Summary:

Kalervo Hovi, The Meaning of the French Agreements of Alliance and Friendship with East Central European States (1924 – 1927)?

The occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 led to a great change in French foreign policy. After a profound crisis the French abandoned their power policies against Germany and sought to seek security within the League of Nations. At the same time, they also signed new agreements of alliance and friendship with Czechoslovakia in 1924, Romania in 1926 and Yugoslavia in 1927. All these agreements were originally negotiated between January–March 1924.

What was the significance of these agreements? The signatory powers abandoned the traditional format of such agreements, which indicated the parties affected by the treaty and their obligations. The treaty was to guarantee peace and be based exclusely on the principles of the League of Nations. However, the word ”friendship” was not included in the document, even though it was in accordance with the goals arising from the new foreign policy of France. France needed loyal supporters and co-voters in the League when cementing her security within the League of Nations. The French government wanted to collect around itself a groupe homoloque, or in other words, a group of states that shared the same diplomatic agenda. It transpired that the nation states conducive to such a grouping were former allies of France during the First World War. France also wanted to loosen the binding Franco-Polish defence treaty it had signed in 1921, in order not to be drawn into foreign conflicts. This endeavor did not succeed because of the opposition of the Poles. Consequently, the contracting parties signed a secret agreement of cooperation between their respective General Staffs. At the time it was justified as being necessary because of the need to participate in possible sanctions adopted by the League of Nations.