ABSTRACT
Towards the end of the 1920s, even before the world economic crisis that began in 1929, the atmosphere in Europe grew gloomier and both FrancoBritish and Franco-German relations grew more tense. At the international conference in The Hague in August 1929, the British pressed Aristide Briand, against his will, to agree to early evacuation of the Rhineland, part of which was still occupied by the ‘former Allies’ under the Treaty of Versailles. This clearly revealed the divergence between Britain and France. British policy sought to restore Germany to the concert of Europe by gradually returning to it the rights withdrawn by the Treaty of Versailles, while French leaders were still mistrustful of Germany and were keen to retain the maximum guarantees of security, such as the occupation of the Rhineland. It was evacuated in 1930, but on the condition that it was permanently demilitarised.
