reference to the eastern arbitration treaties from the Treaty of Mutual Guarantee. France was instead to sign separate guarantee treaties with Czechoslovakia and Poland, and the text of the Pact was redrafted so as to allow France to take military action against Gennany in the event of a League decision to respond to a German attack upon either of these states. In its final form the Treaty of Mutual Guarantee, or Rhineland Pact, as it was more popularly known, confirmed Gennany's frontiers with Belgium and France as established at Versailles, including the DMZ; and it stipulated that Germany and Belgium, and Germany and France, would not attack each other or resort to war against each other, ex~ept in ~egitimate self-defence, in the event of a flagrant violation of the statutes governing the DMZ, or in the exercise of a decision taken by the League. The Council of the League was also required to rule on alleged breaches of the treaty; and Britain and Italy were, as guarantors, only obliged to intervene without awaiting such a decision in the event of a 'flagrant contravention' of the treaty. The Rhineland Pact was not, however, to come into effect until Germany joined the League and, as noted above, this necessitated the drafting of a collective note to Gennany regarding Article XVI. At the same time Germany was to conclude arbitration treaties with Belgium, France, Czechoslovakia and Poland. And France, in an effort to demonstrate its loyalty to its eastern allies, rewarded these last two powers, whose Foreign Ministers were excluded from the plenary sessions of the Conference until 15 October, with formal guarantees. But before any of these arrangements could be concluded, the German delegation sought compensation. They insisted that ratification of the Pact by the Reichstag must depend upon Germany receiving fonnal assurances with regard to the evacuation of Cologne. Luther and Stresemann also wanted the final protocol
Square-Table Diplomacy: The Diplomats Gathered At Loearno No~ Mussofini
(beneath the waff picture), seated two to the left ofAJUIe" Chamberlain
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