Search and browse
Buying and using
Contact and visit
Hitler's Foreign Policy - Pre Rhineland
Created by anna jordan on September 10, 2009, 12:32 pm. Report this group | FAQ
Categorized under: World War II
Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and immediately began rearmament. This was partly an attempt to revive the economy, in tatters after the Wall Street Crash and the consequent US recall of loans. It was also an attempt to revive German national pride, which had been destroyed by the Treaty of Versailles. Intentionalist historians would also argue that re-armament was the essential first step in an aggressive foreign policy that ultimately precipitated the start of World War II.
Rearmament was rapidly followed by a propaganda victory when the Saarland voted to return to Germany, after 15 years under the control of League of Nations (as per the Treaty of Versailles).
Cartoon item: DL0923
View image of:
Related items:
- Biography & holdings
- Correspondence
Similiar topics:
Other options
Bookmark
Record details
Reference number:
DL0923
Caption
Surrounding Movement.
Embedded text
Locarno
Kellogg Pact
Covenant
The success of the Flandin-Laval visit depends on whether they can persuade Simon that their Security Pact is not merely "encirclement", contradictory to the League Covenant
Notes
When Germany began to re-arm France renewed her concerns about German aggression on her frontier. The previous French Foreign Minister, Louis Barthou (assassinated in Marseille in October 1934) had proposed an 'Eastern Locarno', under which Russia would come to the aid of France, Poland and Czechoslovakia should any of these nations be attacked by Germany. This 'Eastern Locarno' echoed and expanded the Locarno Treaties of 1925, which essentially guaranteed the borders established by the Treaty of Versailles and pledged non-aggression amongst Western European nations (Russia was excluded). Although worthy in sentiment, the Locarno Treaties and the later Kellogg-Briand Pact 1927 (a multinational non-aggression pact) essentially undermined the League's Covenant, signed by all members (including Russia after 1934), which was itself a declaration of cooperation over aggression and thus should have precluded the need for any separate treaties between nations. Britain was also concerned that alliances between the nations that encircled Germany would be a repeat of the alliance system pre-WWI and would prompt further German hostility. Flandin and Laval visited Britain in February 1935 to persuade the British Prime Minister, MacDonald, to demand that Germany sign the Eastern Locarno Pact as a formal recognition that her re-armament, a fait accompli, did not imply aggression.
People depicted
Subjects
Archival reference number
DL0923
Copyright holder
Copyright contact details
Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT solo@solosyndication.com
Additional details
Size
32.5 x 48cm
Technique
black ink/blue crayon
