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115-953: In a parallel agreement, France agreed to withdraw its troops from the occupied Rhineland in 1930, five years earlier than called for in the Treaty of Versailles. Due to the effects of the Great Depression , the Young Plan was suspended by the Hoover Moratorium in June 1931 and payments reduced by 90% at the Lausanne Conference in July 1932. The National Socialist government under Adolf Hitler made no payments after it came to power in 1933. However, Germany continued to pay interest on Dawes and Young bonds until 1939. The Treaty of Versailles did not set

230-709: A petit bourgeois family. He attended the Nantes Lycée , where, in 1877, he developed a close friendship with Jules Verne . He studied law at the Faculty of Law of Paris , and soon went into politics, associating himself with the most advanced movements, writing articles for the syndicalist journal Le Peuple , and directing the Lanterne for some time. From this he passed to the Petite République , leaving it to found L'Humanité , in collaboration with Jean Jaurès . At

345-526: A "permanent Allied bureau" to secure constant cooperation between the Allied nations. Briand's reduced War Cabinet was formed in imitation of the small executive body formed by Lloyd George, just appointed Prime Minister of Britain, but in practice Briand's often met just prior to meetings of the main Cabinet. Painlevé declined the job of War Minister as he would have preferred Petain as commander-in-chief rather than

460-625: A German lawyer who had fought in World War I, declared a separate Rhineland Republic on 1 June 1919, but he had little support and it quickly failed. He was equally unsuccessful later in the year when he tried to make the Rhineland a separate state within Germany. Lack of popular support also brought a quick end to an unrelated attempt in 1923 to set up a separatist government under the French garrison. One reason for

575-461: A basis, Germany would be required to pay annually, on average, the equivalent of about 12 per cent of its exports, 2.5 per cent of its net national product and 7.3 per cent of all public revenues. The transfer protection of the Dawes Plan was abolished, meaning that in future Germany was responsible for ensuring that the sum raised from tax revenue could be transferred in foreign currency or in kind to

690-430: A commissioner (1 August). By October Ferry was presenting his fourth report on army railways, to Joffre's fury. Late in 1916 Roques had been sent on a fact-finding mission to Salonika after Britain, Italy and Russia had pushed for the dismissal of the theatre commander Sarrail . To Briand's and Joffre's surprise, Roques returned recommending that Sarrail be reinforced and that Sarrail no longer report to Joffre. Coming on

805-565: A conditional ratification would not be recognised by the United States, the reservation did not acquire legal force and only the debt agreement became legally binding. Poincaré resigned a few days later. He was succeeded by Aristide Briand, whose attempt to pass the Young Plan also failed. After he too resigned, André Tardieu of the Democratic Republican Alliance became prime minister. He succeeded on 29 March 1930 in securing

920-483: A confidence vote by 344-160 (six months earlier he had won a confidence vote 440-80). On 13 December Briand formed a new government, reducing the size of the Council of Ministers from 23 to 10 and replacing Roques with General Lyautey . That day his government survived a vote of confidence by 30 votes, and Joffre was appointed "general-in-chief of the French armies, technical adviser to the government, consultative member of

1035-462: A criminal offense for any German official to sign a treaty that imposed new reparations obligations. It would also renounce the German acknowledgement of war guilt and the occupation of German territory, both of which were terms of the Treaty of Versailles The Freedom Law proposal was officially presented on 16 October 1929. The committee succeeded in collecting enough signatures to put the proposal before

1150-463: A few months from 21 January 1913 until 22 March 1913. At the end of August 1914, following the outbreak of the First World War, Briand again became Minister of Justice when René Viviani reconstructed his ministry. In the winter of 1914–15 Briand was one of those who pushed for an expedition to Salonika , in the hope of helping Serbia, and perhaps bringing Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy into

1265-486: A financial operation of such a magnitude had become impossible after the New York Stock Exchange crash. After the adoption of the Young Plan, the French sought closer cooperation with Germany. Tardieu told the German ambassador that "conscious rapprochement with Germany" was the goal of his government. With the seemingly permanent solution to the reparations question and the withdrawal from the occupied Rhineland,

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1380-746: A great many goods, the Mediterranean was the axis of chief interest, and a supply of oil was essential. The primary goal was to defend French North Africa , and Briand made practical choices, for naval policy was a reflection of overall foreign policy. The Conference agreed on the American proposal that capital ships be limited to a ratio of 5 to 5 to 3 for the United States, Britain, and Japan, with Italy and France allocated 1.7 each. France's participation reflected its need to deal with its diminishing power and reduced human, material, and financial resources. Briand's efforts to come to an agreement over reparations with

1495-546: A majority for the ratification of the Young Plan. Following the wishes of several deputies of the Republican Federation , he had delayed the parliamentary debate until the German Reichstag had given its approval. The speech of the new finance minister Paul Reynaud expressed a highly positive balance: the Young Plan had put reparations on an equal footing with Germany's private debt and thus secured them, it covered

1610-479: A metaphor for Germany's post-war "subjection" by the victorious Allies. The propaganda, which peaked in 1920–1921, roused enough internal and international criticism for the German government to reduce its support and rein in the most racist elements. By the time of the Ruhr occupation in early 1923, this particular part of the propaganda campaign had been significantly scaled back. The British occupation zone around Cologne

