France and the Nazi Threat: The Collapse of French Diplomacy 1932-1939 (86 page)

  
66
.
    
*Van Zuylen, Pierre,
Les Mains libres
, p. 262.

  
67
.
    
Pierre Renouvin summed up those sometimes Byzantine debates very clearly in his article “La Belgique vue par les diplomats français à l’avènement de Leopold III,” *
Les relations franco-belges de 1830 à 1934
, pp. 349–357.

  
68
.
    
Van Zuylen, op. cit., p. 276.

  
69
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 41, summary, 27 March 1934. See
Documents diplomatiques belges, 1920–1940
, Vol. III, no. 121.

  
70
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 90, 13 April 1934.

  
71
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 133, Laroche to MAE, 24 April; no. 139, id., 26 April.

  
72
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 151, Léon Noël to MAE, 28 April 1934.

  
73
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 299, Barthou to Corbin.

  
74
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 362, Puaux to MAE, 20 June 1934.

  
75
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 366, Note for the political directorate.

  
76
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 472, d’Ormesson, 16 July 1934.

  
77
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 432, Naggiar, 5 July 1934.

  
78
.
    
DDF, 1, V, no. 458, 3 March 1934.

  
79
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 54, 30 March 1934.

  
80
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 54, 28 April 1934.

  
81
.
    
Jadis
, Vol. II, p. 401.

  
82
.
    
Op. cit., p. 167. See also Cameron, E., quoted article, p. 385.

  
83
.
    
Transcript in DDF, 1, VI, no. 221.

  
84
.
    
DDF, 1, no. 431, Laroche, 5 July 1934.

  
85
.
    
MAE, communiqué from the Minister’s Cabinet, summary of the Franco-British meeting in London on 9–10 July 1934, 17 July 1934.

  
86
.
    
MAE, T. from Monicault the chargé d’affaires in Prague, 10 August 1934.

  
87
.
    
MAE, T. from Naggiar, 25 August 1934.

  
88
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 278, Note from the political directorate. Proposal for an oriental pact, 3 June 1934.

  
89
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 309, Communication from the Department to the People’s Commissar…Regional Assistance Treaty, 8 June 1934.

  
90
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 368, Arnal, chargé d’affaires in Berlin, to Barthou, 21 June 1934.

  
91
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 395, Arnal to Barthou, 27 June 1934.

  
92
.
    
MAE, T. from Bressy, chargé d’affaires in Warsaw, 3 October 1934.

  
93
.
    
MAE, T. from Payart to Barthou, 20 August 1934.

  
94
.
    
Eden,
Facing the Dictators
, p. 99.

  
95
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 338, Corbin, 14 June 1934.

  
96
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 457, Note from the French service at the League of Nations, 11 July 1934, and above all the MAE, communiqué from the Minister’s Cabinet, 9–10 July 1934.

  
97
.
    
MAE communiqué from the Minister’s Cabinet, 9–10 July 1934. We did not follow the exact order of the answers within a rather confused conversation nor did we distinguish between the debates of 9 and 10 July that are in any case very similar.

  
98
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 488, 20 July 1934.

  
99
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, nos. 407, 408, 409, Arnal, chargé d’affaires, 30 June 1934; 418, Aimé Leroy, chargé of the legation in Munich, 3 July.

100
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 417, François-Poncet, 3 July 1934. Bülow suggested to Röhm to take advantage of a reception at the embassy of Argentina to meet François-Poncet, ADAP, C, II, 1, no. 412, 26 January 1933.

101
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 420, François-Poncet, 4 July 1934. He was informed by Major Réa, deputy military attaché

102
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, nos. 423, 4 July and 430, 5 July 1934. “Absurd, a fairy tale,” said von Neurath. See ADAP, C, III, 1, no. 97. Léger to Köster, 18 July 1934. See also no. 64, Note from von Neurath, 5 July 1934.

103
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 448, 8 July 1934.

104
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 450, 9 July 1934.

105
.
    
DDF, 1, VI, no. 461, Corbin, 12 July 1934.

106
.
    
MAE, T. from Barthou in Rome, 31 July 1934.

107
.
    
Barthou used these words in August 1934, in speaking with the Swiss newsman Wilhelm Herzog. See Herzog, op. cit., pp. 93–95.

108
.
    
Scott, op. cit., p. 173.

109
.
    
DBFP, VI, 875–876, 893, 2 August 1934; VII, 717–718, 10 August 1934. Scott, op. cit., pp. 198–199.

110
.
    
Quoted in Scott, op. cit., p. 201.

111
.
    
Laroche, op. cit., p 171.

112
.
    
Article by Marcel Cachin,
Humanité
, 22 February 1934.

113
.
    
Humanité
, 16 April 1934.

114
.
    
