From the book by Donald Kagan

Supposed to be guaranteed by TofV – Article I Immediate assistance to France in event of

unprovoked aggression by Germany Britain insisted that their assistance hinged upon

the U.S. doing the same U.S. rejection of the treaty absolved British of

responsibility

Neither protected by a buffer state nor a promise of assistance

Old balance of pwr led to instability France safer if Germany conciliated not alienated Punish Germany but reintegrate into postwar

liberal capitalist order that is prosperous & stable Fails to account for

National pride and resentment Potential future dominance by restored Germany

League would oversee restoration of Germany & protection of France (contradictory goals per Kagan)

Wilson’s idea of U.S. involvement – assure security but retain independent U.S. decision making

U.S. protected by distance & its honor not at stake Return to Normalcy

Americans sought isolation & rapid return of Germany to full prosperity for trade w/ U.S. industry

Also a check against spreading communism Needed to restrain French from strict enforcement

Lend $ to Germany to prop up economy Express disapproval of French demands for reparations Continue to insist upon full repayment of debts by Allies

Acting in response to France’s true predicament would require responsibility, commitment, expense & action – better to go easy on Germany

U.S. intervention in the war was due to “willy-nilly” involvement in world economy and political system the U.S. was not free to ignore

The new postwar situation imposed new responsibilities for preservation of peace

U.S. chose to ignore them for the moment but they proved inescapable

Though David Lloyd George had promised to squeeze the Germans “until the pips squeeked” Later stated that Euro reconstruction would come thru

German recover Therefore opposition to French enforcement of treaty

In the present, France was the predominant military power Germany had been disarmed & Britain had disarmed itself Britain suddenly worried about France even though

France was concerned with Germany Britain therefore wanted to maintain a “free hand”

to balance the contending powers of the Continent without committing to any of them

Kagan – British fought off commitments in Europe until war was nearly upon them – if face of obvious danger Too late to save France & almost too late to save

themselves

Deprived of support from allies, France left alone to deal with Germany

No choice but to take advantage of temporary military superiority to enforce treaty

Would need to make alliances with Czech & Poland to contain Germany

To contain Germany, FR needed GER disarmament, control of Saar & Ruhr resources, and reparations

Germany failed to make payments unless compelled by force

Whether they Could pay or not irrelevant – GER chose not to pay

Amount of reparations determined May 1921 London Schedule of Payments - 132 billion gold marks Far greater than Germans could pay but recognized

as such – figure announced for public consumption Germany’s real liability – 50 billion ($12.5 billion)

Made first payment but failed to make full payments until 1924 Dawes Plan restructured payments

Summer 1922 – clear that Germans were not going to pay – claimed that reparations were ruining economy

German avoidance of payments was allowing rebound of economy (with Anglo-Am tolerance)

France achieved neither financial stabilization, economic recovery nor security

France wanted to seize a revenue-producing German resource as a guarantee of payment but Britain opposed the idea Compulsion would hurt

German recovery & ability to pay

Even though GER deliberately destroyed their own currency – GB recommended 4-year halt on payments

French objected to delay – rewarding bad behavior

German defaults on monthly obligations for timber and coal led to occupation of Ruhr by FR & Belgium

Goal of France to collect missed payments from Germans by taking goods from mines & factories - shipping them to France

German workers did not cooperate with French, instead protested by destroying goods, mines & factories

Event broke out into violent conflict & resulted in inflation

Weimar Government already had serious inflation problem made things worse by printing more money to

help support the workers which resulted in disastrous hyperinflation

Strikes ended in 9/1923 by coalition govt. led by Gustav Stresemann Civil unrest erupted – focused on Weimar Govt. Including Beer Hall Putsch

International pressure led French to agree to Dawes Plan (4/1924) Large loan, restructure of payments & debt

FR pulled out of Ruhr in 1925 US & GB would pay later for undermining

FR

Appointment of Gustav Stresmann as chancellor of Germany changed Ruhr situation

Stresmann called off resistance in Ruhr & announced Germany would agree to obligations set by TofV Would also accept current borders with France &

Belgium This resulted in Locarno Treaty 1925

The Locarno Treaty was an agreement made between Belgium, France, the UK and Germany Germany agreed to accept its western boundaries as

agreed in Versailles Treaty Germany accepted borders with France & Belgium and

these borders where guaranteed by the UK and Italy Also, Germany would become a member of League of

Nations.

This was a step towards Franco-German reconciliation Meant that Germany could start to grow economically

again without being a threat to Western Europe It also meant France & Britain could reconcile over

differences that drove them apart Locarno Agreements dealt with western borders

Eastern borders of Germany had not been fixed Britain refused to guarantee security of the countries

to the east of Germany This lead Germany to believe that it could change its

eastern borders with little objection from Allies 

Locarno Treaty resulted in a sense optimism Tension between Allies & Germany was reduced

Meant that a sense of peace was present  Germany obtained permanent seat on League Council

Allied troops from left bank the Rhine were removed Supervision of Germany's disarmament stopped in 1927 By 1930 Germany was an independent state again However Germany was still in cooperation with the USSR

in the Treaty of Rapallo (renounced claims against each other) This meant Germany could still avoid disarmament that had been

imposed on it (Rapallo allowed GER to skirt some military controls) Germany had not agreed on its eastern borders and it was co-

operating with USSR who's goal was to redraw map of Europe Even though the Locarno Treaty had been successful in

bringing about peace, the LoN was not strengthened Collective security remained uncertain