1725-467: A number of separatist movements – some supported by the French – attempted to create an independent Rhineland allied to France, but none of them had significant popular support. Relations between the occupying forces and the German residents were often strained, although more so in the French and Belgian zones than in the American and British. Both the French and the Germans engaged in major propaganda campaigns,

1840-513: A result of German default on its reparations obligations; for that part of the occupation, see §The Ruhr , below. The Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission (IARHC), which had its headquarters in Koblenz, was led by Paul Tirard , the French high commissioner. It was conceived as a civil authority independent of the governments supporting it. Because the United States Senate did not ratify

1955-596: A role in the appointment of Catholic bishops. Aristide Briand received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize together with Gustav Stresemann of Germany for the Locarno Treaties ( Austen Chamberlain of the United Kingdom had received a share of the Peace Prize a year earlier for the same agreement ). A 1927 proposal by Briand and United States Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg for a universal pact outlawing war led

2070-586: A second attempt to settle the issue of German reparations, the Allies agreed to evacuate the Rhineland by 30 June 1930, five years before the date set in the Treaty of Versailles. The occupation zone that included Koblenz was evacuated in November 1929, and the last of the occupying troops withdrew from the Mainz zone on 30 June 1930. The evacuation was followed by bloody German settlements with separatists who had cooperated with

2185-712: A special department within the Ministry of the Interior to handle matters relating to the occupied territories. In August 1923, the department became the cabinet-level Reich Ministry for the Occupied Territories . It was tasked with safeguarding German interests in dealing with he occupying powers, including the IARHC, and with representing the interests of the occupied territories in the Berlin government. Separatist agitation took place in

2300-434: A struggle for national liberation with the goal of achieving an early withdrawal of the occupation forces. The campaign was aimed in part at winning over world opinion. In hundreds of publications it used images such as those of starving German children to rouse anger against France. The language was sometimes quite exaggerated, as for example the following from the time of the Ruhr occupation: Are we still willing to tolerate

2415-723: The Armistice of 11 November 1918 , the Treaty of Versailles and the parallel agreement on the Rhineland occupation signed at the same time as the Versailles Treaty. The Rhineland was demilitarised, as was an area stretching fifty kilometres east of the Rhine, and put under the control of the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission , which was led by a French commissioner and had one member each from Belgium, Great Britain and

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2530-632: The First World War . At the first session of the Hague Conference from 6 to 31 August 1929, the British chancellor of the Exchequer, Labour Party politician Philip Snowden , demanded an increase of annual reparations payments to Britain by the equivalent of 48 million Reichsmarks. Snowden signalled that he was prepared to let the Young Plan fail if necessary. A solution was reached through shifts within

2645-531: The First World War . To avoid another worldwide conflict, he was instrumental in the agreement known as the Kellogg–Briand Pact of 1928, as well to establish a " European Union " in 1929. However, all his efforts were compromised by the rise of nationalistic and revanchist ideas like Nazism and fascism following the Great Depression . He was born in Nantes , Loire-Inférieure (now Loire-Atlantique) of

2760-612: The League of Nations on 5 September 1929, and in 1930, in his " Memorandum on the Organization of a Regime of European Federal Union " for the Government of France. The idea was to provide a framework to contain France's former enemy while preserving as much of the 1919 Versailles settlement as possible. The Briand plan entailed the economic collaboration of the great industrial areas of Europe and

2875-591: The Reichstag , which voted the bill down by a 318–82 margin. In the subsequent Freedom Law referendum , 94.5% of the votes cast were in favour of the proposed law, but voter turnout was just 14.9%, meaning that only 13.8% of eligible voters had voted in favour of the law. The referendum therefore failed, since it needed 50% of all eligible voters to pass. The Young Plan was accepted by the Reichstag on 12 March 1930. The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 had occurred between

2990-487: The hyperinflation that all but wrecked the German economy. During the course of the Ruhr occupation, 132 Germans were killed and approximately 188,000 evicted from their homes. France's economy also suffered during the Ruhr occupation. It turned to Britain and the United States for assistance, and together they developed the Dawes Plan . It lowered and restructured Germany's reparations payments, and France agreed to vacate

3105-650: The Allied forces in 1922. On 9 January 1923, under the Warren G. Harding administration, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution withdrawing American forces from Germany. General Allen received the telegram on 10 January. After more than four years of occupation, the last Americans left their headquarters in Koblenz in January 1923. The flag was lowered at Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, the American headquarters, on 24 January. On 27 January American General Allen officially handed over control to

3220-555: The Americans had handed over to the French in 1923, was evacuated in November 1929. After a "final" agreement on reparations was reached in the 1929 Young Plan , the occupation of the Rhineland ended on 30 June 1930, five years earlier than originally set down in the Treaty of Versailles. At the peace negotiations that began in Versailles in January 1919, French prime minister Georges Clemenceau sought to fix France's border with Germany at

3335-672: The Bank for International Settlements. The institution took over the functions of the Reparation Commission , which was abolished, as was the office of the general agent for reparations payments. The control that the creditor powers had secured in the Dawes Plan over the German National Railway and the Reichsbank were also dropped, as was the prosperity index, which meant that Germany could be sure that it would not have to pay more if

