Stresemann's Foreign Policy Successes, 1924–29 (Edexcel IGCSE History: Paper 1: Depth Studies): Revision Note

Timeline & Summary

• As Foreign Minister from 1923 to 1929, Stresemann used diplomacy, rather than force, to rebuild Germany's position in Europe

• The Locarno Treaties of 1925 settled Germany's western borders by agreement and were negotiated by Germany as an equal partner

• In 1926, Germany was allowed to join the League of Nations with a permanent seat on the League Council, alongside the other great powers

• In 1928, Germany joined more than sixty other countries in signing the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which renounced war as a way of settling disputes

• However:

  • Germany's eastern borders and disarmament were left unresolved

  • Nationalists at home attacked Stresemann for cooperating with the Allies

The Locarno Treaties, 1925

What was agreed

• In 1925, Germany, France, Belgium, Britain, Italy, Poland and Czechoslovakia negotiated a set of seven treaties, known as the Locarno Pact

• The talks were held in Locarno in Switzerland, and the treaties were signed in London

• The key terms were:

  • Germany accepted its western borders with France and Belgium, including the loss of Alsace-Lorraine and the demilitarised Rhineland, as permanent

  • Britain and Italy guaranteed those borders, promising to act if any side attacked

  • Germany did not accept its eastern borders as fixed

    • Stresemann deliberately refused to recognise the loss of land to Poland as permanent

    • He only agreed not to use force to change it

Why Locarno mattered

• It made another French invasion, like the occupation of the Ruhr in 1923, very unlikely

  • This gave Germany security in the west

• Germany had negotiated as an equal, not been handed terms as at Versailles

  • This restored German self-respect

• It led directly to Germany joining the League of Nations in 1926

• Stresemann and the French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Criticism in Germany

• Nationalist parties and groups were angry that Stresemann had formally accepted the loss of Alsace-Lorraine and the Rhineland terms

• Many Germans believed that Locarno was a trick

  • France still posed a considerable threat to Germany

Germany and the League of Nations

Why was Germany left out of the League of Nations?

• The League of Nations was set up after the First World War so that countries could settle disputes by discussion instead of war

• Germany, like the other defeated nations, was not invited to join when the League was founded

  • Many Germans saw the League as part of the hated Treaty of Versailles

Joining in 1926

• In September 1926, largely as a result of the Locarno Treaties, the other great powers agreed to admit Germany to the League of Nations

• Germany was given a permanent seat on the League Council, the small body that took the most important decisions

  • Countries that sat on the Council included Britain, France, Italy and Japan

• This showed that Germany was accepted again as a leading power, only seven years after the humiliation of Versailles

The Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928

What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

• In August 1928, Germany signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact with the USA, France and other countries

  • Over 60 countries eventually signed

• The pact was named after:

  • the US Secretary of State, Frank B. Kellogg

  • the French Foreign Minister, Aristide Briand

• The countries that signed promised not to use war to settle disputes with one another

Why the Kellogg-Briand Pact mattered for Germany

• Only ten years after the war, Germany was taking part in international peace-making as an equal partner, not as a defeated outsider

• It was further proof that the moderate politicians of the Weimar Republic could win Germany respect abroad

Limits of the Kellogg-Briand Pact

• The pact had no way of forcing a country to keep its promise, so it changed little in practice

• Some Germans pointed out that it did nothing to remove the Treaty of Versailles, which was still their main grievance

How successful was Stresemann's foreign policy?

Evidence of foreign policy success

• The French left the Ruhr in 1925 and agreed under the Young Plan to leave the Rhineland by 1930

• Locarno gave Germany secure western borders, guaranteed by Britain and Italy

• Germany joined the League of Nations in 1926 with a permanent seat on the Council

  • This confirmed its return to great-power status

• Germany was once again a respected partner in European diplomacy

What Stresemann did not achieve in foreign policy

• Germany's eastern borders with Poland were still disputed, and no land had been recovered

• Germany remained disarmed under the Treaty of Versailles

  • Stresemann secretly continued military cooperation with the Soviet Union

• There was no union with Austria (Anschluss), which the treaty forbade

• The Treaty of Versailles as a whole was still in force, so the central nationalist grievance remained

• Stresemann's cooperation with the Allies angered the nationalist right and helped it to grow, especially during the campaign against the Young Plan in 1929

Conclusions

• Stresemann achieved his most important aim

  • He restored Germany's security and its status as a great power

    • He did so without a war Germany could not have won

• However, he did not overturn the Treaty of Versailles or settle the eastern borders

  • The nationalist backlash against his methods was a serious long-term cost