DISARMING GERMANY: ALLIED DIPLOMACY AND ARMS CONTROL, 1918-1926

This study explores efforts of the Anglo-French Entente to disarm Germany after the First World War in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. The coerced disarmament of Germany depended on the cohesiveness of their alliance. Yet, as the destructive legacy of the war faded over time, British and French security interests diverged. The French aggressively pursued disarmament to neutralize the threat of German land forces. Meanwhile, the British were more concerned with neutralizing menaces derived from sea power and newly developed aerial technologies. Previous studies of Allied policy toward German disarmament have attributed British leniency toward disarming Germany at the expense of French security to disagreements over the political and economic future of Europe. This dissertation argues that security, as the highest standing British priority, was crucial in affecting the Anglo-French relationship and that discord within the Entente became more problematic as British security concerns approached resolution through air and naval disarmament. This study is based primarily upon archival sources from the British Foreign Office, Admiralty, Air Ministry, and War Office along with the papers, letters, and memoirs of key participants and observers of events.