Locarno, << loh KAHR noh, >> Conference resulted in the Rhineland Security Pact and six other treaties. The conference was called partly because the Treaty of Versailles, which ended military actions against Germany in World War I (1914-1918), failed to satisfy many nations and solve conflicts remaining after the war.
In October 1925, representatives of seven European countries met in Locarno, Switzerland, to discuss plans for building permanent peace in Europe. Delegates came from Belgium, Britain, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland. The most important issue was to find a settlement between France and Germany. For the first time since World War I, the other nations treated Germany as a friendly nation.
The Rhineland Security Pact developed as the most important treaty. Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy signed the pact. Belgium, France, and Germany agreed never to fight each other again. Germany agreed to join the League of Nations, a forerunner to the United Nations. The treaty set up a neutral zone in the Rhineland, an area covering Belgian, French, and German soil. All signing powers vowed to guarantee France’s and Belgium’s borders with Germany.
The six other Locarno Conference treaties bound the participating nations to the peaceful settlement of international quarrels. Each country promised to discuss its problems before resorting to war.
In 1936, Germany denounced the Locarno treaties and sent its troops into the neutral Rhineland. The other Locarno powers did not act to prevent such aggressions, which eventually brought on World War II (1939-1945).
