ABSTRACT
The reshuffle provided the opportunity for the removal of the marginalised Aristide Briand, with Pierre Laval taking the foreign ministry himself and Tardieu replacing Maginot at the war ministry. Laval took the opportunity to try to widen his coalition by offering a number of cabinet posts to the Radicals, including that of foreign minister to Edouard Herriot; the offer was refused, though Herriot did announce that he would support Laval on important questions of foreign policy. The French in particular were unhappy with what seemed to them both to be a salvo in the naval disarmament talks and a threat to their spending on frontier fortifications. The General Convention was signed by twenty-two states by the time the World Disarmament Conference opened in February 1932, including Germany and France, though only minor states ever actually ratified it. Amidst the building crescendo of public demands for disarmament, the looming deadline of 2 February 1932 was viewed in many cabinet rooms with trepidation.
