G International Position Flashcards
Stresseman aims
Throughout these years the consistent aim of German foreign policy was to revise the Treaty of Versailles, although not all Germans agreed on the extent of this revision, nor on the means to achieve it. For Stresemann the priorities were:
• A settlement of the reparations issue to reduce the burden on Germany.
• An end to Allied military occupation of the Rhineland.
• The protection of Germans living under the rule of foreign countries
• The recovery of lands in the east, particularly Danzig and the Polish Corridor.
• The restoration of Germany as a great power.
Stresseman overall methods
Stresemann understood that Germany was too weak economically and militarily to risk another war.
He therefore saw no alternative to peaceful cooperation between Germany and the Allies. This was designed to reassure Britain and France as to Germany’s good faith and thereby win concessions from them. This was known as the policy of fulfilment.
List of Stresseman achievements
Locarno Pact
Relations w USSR
The extent of disarmament
The end of allied occupation
League of Nations
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Reason for Locarno
Stresemann suggested a meeting of the Western European powers to resolve some of the tensions over borders and to prevent a hostile alliance against Germany between France and Britain. The outcome of this meeting, at Locarno in Switzerland in 1925, was the Locarno Pact:
Terms of Locarno and outcome
• Germany, France and Belgium agreed to accept their existing frontiers.
• Britain and Italy agreed to act as the guarantors of the Pact.
• Germany, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Poland agreed to settle any disputes peacefully.
• Germany agreed to keep its troops out of the Rhineland but the French agreed to start withdrawing their forces from the Rhineland.
Stresemann had therefore made concessions on Germany’s western frontiers and on the Rhineland, but he did not agree to recognise Germany’s eastern frontiers in the same way. This left open the possibility that, at some future date, Germany might try to regain lost territory in the east.
Relations with USSR developments
Despite the enormous political differences between them, Germany and the USSR shared some important common ground:
•Both were treated as ‘outcast’ nations, excluded from the League of Nations.
• Both had a desire to regain lost territory in Poland.
The Treaty of Rapallo in 1922 was the start of a period of cooperation between the two countries. Trade and diplomatic relations were restored and Germany was allowed to secretly develop new weapons and train pilots in the Soviet Union, thus getting round the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles.
In 1926, the Treaty of Berlin renewed the earlier treaty.
Extent of disarmament
• Germany was subject to the disarmament clauses in the Treaty of Versailles and an InterAllied Control Commission was established to ensure compliance.
• The Treaties of Rapallo (1922) and Berlin (1926) with the USSR allowed Germany to get round the disarmament clauses by building aircraft in the USSR. Similar agreements with other countries allowed Germany to build submarines in Spain and tanks in Sweden.
• The Reichswehr also got around the limits on the size of the army by enlisting new recruits for short periods of intensive training, thereby creating a large reserve of trained soldiers.
• The Reichswehr also sponsored paramilitary groups, even after the Freikorps had been disbanded.
End of allied occupation process
Stresemann’s policy of fulfilment succeeded in persuading the Allies to remove their occupation forces from Germany in a step-by-step approach.
• In 1926, Allied forces were withdrawn from Zone 1 of the Rhineland.
• In 1927 the Allies reduced their occupation forces in the Rhineland by 10,000 men.
• The remaining Allied forces were withdrawn from Zone 2 in 1929 and from Zone 3 in 1930.
Other diplomatic achievements
• In 1926, Germany was allowed to join the League of Nations.
• In 1928, Germany signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, under which states voluntarily agreed to renounce war as a way of settling disputes.
Although these acts were largely symbolic, they nevertheless showed that Germany’s diplomatic isolation was over and that the country was once again being treated as a great power.
Overall assessment of Stresemann’s achievements
An overall assessment of Stresemann’s achievements must take account of a range of factors and opinions. As a staunch German nationalist, he wanted to revise the Treaty of Versailles in Germany’s favour and re-establish Germany as a great power, and his policies were designed to promote German interests. On the other hand, he was a pragmatist and a realist who understood the need for compromise and for fostering good relations with the western Allies.
