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fields falling into German hands. He had ministers of Germany, Gustav Strese- mentioned in 1929 and outlined in a me-
also supported a plan to strike Turkey mann, and ofthe United Kingdom,Austen morandum in May 1930. In September
and Bulgaria by invading through Thes- Chamberlain. 1930 the proposal was presented in a
salonica in Greece. Although this plan speech to the League of Nations. Howe-
was ultimately successful, during 1916 His first success was at Locarno. Briand ver, after Briand left the French foreign
and 1917 the campaign turned into a di- seized upon Stresemann's offer of a pact ministry, the idea was not taken up by
sastrous stalemate. Subjected to moun- of mutual guarantees and non-aggres- any other political leaders until after the
ting pressures because of these failures, sion, and showed Chamberlain how this Second World War.
Briand decided to resign in March 1917. proposal would correspond to his ideas
He was replaced by Clemenceau, his of collective security. During the Lo- By 1931 Briand was visibly fading, deep-
long-time rival, who became Prime Mi- carno conference itself, he established ly upset by his failure to be elected Pre-
nister in November 1917. an informal atmosphere that would sident of France. But, with his resiliency
eventually lead to agreement. On 1 De- and equable temperament, he did not
Out of office, Briand grew alarmed at cember 1925 in London, Briand signed lose a day working at his office in the
the endless slaughter on the Western the Locarno Pact, which defined peace- Quai d'Orsay. However, in January 1932
Front and put out diplomatic feelers ful arbitration through a complicated he was ousted from this office by his for-
to the Austrians. He narrowly avoided series of treaties involving Belgium, mer protégé, Pierre Laval (who would be
being singled out by the anti-defeatist France, Germany, Italy and the United shot by firing squad in 1945 for collabo-
campaign led by Clemenceau's hench- Kingdom. Germany's western frontiers rating with the Nazis).
men and spent the rest of the war in un- were declared inviolable and war was
characteristic silence. He did not play renounced except in extraordinary cir- The Third French Republic now entered
any role in the 1919 Versailles peace cumstances. It marked a break with the its final phase and most of Briand's work
talks during which Clemenceau conduc- mood of the First World War since for- on Franco-German reconciliation and
ted the negotiations for France. Even so, mer enemies committed themselves to a the renunciation of war turned out to be
Briand wholeheartedly supported the peaceful coexistence. Furthermore, Ger- worthless. In January 1933, Adolph Hit-
setting up of the League of Nations. He many was allowed to join the League of ler came to power and some months la-
quickly recovered his earlier authority, Nations. Locarno embodied the Briand ter Germany withdrew from the League
first by leading the backstairs campaign spirit -- the humanization of politics. of Nations. The world economic crisis
that led to Clemenceau's failure to be At the Assembly of the League of Na- Of 1929, the Japanese invasion of Man-
elected President of the Republic and tions in Geneva Briand declared: "Away churia in 1931 and the Italian invasion
then by demonstrating his superior poli- with rifles, machine-guns and artillery: of Ethiopia in 1935 would all point to the
tical talents to the inexperienced Cham- make way for conciliation, arbitration death of the Locarno Pact and the Lea-
ber of Deputies elected in 1919. and peace." He received the Nobel Peace gue of Nations. The last blow was when
Prize in 1926 for his contribution to Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland in
By January 1921 he was back in office as the Locarno Pact. The cordial relations March 1936 in flagrant violation of the
Prime Minister, retaining for himself the between Briand and Stresemann, the Treaty of Versailles, since it had been
portfolio of foreign affairs. He tried to leading statesmen of their respective declared a demilitarized zone. A new
obtain a settlement of the German repa- countries, were cut short by the unex- arms race now began in Europe.
rations issue; represented France at the pected death of Stresemann in 1929.
Washington Arms Conference; and ne- However, Briand would know nothing
gotiated a security pact with the British With Locarno as a model, Briand now of this because, after losing office as Mi-
prime-minister Lloyd George at Cannes sought to extend the arbitration concept nister of Foreign Affairs, he died quite
in 1922, resigning when he failed to ob- to the United States, proposing in 1927 unexpectedly on 7 March 1932 in Pa-
tain its ratification. His efforts to reach that France and the United States ris. He is buried in the tiny Normandy
an agreement over reparations with the should jointly renounce war as "an village of Cocherel, his country estate.
Germans failed due to German intran- instrument of national policy". Frank Today, a bronze statue of Aristide Briand
sigence, and he was succeeded by the B. Kellogg, the American Secretary of stands in the middle of the village.
more bellicose Poincaré. Briand under- State, suggested a multilateral rather
stood that European stability would not than a bilateral treaty. On 27 August Aristide Briand's own reputation, howe-
be achieved by humiliating Germany. 1928, they signed the Kellogg-Briand ver, survived and is perpetuated by a
Pact at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris. The huge memorial frieze in front of the
His resignation in 1922 did him no treaty outlawed war between France and French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on
harm at all when the political left later the United States. The United States' Se- the Quai d'Orsay in Paris.
regained power. Recalled by President nate ratified it in 1929 and over the next
Painlevé in 1925, Briand returned to few years forty-six other nations signed Throughout his career, Briand had
the Quai d'Orsay as the French Minister a similar agreement committing them to maintained contact with his native Brit-
of Foreign Affairs and remained there peace. Kellogg now joined Briand in the tany. He was elected to parliament by
continuously until 1932. For five and ranks of Nobel Peace Prize laureates. the citizens of St Nazaire, and stayed
a half years he was a highly successful there several times with his mistress,
foreign minister -- a post he held as a Briand negotiated the 1926 Briand-Ce- the actress Berthe Cerny. In fact, he ne-
succession of fourteen governments rose retti Agreement with the Vatican giving ver married, his last romantic liaison
and fell, four of which he headed him- the French Government a role in the being with Lucie Jourdan, who owned a
self. He devoted most of his energies to appointment of Catholic bishops. This small island off the north coast of Brit-
the cause of Franco-German reconciliation system indirectly ensures that, almost tany -- the lie Milliau near Trébeurden.
and the League of Nations, where he without exception, French citizens alone Briand often visited this island between
exerted great influence. Known as the are employed in the Catholic adminis- 1919 and 1928. A memorial to him in
"pilgrim of peace", Briand became a great tration and schools in France. pink granite was erected on the seafront
supporter of international pacifism and of Trébeurden on which is engraved his
sought to normalize relations between The last major proposal Briand offered epitaph: "II voulut pour nous la paix"
Germany and its former enemies. He to the world was his sweeping concept [He wanted peace for us].
established close links with the foreign of a federal union of Europe first John Fox
History 451