3450-534: The British suggestion of a permanent secretariat, or perhaps because there had been three informal sets of Anglo-French talks in the last quarter of 1915, one of which, the Chantilly meeting, had already seen strategy plans drawn up. Late in March 1916 Joffre and Briand blocked the withdrawal of five British divisions from Salonika . Briand was widely suspected of wanting to make his mistress Princess George of Greece , who

3565-491: The French and Belgian invaders [...] slaughter our citizens? Are we still willing to bring upon ourselves the bloody French and Belgian courts that condemn innocent Germans to bestial death sentences, inhuman prison terms and extortionate fines? The most notable of the propaganda campaigns was the Germans' " Black Horror on the Rhine " ( Schwarze Schmach ), a racist appeal against the African colonial soldiers who made up part of

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3680-405: The French and Belgian thieves and murderers? Are we still willing to put up with the brutality, the acts of thievery and murder, the vilification, the desecrations, the expulsions and bestial harassment perpetrated everywhere by the French and Belgian intruders? And do we have to allow ourselves to be treated like dogs in our homeland by the debauchees who have broken in? Are we still willing to watch

3795-658: The French forces involved in the occupation. The Eighth Army was commanded by General Augustin Gérard and occupied the Palatinate . The Tenth Army was commanded by General Charles Mangin and was responsible for the rest of the French zone from its headquarters in Mainz . On 21 October 1919, they were combined to form the French Army of the Rhine. In 1919, the Italian "Alpi" Brigade was used by

3910-516: The French in occupation duties in the far south of the zone. The French were the last to vacate the occupied Rhineland, on 30 June 1930. The Siamese Expeditionary Forces participated in the occupation until 1919 with their troops stationed in Neustadt an der Weinstraße , located in the French area. Aristide Briand Aristide Pierre Henri Briand ( French: [aʁistid pjɛʁ ɑ̃ʁi bʁijɑ̃] ; 28 March 1862 – 7 March 1932)

4025-439: The French military came to the aid of the separatists. At least 10 people were killed and 150 wounded. French military courts later sentenced a number of Düsseldorf police officers to long prison terms. The separatist movements had ended by early 1924. On 11 January 1923, French and Belgian troops occupied the industrial Ruhr district east of the Rhine after Germany fell behind in the reparations payments required of it under

4140-645: The French occupation troops. Their numbers averaged around 25,000; most were from the French colonies in North Africa. The German propaganda push took shape after the failed Kapp Putsch of March 1920 and was supported by the government in Berlin and widely across the political spectrum, with the exception of the far left Independent Social Democrats and the Communist Party of Germany . The propaganda used graphic depictions of African "barbarians" allegedly raping German women and girls. The supposed crimes were made into

4255-497: The French to try to win the Rhinelanders over to their side and the Germans to rouse national and international feelings against the occupation. The German propaganda war included racist attacks against black French colonial troops. Following the signing of the Locarno Treaties that settled Germany's western border in late 1925, the northern occupation zone around Cologne was evacuated in January 1926. The Koblenz region, which

4370-513: The French. In accordance with the Treaty of Versailles – and also the Locarno Treaties, in which Germany had voluntarily agreed to the demilitarisation of its territory west of a line drawn 50 kilometres east of the Rhine in 1925 – the area remained a demilitarised zone until Adolf Hitler had it occupied by the Wehrmacht in breach of the treaties on 7 March 1936. The United States occupied

4485-630: The French. On 3 February, the United States withdrew General Allen as its observer from the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission. Two weeks later the Americans physically left the Rhineland. Belgium maintained an army of occupation ( Armée d'occupation , AO) in the Rhineland from 1918 to 1929. It consisted of 20,000 soldiers in five divisions with its headquarters at Aachen and its troops stationed in Krefeld . They were commanded by Armand Huyghé . Belgium also participated in

4600-475: The German Rhinelanders and the French population that annexing the region to France would benefit both sides. A press agency was set up in Koblenz, and in Mainz a bilingual magazine was published with the aim of reviving the "spiritual connection" between Germany and France. Courses in the French language were also offered in the occupied region. Tirard's propaganda efforts overall had little effect in either

4715-546: The German private and public sectors in roughly equal parts. The economy of the Weimar Republic grew significantly during the Golden Twenties (1924–1929), and in spite of a negative trade balance, there was enough foreign exchange to pay the instalments of the plan. The payments came, however, at the price of a large foreign debt. All sides began to be more uneasy about the plan from 1927 onwards. Wall Street banks and

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4830-422: The German reparations issue was settled. Since the money from Germany was to be used for French payments to the United States, France became more willing to agree to a new reparations plan, even to settle for less than the 132 billion gold marks demanded in the 1921 London Schedule of Payments. Germany was not completely satisfied with the Dawes Plan either. In 1928 the full annual payment of 2.5 billion Reichsmarks

4945-545: The Germans failed in the wake of German intransigence. The immediate cause of Briand's forced resignation was a seemingly trivial incident during the Cannes Conference of 1922 . Pressured into a game of golf by David Lloyd George he played so badly that opposition factions in the National Assembly were able to portray him as both inept and a British sycophant. He was succeeded by the more bellicose Raymond Poincaré . In

