1975/09/01 by Robert P. Grathwol · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #European Political History Analysis #Political and Social Issues #German #Treaty #Veto #Law #Political science #Frontier #History #Politics #Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1017/s0008938900017921
openalex publication_date 1975/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Gustav Stresemann counted on the Locarno accords of October 1925 to pave the way for peaceful revision of the Versailles treaty. Yet just days before these agreements renouncing force as a means of modifying the Rhineland frontier were to come into effect, the German foreign minister spoke of a wake, at which “the hopes which arose in Locarno are laid to rest, under a tombstone bearing the inscription: ‘Here lies the Spirit of Locarno.’” Stresemann's remark to the French chargé d'affaires in Berlin was prompted by France's apparent veto of the restoration of Eupen and Malmédy to the German Reich. As an illustration of the fundamental governmental attitudes of the participating powers, and as a measure of just what each saw in the Locarno treaties, the case of Eupen-Malmédy presents several provocative revelations.