France and European Security

p. 143-149 (Keylor) Click to edit Master subtitle style

Franco-Italian Conflict

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityItaly

Paris Peace Settlement

Dalmatian Coast was Italys territorial ambition, but when Wilson gave the region to newly independent Yugoslavia France did not champion the Italian cause France mistreated privileged Italian population in Tunisia

North African Colonies

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityItaly

Naval Rivalry

Developed during the 1920s France claimed greater need for auxiliary craft such as cruisers and submarines to protect colonies around the world

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityItaly

Central European Alliances

France befriended Poland and the Little Entente

Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia

Italys predominance along the Danube River tried to undermine Yugoslavia by supporting Croatian separatist agitation against

Franco-Italian Shared Objective

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityItaly

The preservation of the political independence of the German-speaking state of Austria German policy of Anschluss worried Italy and got worse with the ascension of Hitler

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityItaly

German policy of Anschluss worried France because of its threat to Czechoslovakia and Germanys potential increase in population and industrial output France and Italy were looking to create some sort of economic federation and political association

Austrian Crisis of July 1934

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityItaly

Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated by local Nazis who appealed to Hitler for prospective coup

Dolfuss had been a strong opponent to German policy of Anschluss

Plan was foiled by Italian troops on maneuvers near the Austrian border Hitler repudiated the plot he helped to instigate Mussolini takes credit for stopping Germany from meddling in Austrian affairs

Result of Austrian Crisis of 1934

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityItaly

January 1935- Franco-Italian agreement settled most differences in Africa in return for Italian pledge to consult with France in the event of German violations of the Versailles clauses on disarmament and the independence of Austria

March 1935- Hitler publicly repudiates disarmament provision of the Treaty of Versailles

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityItaly

Couldnt keep it a secret any longer

April 11-14, 1935- Stresa Conference

France, Britain, and Italy condemned Germany and threatened joint opposition to any further violations of the Treaty of Versailles France and Italy secretly exchanged pledges of military assistance to counter German violations of either the Rhineland or Austria

Franco-Soviet Conflict

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

France had lingering resentment over Brest-Litovsk Treaty and Russias disregard of the enormous debt to French investors Russia had bitterness over Frances anti-Bolshevik posture in the Russian Civil War and its support of Polands military offensive against Soviet Russia in the 1920s

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

Underlying incompatibility of foreign policy between the two during the 1920s

France defended Post War stability of small independent states of Eastern Europe, while Russia, who lost land to these newly created or enlarged states on its western frontier, worked with Germany to destroy the postwar European system

Franco-Soviet Relations Improve

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

Rise of Hitler Stalled disarmament talks in Geneva

Caused a reversal of French and Soviet attitudes towards each other Russians reversed long-standing support for revision of the peace treaties by endorsing French position on collective security at the disarmament conference

Franco-Soviet Relations Improve

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

April 1933- Bilateral talks bolster foreign relations and by summer: German-Russian military collaboration ends German military facilities in Russia are closed Soviet officers cancelled all visits to Germany

Possible commercial agreement collapsed due to Russian requirement for massive infusion of industrial technology and only had the ability to offer agricultural products in exchange, of which France had no needbut contact between the two nations helped to clear the air of mutual suspicion

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

February 1934- Louis Barthou was appointed French foreign minister

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

Marks the beginning of earnest Franco-Soviet relations Architect of a dual alliance in Eastern Europe to reestablish French security arrangements, which were weakened by GermanPolish nonaggression pact

1) A pact of regional assistance in Eastern Europe

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

Modeled on Locarno Treaty for Western Europe Germany, Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland, and Baltic States would mutually guarantee their frontiers

2) Bilateral agreement between France and Russia in which Russia would commit to France as though a signatory of Locarno and France would commit to Russia as though a member of Eastern pact

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

British insisted that Germany should be invited in order to preserve multilateral security Hitler refused anyway (Lebensraum)

Barthous plan failed because Poland refused to grant Russian troop transit rights across Polish territory to fulfill Soviet commitments

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

Not because Hitler refused to participate

It was all for naught anyway as Barthou was assassinated in October 1934 in Marseilles while traveling with the King of Yugoslavia

1935- Pierre Laval was appointed French foreign minister

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

New Plan- cementing relations among France, Britain, and Italy as a prelude to luring Germany into a four-power pact to manage the affairs of Europe as suggested by Mussolini in 1933, but never acted upon

May 2, 1935- Soviets and French concluded a mutual assistance pact May 16, 1935- Soviets and Czechoslovakia concluded a similar pact Germany is seemingly surrounded and isolated especially in the light of the new Comintern policy of Popular Front against all Fascist governments

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

Issues

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

French conservatives saw the Cominterns Popular Front as a Trojan Horse to set Soviet Communist interference in French politics Polish interference of mutual military efforts Previously planned defensive strategy clashed with offensive thrust into West Germany that mutual defense treaty with Russia would imply

Hoped-For Result

France Tries to Right the Ship of European SecurityRussia

France- discourage German aggression on two fronts Russia- Stalin was looking for diversion while he purged his own government as well as hoping to demonstrate to Hitler the importance of an understanding with the Soviet Union

France Tries to Right the Ship of European Security

French Alliances for Security

Italian Fascists and Russian Communists made for strange bedfellows for the French Realities of balance of power in Europe made it necessary

France needed an anti-German coalition

Surprisingly mutual friendliness between Italy and Russia aided France in their dealings