5060-585: The Great War on Oct. 3, nearly 92 years after the country's defeat by the Allies". Occupation of the Rhineland The Occupation of the Rhineland placed the region of Germany west of the Rhine river and four bridgeheads to its east under the control of the victorious Allies of World War I from 1   December 1918 until 30   June 1930. The occupation was imposed and regulated by articles in

5175-598: The Koblenz zone (American) after ten years, and the remainder after fifteen years. On 28 June 1919, the day on which the Treaty of Versailles was signed, France, Belgium, the Great Britain, the United States and Germany signed a separate agreement "with regard to the military occupation of the territories of the Rhine" as provided for in Article 432 of the Treaty. The thirteen articles of the Rhineland Agreement included

5290-799: The London Stock Exchange until the end of World War II , with Germany only stopping interest payments at the outbreak of war in 1939. In November 1934, Britain and Germany made what is known as the Anglo-German Payments Agreement , wherein among other terms, Germany agreed to continue paying interest on both Dawes and Young bonds in sterling . It is estimated that Germany's total reparations payments up to 1931 came to about 36.1 billion marks. After Germany's defeat in World War II, an international conference ( London Agreement on German External Debts , 1953) decided that Germany would pay

5405-418: The Occupation of the Ruhr in 1923. Eleven Belgian soldiers were killed in an attack on a railway bridge near Hochfeld (today part of Duisburg ) on 30 June 1923. The Belgian Army of Occupation maintained a dedicated security service known as the Military Security Service in Occupied Germany ( Sûrété militaire en Allemagne occupée , SMAO) which provided some support to Rhenish separatists. After an officer of

5520-433: The Occupied Rhine Territories. The first Prussian state commissioner was Karl von Starck ; he was succeeded in 1921 by Hermann von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg  [ de ] . Bavaria also had a state commissioner, since a small part of its territory was also occupied. The legislative powers of the Commission, which had been granted to it in order to protect the occupying troops, were not precisely defined. The Commission

5635-440: The Radicals in all matters of reform, and not stand aloof to await the complete fulfillment of their ideals. He himself was atheist. He became a freemason in the lodge Le Trait d'Union in July 1887 while the lodge did not record his name in spite of his repeated requests. Le Trait d'Union Orient de Saint-Nazaire lodge had declared him "unworthy of belonging to the great masonic family on 6 September 1889". In 1895 he joined

5750-492: The Rhine's east bank. In July 1919, the Third Army was disbanded and replaced by the American Forces in Germany (AFG) under the command of Major General Henry Tureman Allen . After a steady troop withdrawal, the AFG comprised some 20,000 men in a reduced territory by late 1919. Compared to the situation in the French occupation zone, the Americans' relations with the German population were much better. General Allen took part in saving Ehrenbreitstein Fortress from destruction by

5865-417: The Rhine. All the territories on the west bank of the river were to be detached from Germany and form one or more sovereign states aligned with France. He saw the idea, which had originated with General Ferdinand Foch , as the only way to remain secure against Germany, noting that it had invaded France four times in 100 years (1814, 1815, 1870 and 1914). Clemenceau was unable to convince his allies to accept

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5980-508: The Rhineland even while peace negotiations were ongoing. Separatism was generally supported by the French government as part of their program of cultural propaganda. High Commissioner Tirard initially favoured an independent Rhenish state. Most French and Belgian authorities either agreed with him or wanted at least to have the Rhineland separated from the state of Prussia, whereas the British and Americans were hesitant to accept such proposals, if not opposed to them outright. Hans Adam Dorten ,

6095-537: The Rhineland or France, although the German press picked up on them as an emotionally laden topic to use against the French. The German propaganda campaign was poorly coordinated until the cabinet-level Ministry for the Occupied Territories was established in August 1923 and the Rheinische Volkspflege (Rhineland People's Welfare) was placed under its control. The Rheinische Volkspflege had been set up in 1920 as an unofficial cover organisation to finance and coordinate anti-French propaganda. It saw itself as part of

6210-435: The Ruhr . Germany responded with passive resistance to the occupation, and the government's payments to the idled workers of the Ruhr fuelled the hyperinflation that nearly wrecked the economy. The Dawes Plan of 1924 was drafted to replace the London Schedule. The Dawes Plan came into effect on 1 September 1924. It reopened the American capital market to Germany, and billions in long-term bonds and short-term loans flowed to

6325-597: The Ruhr. The evacuation was completed on 25 August 1925. Relations between the German population and the occupying forces were the most difficult early on. The French especially used harsh measures such as martial law, curfews, restrictions on communication with the rest of Germany and requirements that German officials salute French officers. Billeting caused shortages of housing and food, and some cities, such as Aachen , became so crowded that they began to feel like garrisons to their inhabitants. There were frequent outbreaks of minor violence. Expulsion of "undesirables", which

6440-457: The SMOA shot dead a German officer of the Schutzpolizei in March 1921, German police mistakenly killed another Belgian lieutenant named Graff. The British Army entered German territory on 3 December 1918. The British Army of the Rhine was established as the occupying force in March 1919. Based at Cologne , they published The Cologne Post . They were withdrawn in January 1926. The French Eighth and Tenth Armies originally constituted

