French Foreign Policy in the 20's and 30's

French Foreign Policy

• French foreign policy remained reasonably consistent despite the frequent government changes in the interwar years.
• One key aim for French governments was that Germany would be unable to invade France again. Under the Treaty of Versailles:
  • The regions of Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France.
  • The German Army was reduced to 100,000 men. This was enough for national defence but not enough to invade France.
  • The Rhineland, which bordered France, was demilitarised. It would remain occupied by Allied troops until 1930.
  • Heavy reparations were imposed on Germany, which would keep it economically weak.

France's Allies

• During the Treaty negotiations, France also sought assurances of an alliance with Britain and the US. However, the US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, leaving France to seek treaties with the new Eastern European nations of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Poland.
• While Britain did remain an ally of France, it had lost 750,000 men in WWI, with millions more wounded. The British government and public did not wish to be dragged into another European conflict; they were, therefore, not prepared to form a military alliance with France. The British government instead wished to secure its own empire and economy. Because of this, the British were willing to take a more lenient approach to Germany, much to the frustration of the French.
• Since the 1890s, Russia has been France's main ally. In the 1920s, right-wing French governments were reluctant to turn to Russia, their old ally, for support because of its communist government. Equally, the Soviet government was suspicious of the capitalist powers. France struggled to find a replacement ally as significant as Russia.

France Takes a Strong Line with Germany

• When Germany defaulted on its reparations repayments in late 1922, Poincaré was determined to take a tough response. In January 1923 he sent 40,000 French troops into the Ruhr to seize raw materials.
• Belgium supported the French, but the British and US governments did not support France's actions. This resulted in the Dawes Plan of 1924, which reduced Germany's repayments. By 1925 French troops were withdrawn from the Ruhr.
• In 1921, France signed the Franco-Polish Alliance, a military alliance under which each country promised to assist the other if it was attacked. Poland replaced Russia as France's ally on Germany's eastern border.
• During the 1920s, France signed a series of treaties with Eastern European nations: Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. These alliances formed what was known as the Little Entente, which was designed to protect each member from attack.
• The Little Entente gave France several allies, but it was too small and uncoordinated to provide serious opposition to Germany. France was the only member with a significant military force.

Improving Relations with Germany

• Under Gustav Stresemann, Germany emerged from its post-war isolation and appeared more willing to secure better relations with its neighbours.

  • In 1925, Britain, France, and Germany signed the Locarno Pact. This was a series of agreements which included Germany's promise to respect the borders of France and Belgium. Britain and Italy also promised to protect France if Germany broke the terms of the Locarno Pact. The Locarno Pact (see Chapter 4) led to Germany being accepted as a member of the League of Nations, which fostered better relations between France and Germany.

• In 1928, French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand and US Secretary of State Frank Kellogg drew up an international agreement. The Kellogg-Briand Pact stated that the signatories would not use war as an instrument of foreign policy. In total, 65 nations signed the pact, including Germany. Finally, it appeared that permanent peace could be achieved with Germany.

The Maginot Line

• Under the Locarno Pact, the wartime allies agreed to end their occupation of the Rhineland in 1927. The Germans, in turn, agreed to keep the region as a demilitarized zone. Despite the improving international situation, the French government remained suspicious of Germany. In 1929, the French military proposed constructing a series of fortifications along France's eastern border with Germany. In 1930, the French government provided 3 billion francs for what became known as the Maginot Line.
• The French military believed the Maginot Line would prevent France from suffering the same fate as it had in 1914. The line of defences of 500 fortifications would delay the Germans long enough for the French Army to mobilise fully. The defences would minimise the destruction of French territory.
• However, the line ended at the Ardennes Forest, the France-Luxembourg-Belgium border. French military leaders believed the dense forest would serve as a natural barrier to an invading German force. Also, French politicians were concerned that continuing the Maginot Line to the sea would look as if they were abandoning Belgium. Construction on the Maginot Line continued until 1940.

The French Approach to Germany in the 1930s

• In the 1930s, French involvement with the policy of appeasement and their role in dealing with Germany were pivotal aspects of the interwar period. Initially, France, deeply scarred by the devastation of World War I, was keen on maintaining peace and security through the enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles. However, the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany posed significant challenges to French security policies.

• During this period, France's foreign policy was heavily influenced by the need to secure its borders and avoid another devastating conflict. The French government, alongside Britain, adopted a policy of appeasement, which aimed to appease Germany's territorial ambitions in hopes of preventing another war. This approach was driven by a combination of factors, including the widespread pacifist sentiment among the French public, economic difficulties during the Great Depression, and political instability within France.
• The most notable instance of appeasement was the Munich Agreement of 1938 (more on this in later notes), where France, Britain, Italy, and Germany agreed to allow Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland, a region of Czechoslovakia with a significant ethnic German population. Despite his reservations, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier agreed to the terms, largely due to pressure from Britain and the belief that it would prevent further aggression. However, this concession only emboldened Hitler, undermining the credibility of the appeasement policy.
• Throughout the 1930s, France also sought to strengthen its alliances, particularly with Britain and the Soviet Union, to counterbalance German power. The Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance in 1935 was one such effort, though it was met with scepticism and did not materialise into a strong military alliance. Ultimately, France's reliance on appeasement and its failure to effectively confront Nazi aggression contributed to the outbreak of World War II, highlighting the limitations of conciliatory policies in the face of expansionist totalitarian regimes.