The military consequences for France of the end of Locarno

Focusing on the political, diplomatic and strategic context in which the French note of the consequences from Germany's renunciation of the Locarno Treaty (Ministry of Defense, April 1936) was written, the author examines two levels; 1) rearmament policy and France's strategic posture; 2)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Intelligence and national security 2007-08, Vol.22 (4), p.563-572
Main Author: Alexander, Martin S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed Forces
Conflict
Defence policy
Defense Policy
Foreign Policy
Foreign relations
France
Germany
Information analysis
Intelligence
Interwar Period
Militarization
Treaties
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Focusing on the political, diplomatic and strategic context in which the French note of the consequences from Germany's renunciation of the Locarno Treaty (Ministry of Defense, April 1936) was written, the author examines two levels; 1) rearmament policy and France's strategic posture; 2) France's diplomatic options and policy recommendations. Set within the long-term context of French attempts to resurrect the military alliance with Britain, the article also studies the machinery in place for the making of strategic policy in France in 1936. In his conclusion, the author mentions that the French military organization was far stronger in analyzing hypotheses than it was at building bureaucratic and political coalitions to accurately respond to identified threats. A tendency characteristic of French policy circles to review the options, reviewing them again, but settle and act upon none. Instead of putting the blame on one sole person (Gamelin), the author prefers to call it cultural and characteristic of France's entire inter-war defense and intelligence community. O. van Zijl
ISSN:0268-4527
DOI:10.1080/02684520701640548