6555-454: The Somme, with President Poincaré (on whose train it was held), General Foch (commander, Army Group North) and the British Commander-in-Chief General Haig . The first Secret Session of the Chamber of Deputies was held in June 1916 to discuss the shortcomings of the defence at Verdun. The government won a vote of confidence but with a clause demanding "effective supervision" of the army. The Parliamentary Army Commission elected Abel Ferry as

6670-427: The Treaty of Versailles stipulated that the west bank of the Rhine and "the right bank to the west of a line drawn 50 kilometres to the East of the Rhine" be demilitarised. The provisions that related specifically to the occupation of the Rhineland were laid out in articles 428 through 432. The key article (428) states: As a guarantee for the execution of the present Treaty by Germany, the German territory situated to

6785-447: The Treaty of Versailles, the American representative, General Henry Tureman Allen , was only an unofficial observer on the Commission, although either he or a deputy attended all Commission meetings, and when Allen attended he expressed his opinions freely. At the request of the state of Prussia , to which the majority of the occupied territory belonged, German interests were represented by the newly created Reich Commissioner's Office for

6900-435: The Treaty of Versailles. Military law was imposed, local governments were placed under French control, and the Inter-allied Control Mission for Factories and Mines (MICUM) took over administration of the steel works and mines. Germany responded with a policy of passive resistance. Work in the factories and mines stopped, and the German government supported the region's idled workers through printing additional money, which led to

7015-405: The United States (the latter in an observer role only). The purpose of the occupation was to give France and Belgium security against any future German attack and serve as a guarantee for Germany's reparations obligations . After Germany fell behind on its payments in 1922, the occupation was expanded to include the industrial Ruhr valley from 1923 to 1925. In the early years of the occupation,

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7130-411: The United States Treasury grew increasingly concerned that Germany would become overindebted. Since 1924, foreign loans worth more than ten billion Reichsmarks had flowed into Germany. The question arose as to whether private loans or reparations should have priority in the event of a payment crisis. The French government also became increasingly concerned. Since 1919 the United States had been calling for

7245-454: The War Committee" (he was persuaded to accept by Briand, but soon found that he had been stripped of real power and asked to be relieved altogether on 26 December), with Nivelle replacing him as commander-in-chief of the Armies of the North and Northeast. A Senate Secret Session on 21 December attacked Briand's plans for a smaller war cabinet as "yet another level of bureaucracy"; on 23 December Briand pledged that he would continue to push for

7360-420: The War Minister, although he withdrew this proposal after Joffre threatened resignation. The Closed Session began on 28 November and lasted until 7 December. Briand had little choice but to make concessions to preserve his government, and in a speech of 29 November he promised to repeal Joffre's promotion of December 1915 and in vague terms to appoint a general as technical adviser to the government. Briand survived

7475-541: The back of the disappointing results of the Somme campaign and the defeat of Romania , Roques' report further discredited Briand and Joffre and added to the Parliamentary Deputies' demands for a closed session. In November Ferry presented a report on the shortage of manpower. A secret session was held on 21 November about calling up the Class of 1918 followed by another a week later. On 27 November Briand proposed that Joffre be effectively demoted to commander-in-chief in northern France, with both he and Sarrail reporting to

7590-484: The central area of the Rhineland along the Mosel river and the Koblenz bridgehead. General John J. Pershing , commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.), created the Third Army for the purpose, which in early 1919 comprised some 250,000 men. Command was given to Major General Joseph T. Dickman . The Americans opened their headquarters in a Prussian government building by the Rhine in Koblenz. The U.S. flag flew over Koblenz's Ehrenbreitstein Fortress on

7705-407: The coming leaders. He succeeded in carrying his project through with but slight modifications, and without dividing the parties upon whose support he relied. He was the principal author of the law of separation, but, not content with preparing it; he wished to apply it as well. The ministry of Maurice Rouvier was allowing disturbances during the taking of inventories of church property, a clause of

7820-410: The course of the occupation. Because German Francophile and separatist feelings were not as strong as the French had thought, their early attempts to tap into them failed. Paul Tirard, in a campaign conducted largely independently of the French government, tried to win the Germans over through a policy of "peaceful penetration" that included cultural events and special benefits. He wanted to convince both

7935-407: The creditor instalments, above all at German expense, and compromise solutions were found on the question of deliveries in kind. Briand was then prepared to give in on the evacuation of the Rhineland and agreed to 30 June 1930 as the final date for the occupation. The second session of the conference took place from 3 to 20 January 1930. Issues of a mostly technical nature were clarified, specifically

8050-427: The deputies. Draft proposals for Allied cooperation, prepared by Lord Esher and Maurice Hankey were on the table by the time British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith visited Paris on 17 November (mainly to discuss Greece, and only his second wartime talks with France; the first had been with Viviani in July 1915). The opening weeks of Briand's ministry required him to broker an agreement between General Gallieni ,

