act on each other that would lead to
violence. The other two countries (Great Britain and Italy) acted as the guarantors of this
promise. In case, any of the country was attacked by the ones from three states (Germany, France
and Belgium), it was decided that all other countries would help the country that would have
fallen under the attack in order to neutralize the threat on that country. Germany also undertook
to conclude arbitration arrangements with European nations Belgium and France, 8 as well as
treaties of arbitration with Poland and Czechoslovakia, in which it agreed to refer possible
conflicts to an adjudicating authority or the Supreme Court of International Justice, a product of
the League of Nations. France further went on to sign more peace treaties with its fellow
European states Poland and Czechoslovakia. These treaties stated the pledging of helping each
other in case Germany attacks any one of these countries in the future. These treaties
fundamentally strengthened the already existing pacts of alliance between France and Poland and
Czechoslovakia on 19th February and 25th January, 1924 respectively.9 Even the existence of
these treaties and the fact that such agreements had to be made by France with these countries
easily points towards the datum that Franco-German relations had not been fully normalized and
despite all the peace treaties signed in Locarno, France was still concerned about future threats
that may arise from Germany on their borders.

7
Harsch, D. (2009). German Social Democracy and the Rise of Nazism. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

8
McKenzie, J. R. P. (1971). Weimar Germany 1918-1933. London: Blandford Press.

9
Harsch, D. (2009). German Social Democracy and the Rise of Nazism. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
 The Locarno Agreements, without any doubt, proved to be a turning point in the regional
politics of Europe, especially the western parts of Europe. It marked the beginning of significant
progress in the political and social environments among the western countries of Europe from
1925 until 1930. They established a bright future and hope for a future peaceful settlement in
case of any disputes. This spirit of peaceful settlement was named as “The Locarno Spirit”. The
concreteness of this spirit was reassured and realized when Germany became part of The League
of Nations in the year of 1926. Moreover, its spirit was reassured when Rhineland was evacuated
of all the foreign troops of the World War I victors, marking an end to its occupation. It played
such an important role in stabilizing the regional political environment that, as mentioned earlier,
its negotiators were awarded with a Nobel Peace Prize in 1926.
Sally Marks, famous Historian, in speaking of the Locarno agreement famously posited that:
“From now on, the spirit of Locarno will prevail, with mediation replacing regulation as the
basis for peace.” For others, however, peace remained a desperate hope rather than a reality. A
few men realized that the Locarno spirit was a precarious base upon which to create a
permanent peace.”
Regardless of all the goods that came through the Locarno Pacts, extremists still did not
accept such image of Germany where it was slowly associating itself as a democratic country
rather than that of an authoritarian one. As a result, Hitler came forward and openly rejected all
the treaties signed during the Locarno convention. Moreover, he took benefit of the
demilitarization of Rhineland and sent his troops to occupy the territory during his reign on 07 th
March, 1936.10 Meanwhile, the Polish cabinet was facing issues of destabilization. This
happened due to the public humiliation of the Polish democrats which ultimately led to the fall of
Grabski’s government in Poland. The Locarno Pact in returned worsened the relations between
France and Poland. This led to a severe feeble trust relation between the two nations and also
deteriorated their already frail alliance. The famous Polish Statesman and military leader, Józef
Beck, mocked the Locarno Treaties by saying that, “Germany was officially asked to attack the
east, in return for peace in the west.”11Another renowned leader of the Polish people, Józef
Pilsudski, ridiculed the treaties and said, “Every Polish citizen spits when he/she hears the name
of these treaties.” Policies for an "eastern Locarno " agreement to secure Germany's eastern
borders stalled in 1934 due to German objections and Poland's demand that its borders in the
eastern regions be guarded by an agreement securing the safety of her western boundaries.
Moreover, the Locarno Pact suffered further undermining by the behavior of France and the
Soviet Union. The two nations went on to create a pact of their own, known famously as the
“Treaty of Mutual Assistance” which was signed on 2 nd May, 1935. Seeing this swaying attitude
of France and Soviet Union against the Locarno pacts, Germany complained to the other
members of the treaties as a clear violation of the “Spirit of Locarno” as mentioned earlier.
However, no concrete action was taken in favor of Germany’s claim due to sheer political
powers of the two nations combined.

10
Freeman, C. (2007). The rise of Nazism. London: Franklin Watts.

11
Freeman, C. (2007). The rise of Nazism. London: Franklin Watts.