Humanité
, Gabriel Péri, 25 May 1934.

115
.
    
Humanité
, Gabriel Péri, 19 May 1934.

116
.
    
Humanité
, Gabriel Péri, 27 May 1934.

117
.
    
Humanité
, Gabriel Péri, 2 June 1934.

118
.
    
Humanité
, Gabriel Péri, 8 June 1934.

119
.
    
Humanité
, Gabriel Péri, 10 July 1934.

120
.
    
Humanité
, Gabriel Péri, 18 July 1934.

121
.
    
See in particular the articles by M.M. (Monmousseau),
Humanité
, 4 September 1934; by André Marty, “Victoire éclatante,” ibid., 8 September 1934; and Marcel Cachin, ibid., 9 September.

122
.
    
Humanité
, 5 October 1934.

123
.
    
Humanité
, 9 October 1934. See also his article of 10 September where one paragraph was captioned “Barthou 1922 and Barthou 1934.”

124
.
    
Humanité
, 14 October 1934.

125
.
    
Populaire
, 13 July 1934.

126
.
    
Populaire
, O.R. (Oreste Rosenfeld), 31 August 1934. See also a leaflet published on 17 August denouncing the “sabotage of peace” by the National Bloc and the “abandonment of the policy of enetente and international collaboration within the league of Nations.”

127
.
    
Figaro
, 10 September 1934.

128
.
    
Figaro
, 14 September 1934.

129
.
    
Homme Libre
, 24 May 1934. See also Pierre Dominique in
La République
on the same day.

130
.
    
Œuvre
, 4 and 29 July 1934.

131
.
    
Œuvre
, 21 July 1934.

132
.
    
Œuvre
, 1 August 1934.

133
.
    
Œuvre
, 4 September 1934. See also 22 September.

134
.
    
Œuvre
, 16 September 1934.

135
.
    
Figaro
, 24 April 1934.

136
.
    
See his book:
Le triomphe des bolcheviks et la paix de Brest-Litovsk. Souvenirs 1917–1918
.

137
.
    
Figaro
, 8 August 1934.

138
.
    
Petit Journal
, 16 September 1934.

139
.
    
Figaro
, 11 August 1934.

140
.
    
See in particular
Figaro
, 27 March 1934: “Une grave menace pour la paix internationale.”

141
.
    
See the editorial by d’Ormesson, “Le Pacte oriental,” 12 July 1934.

142
.
    
Ibid., id., 4 September 1934.

143
.
    
Ibid., id., 12 September 1934.

144
.
    
Écho de Paris
, 16 September 1934.

145
.
    
See in particular
Écho de Paris
, 10 July 1934 and 13 September 1934.

146
.
    
Ibid., 19 July 1934.

147
.
    
Écho de Paris
, 16 September 1934.

148
.
    
Écho de Paris
, 18 August and 7 September 1934.

149
.
    
Écho de Paris
, 8 August 1934.

150
.
    
Matin
, Henry de Korab, 11 July 1934.

151
.
    
Matin
, 20 July 1934.

152
.
    
See in particular 20 July and 2, 11, 13, 15 September 1934.

153
.
    
Matin
, 5 September 1934.

154
.
    
Action française
, 13 July 1934.

155
.
    
See in particular
Action française
, 6, 10, 12 August, and 8 September 1934.

156
.
    
10 September 1934. Daudet never forgave Barthou for having ordered an inquiry against him while he was Minister of Justice. See his rather disgusting book quoted above.

157
.
    
15 September 1934.

158
.
    
14 September 1934.

Chapter IV

T
HE
L
AVAL
E
RA

    
1
.
    
His biographers, McGeorge Bundy and Elting Morison, told me that no other French statesman in the 1930s had so successfully seduced the American government and public opinion as Pierre Laval.

    
2
.
    
Politique française
, p. 169.

    
3
.
    
Quoted by *Kupferman, Alfred,
Pierre Laval
, 1976, p. 37, where I draw all these reference to the press. The German ambassador to London von Hösch wrote a description of Laval on 17 October 1934 that was sent to Hitler see ADAP, C, III, 1, no. 254, 17 October 1934. “Unabashed opportunist,” he said. Laval was a disciple of Caillaux and Briand.

    
4
.
    
*Mallet, Alfred,
Pierre Laval
, 1954, Vol. l,
Des années obscures à la disgrace du 13 décembre 1940
.

    
5
.
    
MAE, SDN. Avenol, Vol. 29. Note from Avenol on the Rome agreements, January 1935 (the date is uncertain).

    
6
.
    
Mallet, op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 62–63.

    
7
.
    
See his book
Les illusions de Stresa
.

    
8
.
    
*Rueff, Jacques,
Autobiographie
, 1977, p. 120.