8165-440: The economic situation was favourable. The deliveries in kind (as, for example, coal), which had often competed with companies in the creditor countries, were to expire after ten years. The remaining payment obligation in foreign currency was divided into an unprotected instalment, which had to be transferred in foreign currency under all circumstances and amounted to a constant 600 million Reichsmarks. The protected instalment, which

8280-427: The entry of Bulgaria , Briand again became Prime Minister (29 October 1915), succeeding René Viviani. He also became Foreign Minister for the first time, a post held by Théophile Delcassé until the final weeks of the previous government. He was also pledged to " unité de front ", not just between the military and Parliament but also closer links with the other Allies, a pledge met with "prolonged, thunderous applause" by

8395-510: The establishment of the Bank for International Settlements to handle the transfer of reparations payments and the question of whether, as provided for in the Treaty of Versailles, creditors could continue to impose sanctions in the event of a German default. It was agreed that the creditor nations would regain their "full freedom of action" if the International Court of Justice found that Germany

8510-554: The failures was that the Catholic Centre Party had considerable influence in the region and did not support the separatist movements. The most serious event connected to separatism came to be known as the Düsseldorf Bloody Sunday. On 30 September 1923, thousands of separatists held a march through the city in support of a Rhenish republic under a French protectorate. After shots were fired from an unknown source,

8625-405: The following points: The occupied Rhineland made up 6.5% of Germany's total area and had a population of about seven million. While the negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles were in progress, the region was under a state of siege and the number of occupation troops stood at approximately 240,000 (220,000 French and 20,000 Belgian). By February 1920, a year after the Treaty had gone into effect,

8740-459: The following year to the Pact of Paris, aka the Kellogg–Briand Pact . As foreign minister Briand formulated an original proposal for a new economic union of Europe. Described as Briand's Locarno diplomacy and as an aspect of Franco-German rapprochement, it was his answer to Germany's quick economic recovery and future political power. Briand made his proposals in a speech in favor of a European Union in

8855-510: The foreseeable future the American capital market would be unable to pre-finance the entire value of the German reparations debt for the European creditor powers. They had wanted to use mobilisation bonds to be able to repay the inter-Allied war debt to the US in a lump sum. The "New Plan", as the Young Plan was officially called, and the agreement on the evacuation of the Rhineland were nevertheless signed by

8970-402: The heads of government of the six powers on 20 January 1930. The Young Plan provided for a German reparation debt of the equivalent of 36 billion Reichsmarks. It was to be repaid with interest through 1988, resulting in a total sum of 112 billion Reichsmarks. The annual instalments were to rise rapidly from 1.7 billion to 2.1 billion Reichsmarks, falling to 1.65 billion after 1966. Taking 1930 as

9085-526: The inexperienced Nivelle. Like President Poincaré Briand had thought Petain too cautious to be suitable. Nivelle's appointment caused great friction between the British and French high commands, after Lloyd George attempted to have Haig placed under Nivelle's command at the Calais Conference in January. Briand only reluctantly agreed to attend another allied conference in London (12–13 March 1917) to resolve

9200-543: The initial agreement and the adoption of the Young Plan. With the severe world-wide economic downturn that heralded the Great Depression , United States President Herbert Hoover won support for a one-year moratorium on reparations payments from 15 nations by July 1931. A final effort to resolve the reparations issue was made at the Lausanne Conference of 1932 . It essentially ended Germany's reparations payments. However, Germany continued to pay interest on both Dawes and Young bonds, issued in 1924 and 1930. These were traded on

9315-407: The inter-allied war debts and generated a surplus for the reconstruction of French territories destroyed in the war. Although Versailles' original sum of 132 billion gold marks plus interest had had to be dropped, "the sacrifice is the price of the permanent solution". He did not mention the original goal of mobilising reparations on a large scale and repaying the inter-allied debt as a lump sum because

9430-474: The international public. The Young Plan was mostly welcomed in France. The left-wing and liberal press judged it positively; only on the political right was criticism levelled that the plan and its accompanying withdrawal from the Rhineland affected both the financial and military security of the French Republic. Since all the governments from 1926 to 1932 were based on the political centre in coalition with

9545-641: The last eighteen months and demanding ministerial control, then resigned. He was falsely suspected of wanting to launch a military takeover of the government. Briand knew that publication of the report would damage morale and might bring down the government. Gallieni was persuaded to remain in office until a replacement had been agreed. General Roques was appointed after it had been ensured that Joffre had no objections. The first formal Allied conference met in Paris on 26 March 1916 (Italy did not participate) but initially made little impact, perhaps because Briand had vetoed

9660-406: The last points of contention stemming from the Treaty of Versailles appeared to have been resolved and the way cleared for a secure and peaceful future. Although the Young Plan had effectively reduced Germany's obligations, it was opposed by parts of the political spectrum in Germany. Nationalist parties had been most outspoken against reparations and seized on the Young Plan as an issue. A committee

9775-600: The law for which Briand was not responsible. Consequently, he accepted the portfolio of Public Instruction and Worship in the Sarrien ministry (1906). So far as the chamber was concerned, his success was complete. But the acceptance of a position in a bourgeois ministry led to his exclusion from the Unified Socialist Party (March 1906). As opposed to Jaurès, he contended that the Socialists should co-operate actively with

