The Explorers' Club, № MCXXXI

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The Locarno Pact, Part II
1 December 1925: The Locarno Treaties were signed in London; in Germany, the government of Hans Luther fell after narrow Reichstag approval of Locarno, when the right-wing German National People's Party withdrew from the governing coaltion; in Poland, the National Democratic government of Władysław Grabski fell in part over the betrayal of Locarno, weakening the Franco-Polish alliance.

Commentary: The photograph below has no direct relevance to the Locarno Pact; it came up during my image search for this episode, probably in response to the prompt "Franco-Polish alliance" (it describes itself as "vintage Poland during the 1920s"). Why include it? Because airships are cool.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № MCXVI

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The Locarno Pact, Part I
5-16 October 1925: Germany negotiated treaties with France, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Poland, & Czechsolvakia, agreeing to the French & Belgian borders as set out in the Versailles Treaty, & the demilitarization of the Rhineland; Austen Chamberlain of Great Britain, Aristide Briand of France, & Gustav Stresemann of Germany won the Nobel Peace Prize; Germany joined the League of Nations.

Commentary: In 1919, Germany was not a party to negotiating the Treaty of Versailles; the Germans were presented with the completed treaty as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition (with the threat that if you leave it, the French will invade). The "Spirit of Locarno" greatly improved foreign relations throughout Europe & marked Germany's readmission to the community of nations.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № MXL

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—Hyperinflation, Part VI
1 September 1924: The Dawes Plan restructured & rationalized Germany's reparations payments, gave massive loans to the Reichsbank (the central bank) to stabilize the economy after hyperinflation & guarantee the new reparations schedule, & ended French & Begian occupation of the Ruhr region; the loans kicked off the "Golden Twenties" (Goldene Zwanziger), five years of prosperity in Germany.

Commentary: Charles G. Dawes, namesake of the committee of the Allied Reparations Commission that devised the Dawes Plan, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925, & served as Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge from 1925-1929.

In the Ruhr, local control was returned to the Germans on 3 September 1924, though the last French troops would not be fully withdrawn for almost a year, 25 August 1925.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CMLXVI

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
24 July 1923: The Treaty of Lausanne—Replacing the Treaty of Sèvres, the Allied Powers & Atatürk's National Movement agreed the borders of Greece, Bulgaria, & Turkey; formalized forced Greek & Turkish population exchanges; abolished the Ottoman sultanate; guaranteed unrestricted navigation of the Straits; & declared an amnesty for the Armenian, Assyrian, & Greek genocides' perpetrators.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CMXXVI

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—Hyperinflation, Part III
11 January 1923: French & Belgian troops occupied Germany's Ruhr Valley, frustrated by repeated German defaults on reparations payments of timber & coal, required under the Versailles Treaty; the Germans responded with passive resistance—labor strikes & civil disobediance—eliciting sympathy from global public opinion; hyperinflation accelerated & nationalist discontent increased in Germany.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLXXXV

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
16 April 1922: The Treaty of Rapallo was signed between Germany & Soviet Russia—The two international pariahs were already engaged in secret military cooperation, unknown to the civilian Wiemar government; the treaty provided for mutual diplomatic recognition, cancellation of debts, & increased trade; France in particular was frustrated, wanting to keep both isolated & impoverished.

Commentary: Rapallo was signed on the sidelines of the Genoa Conference (10 April-19 May 1922), a fiasco for British prime minister David Lloyd George & the new, vehemently anti-German French prime minister Raymond Poincaré, which the isolationist United States had refused to attend. No agreement was reached on the central issues of reparations & the refusal of the Soviet government to address Tsarist debts owed to the victorious Entente Powers.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLXVII

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
14 February 1922: The Permanent Court of International Justice opened in the Peace Palace, The Hague, the Netherlands—The "World Court" was allowed for under the League of Nations Covenant & created by treaty in December 1920, to arbitrate international disputes that could not be settled diplomacally & to issue advisory opinions on disputes involving the International Labour Organization.

Commentary: The Permanent Court of International Justice (P.C.I.J.) ought not to be confused with the successor International Court of Justice (established 1945 in the United Nations Charter), which took the P.C.I.J.'s place in the Peace Palace & eventually adopted the P.C.I.J.'s seal.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLXVI

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
6 February 1922: The Washington Naval Treaty—Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, & Japan agreed to limit both the number & displacement of battleships & aircraft carriers each empire was allowed to possess & to limit the displacement & armament of cruisers; to placate Japan, Great Britain & the United States agreed not to construct additional bases or fortications in the Pacific.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCLXII

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The Paris Peace Conference, Part XII
10 August 1920: The Treaty of Sèvres was signed—As with the the other Central Powers, terms were imposed not negotiated; the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into League Mandates & Anatolia was to be partitioned into French, Italian, & Greek zones of influence & an international Zone of the Straits, leaving only a Turkish rump state; Atatürk's National Movement rejected Sèvres, as did the Greeks.

Lest we forget.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the Paris Peace Conference
№ DCLXVIII: The Paris Peace Conference began (Part I).
№ DCLXXIII: The draft Covenant of the League of Nations (Part II).
№ DCLXXXII: The Racial Equality Clause of the Covenant (Part III).
№ DCLXXXIV: The Italian walkout from the Peace Conference (Part IV).
№ DCXCVI: The Treaty of Versailles: Germany (Part V).
№ DCCVII: The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye: Austria (Part VI).
№ DCCXIII: The Lodge Reservations to the Covenant (Part VII).
№ DCCXXI: The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine: Bulgaria (Part VIII).
№ DCCXXVII: The League of Nations was established (Part IX).
№ DCCXXX: The Free City of Danzig (Part X).
№ DCCLIV: The Treaty of Trianon: Hungary (Part XI).

Bonus! Song o' the Treaty of Sèvres
Les Italiens, "Ottomania" from Les Italiens (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Explorers' Club, № DCCLIV

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The Paris Peace Conference, Part XI
4 June 1920: The Treaty of Trianon was signed—Terms were imposed upon Hungary by the Entente powers, not negotiated; the new Hungary contained only 28% of the land & 36% of the population of the old Kingdom of Hungary, more punitive than the terms imposed upon Austria, Bulgaria, or even Germany; 31% of ethnic Hungarians became minorities in Romania, Czechoslovakia, & Austria, et al.

Lest we forget.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCXXX

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The Paris Peace Conference, Part X
10 January 1920: The Free City of Danzig was established—Wilson's Fourteen Points had promised both secure Polish access to the sea (solution: give Danzig to Poland) & national self-determination (problem: Danzig was 95% German); the Free City compromise alienated everyone, both Danzig's urban Germans—by severing them from Germany—& rural Poles—by denying them the new Poland.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCXXVII

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The Paris Peace Conference, Part IX
10 January 1920: The Treaty of Versailles came into effect—Part I, the Covenant of the League of Nations, formally established the League of Nations/Société des Nations with forty-two member states; the four permanent members of the League Council—France, Great Britain, Italy, & Japan—first met in Paris (16 January); the Assembly of all member states would first convene in November.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCXXIII

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—Hyperinflation, Part I
April-December 1919: The exchange rate between the German Mark (ℳ) & the United States dollar ($) rose alarmingly from 12:1 to 48:1; at the war's outbreak in August 1914, Imperial Germany had converted the Mark from the gold standard ("Goldmark") to a fiat currency ("Papiermark") & financed the war by borrowing; the Wiemar government accelerated printing ℳ to pay war reparations.

Lest we forget.