9890-468: The lodge Les Chevaliers du Travail that was established in 1893. Briand served as Minister of Justice under Clemenceau in 1908–9, before succeeding Clemenceau as Prime Minister on 24 July 1909, serving until 2 March 1911. In social policy, Briand's first ministry was notable for the passage of a bill in April 1910 for workers' and farmers' pensions. That same year, compulsory sickness and old-age insurance

10005-470: The matter. Briand resigned as Prime Minister on 20 March 1917 as a result of disagreements over the prospective Nivelle Offensive , to be succeeded by Alexandre Ribot . Briand returned to power in 1921. He supervised the French role in the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22. Three factors guided the French strategy and necessitated a Mediterranean focus: the French navy needed to carry

10120-471: The nationalists and right-wing Catholics, difficulties arose in the French parliament. It had not been possible to complete the Young Plan by July 1929, the deadline for ratification of the agreement on inter-allied war debts. Poincaré therefore had to ask the parliament to ratify the Mellon–Berenger Agreement on French debt owed to the United States before Germany had agreed to the Young Plan. Both

10235-503: The new War Minister, and General Joffre , newly (2 December) promoted to "Commander-in-Chief of the French Armies" ( generalissimo ) over all theatres apart from North Africa. In the poisonous atmosphere after the opening of the German attack at Verdun (21 February 1916), Gallieni read an angry report at the Council of Ministers on 7 March criticising Joffre's conduct of operations over

10350-419: The new reparations plan were to be independent and guided only by their economic expertise. The governments of the six powers that had commissioned the drafting of the Young Plan agreed to it in principle in June 1929. The foreign ministers of France and Germany, Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann , then called for a conference to be held to decide on the final settlement of all questions still arising from

10465-603: The number had dropped to 94,000 French and 16,000 Belgian troops. In March and April 1920, a violent workers' uprising in the Ruhr district was suppressed by the German Reichswehr with assistance from units of the paramilitary Freikorps . As a reaction to the incursion of German troops into the demilitarised zone east of the Rhine, French troops temporarily occupied Frankfurt am Main , Darmstadt and several other smaller cities beginning on 6 April 1920. A much more substantial Ruhr occupation took place from 1923 to 1925 as

10580-529: The political right and the opposition Socialists , who otherwise supported Briand's foreign policy, insisted on linking the two debts, a position that the United States strongly opposed. By a narrow majority, the Chamber of Deputies approved the Mellon–Bérenger Agreement on 12 July 1929 with the reservation that it would only be serviced as long as sufficient reparations were collected from Germany. Since

10695-419: The proposal. U.S. president Woodrow Wilson advocated the right of peoples to self-determination, which he said should not be denied the Germans. British prime minister David Lloyd George did not want the settlement to "leave a legacy of injustice which would rankle as Alsace–Lorraine had rankled". As a compromise, the Americans and British agreed that if Germany should attack France again, they would enter

10810-580: The provision of political security to Eastern Europe against Soviet threats. The basis was economic cooperation, but his fundamental concept was political, for it was political power that would determine economic choices. The plan, under the Memorandum on the Organization of a System of European Federal Union, was in the end presented as a French initiative to the League of Nations. With the death of his principal supporter, German foreign minister Gustav Stresemann , and

10925-504: The remaining debt only after the country was reunified. West Germany nevertheless paid off the principal by 1980; then in 1995, after reunification , the new German government announced it would resume payments of the interest, including on the Young bonds. Germany was due to pay off the interest to the United States in 2010, and to other countries in 2020. In 2010, Time magazine reported that Germany made "final reparations-related payment for

11040-542: The repayment of the inter-allied war debts incurred by France in 1917 and 1918. France urgently needed loans to stabilise the franc after the inflation of 1924 and 1925, but the American capital market was closed to it as long as the war debt remained unpaid. The matter was settled with the Mellon–Berenger Agreement in April 1926 that established a schedule for French repayment to the United States. The French Chamber of Deputies , however, refused to ratify it until

11155-473: The same time he was prominent in the movement for the formation of trade unions, and at the congress of workers at Nantes in 1894, he secured the adoption of the labor union idea against the adherents of Jules Guesde . From that time, Briand was one of the leaders of the French Socialist Party . In 1902, after several unsuccessful attempts, he was elected deputy. He declared himself a strong partisan of

11270-455: The same time, the Young bond was put on the market. Germany borrowed 1.47 billion Reichsmarks (300 million gold marks) at 5.5 percent interest for 35 years. Two-thirds of the sum went to the reparation creditors and to support the German economy and one-third to the postal service and the national railway. In spite of the poor capital market after the Wall Street crash, the bond was a success with

11385-409: The six interested powers – Germany France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy and Japan – agreed on 16 September 1928 to set up an international commission of experts under the leadership of American economist Owen D. Young to settle the reparations question and at the same time to begin negotiations on the evacuation of the occupied Rhineland . The fourteen international financial experts chosen to draw up

11500-556: The total amount or the terms for German reparations. It established an interim 20 billion Reichsmarks to be paid through April 1920 and left the full details to be determined by the Inter-Allied Reparations Commission . The Commission drew up the May 1921 London Schedule of Payments that fixed the total sum at 132 billion Reichsmarks . After Germany was declared in default in January 1923, French and Belgian troops occupied

11615-453: The union of the left in what was known as the Bloc , to check the reactionary deputies of the right. From the beginning of his career in the Chamber of Deputies , Briand was occupied with the question of the separation of church and state . He was appointed the reporter of the commission charged with the preparation of the 1905 law on separation , and his report at once marked him out as one of

11730-626: The wake of the Ruhr Crisis , however, Briand's more conciliatory style became more acceptable, and he returned to the Quai d'Orsay in 1925. He would remain foreign minister until his death in 1932. During this time, he was a member of 14 cabinets, four of which he headed himself in 1925–1926 and 1929. Briand negotiated the Briand-Ceretti Agreement with the Vatican, giving the French government

11845-594: The war as a pro-French bloc, which would also act as a barrier to future Russian expansion in the Balkans. He got on well with Lloyd George , who was also, contrary to military advice, keen for operations in the Balkans, and had a long talk with him on 4 February 1915. Briand was the main mover in persuading Maurice Sarrail to accept the Salonika command in August 1915. In October 1915 following an unsuccessful French offensive and

11960-421: The war on its side. Clemenceau then accepted a maximum fifteen-year time limit for the occupation. As a prerequisite for withdrawal, Germany would be required to fulfil the requirements of the peace treaty and meet its reparations obligations on time. The function of the occupation was thus changed from an instrument for weakening Germany to a bargaining chip for Germany's reparations obligations. Article 42 of

12075-501: The west of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads [at Cologne , Koblenz , Mainz and Kehl , per Article 429], will be occupied by Allied and Associated troops for a period of fifteen years from the coming into force of the present Treaty. Article 429 added that if Germany fulfilled its obligations under the treaty, the Cologne region (under the British) would be evacuated after five years,

12190-578: Was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic . He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconciliation politics during the interwar period (1918–1939). In 1926, he received the Nobel Peace Prize along with German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann for the realization of the Locarno Treaties , which aimed at reconciliation between France and Germany after

12305-427: Was authorised to both approve and amend national laws affecting the Rhineland and decrees issued by Rhineland officials, making it de facto the supreme public authority in the occupied Rhineland. The Commission supervised German administration in the occupied territory through a system of district delegates who were placed at the side of the respective local German administrative officers. In March 1921, Germany created

12420-402: Was born a Bonaparte. In the spring of 1916 Briand urged Sarrail to take the offensive in the Balkans to take some of the heat off Verdun, although the British, preoccupied with the upcoming Somme offensive, declined to send further troops and Sarrail's offensive that summer was not a success. Briand also attended the conference at Saleux on 31 May 1916 about the upcoming Anglo-French offensive on

12535-417: Was due for the first time. It corresponded to 12.4 per cent of total German government expenditure and 3.3 per cent of national income. If the economy continued to develop positively, the plan's prosperity index would have required an even higher sum, which could have threatened to exceed Germany's ability to pay. Following extensive diplomatic consultations during the autumn meeting of the League of Nations ,

12650-654: Was formed of various nationalist groups under the leadership of Alfred Hugenberg , a media baron and head of the German National People's Party . One of the groups that joined was the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler . The committee's goal was the enactment of what it called the "Law Against the Enslavement of the German People", or in its shortened form, the "Freedom Law". It would renounce all reparations and make it

12765-507: Was in the process of "tearing up" the Young Plan. The French saw in the statement the chance to fall back on the robust sanctions possibilities of the Versailles Treaty, while the Germans recognised in it merely the freedom of action to which every sovereign state was entitled under international law. Due to the New York stock market crash of 24 October 1929, which had occurred between the two sessions at The Hague, it had become apparent that for

12880-458: Was introduced for 8 million rural and urban workers. However, a law court decision in 1912 that questioned the legality of compulsion "enabled a large proportion of employers and workers to evade the law." Briand again served as Minister of Justice 1912-13 under the premiership of the rightwinger Raymond Poincaré (soon to become president of the Republic ), before again becoming Prime Minister for

12995-549: Was more than twice as large, could initially be transferred in Reichsmarks in the event of a "relatively short depression", but the foreign currency had to be delivered within two years. The protected instalment was closely linked to inter-allied war debts through the Concurrent Memorandum that the creditor powers attached to the Young Plan. On 17 May 1930, the Young Plan came into force retroactively to 1 September 1929. At

13110-634: Was permissible under terms of the treaty, led to 40,000 heads of household and 110,000 family members being forced to leave the French occupied territory (numbers do not include the Ruhr occupation). The Belgians were the most restrictive against fraternisation, while the French permitted "mixed" marriages on a case-by-case basis. They nevertheless denied almost all accusations of sexual violence, even in cases where punishments were meted out internally by their military. Germans who fraternised could face stigmatisation or physical violence within their own communities. Both sides used propaganda extensively during

13225-456: Was to have been vacated in January 1925, but it was delayed by the French due to disagreements about the German army's compliance with the armaments reduction requirements imposed on it in the Treaty of Versailles. As a result of the agreements reached in the Locarno Treaties , British troops withdrew from their zone in January 1926. After Germany accepted the Young Plan , which was negotiated in

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