FRANCE BETWEEN THE WARS: SOME IMPORTANT DATES
11 November 1918. Armistice 28 June 1919. Treaty of Versailles signed. 14 July 1919 France celebrates Victory 19 March 1920. U.S Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles and Anglo-American guarantee to France 10-11 November 1920. Unknown Soldier brought from Verdun to Paris 10 April 1922. Treaty of Rapallo. Germany and Soviet Union establish diplomatic relations 11 January 1923. France and Belgium occupy Ruhr to enforce reparations payments 18 April 1924. France accepts Dawes Plan for revision of reparation payments by Germany 2 October 1924. Geneva Protocol for Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. 29 October 1924. France recognizes Soviet Union 10 March 1925. Britain rejects Geneva Protocol. 27 August 1925. Last French troops leave Ruhr. 16 October 1925. France, Germany, Britain, Italy agree on Treaty of Locarno : mutual aid in case of Aggression 24 April 1926. Germany and Soviet Union Neutrality and Non-Aggression Pact 27 August 1928. Kellogg-Briand Pact Outlaws War. 5 September 1929. Briand proposes United States of Europe 30 June 1930. French troops evacuate last Rhineland Zone provided in Treaty of Versailles. 16 June 1932. Lausanne Conference suspends reparations 30 January 1933. Adolph Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany 14 October 1933. Germany leaves League of Nations 6 February 1934. Stavisky riots in Paris; Chamber of Deputies attacked 12 February 1934. General strike and left-wing demonstrations 16 March 1935. Germany reintroduces conscription and begins build Luftwaffe 3 October 1935. Italy invades Ethiopia. 6-7 March 1936. Germany remilitarizes Rhineland in violation of Versailles Treaty. 26 April-3 May 1936. Popular Front elected to clear majority in Chamber of Deputies 3 May-12 June 1936. General Strike in favor of 40-hour week, other reforms. 5 May 1936. Italy annexes Ethiopia; League of Nations fails to act 18 July 1936. Beginning of Spanish Civil War 2 August 1936. France begins policy of non-intervention in Spanish Civil War 14 October 1936. Belgium renounces defensive treaty with France; returns to neutrality 1 November 1936. Rome-Berlin Axis announced. March 1937. Street fighting between communists and right wing in France. June 1937. Fall of Leon Blum, change to Radical-led government in France. 12 March 1938. Germany occupies Austria. Anschluss, in violation of Versailles. 21 August 1938. Daladier government withdraws 40 hour week, other reforms. 19-30 September 1938. UK and France sacrifice Czechoslovakia for peace at Munich. 27 February 1939. France recognizes Franco as government of Spain 15 March 1939. Germany occupies Prague, Bohemia, Moravia; French opinion shifts toward resistance 31 March 1939. Anglo-French guarantee to Poland. 22 May 1939. Pact of Steel between Germany and Italy. 12 August 1939. France and UK begin security negotiations with Soviet Union 23 August 1939. German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact 1 September 1939. Germany invades Poland.3 September 1939. After ultimata to Germany, France and UK declare war, but fail to act; beginning of Phoney War (a.k.a. drôle de guerre) in the West 26 September 1939. French Communist Party Dissolved. April-May 1940. Germany invades Denmark, Norway; abortive Anglo-French expedition to Norway. 10 May 1940. Germany invades Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium; attacks France; French rush Troops north as planned. 10 May 1940. Churchill becomes Prime Minister 13 May 1940. German army crosses the Meuse into France at Sedan and elsewhere. 28 May 1940. Beginning of the Dunkirk evacuation. 10 June 1940. Italy declares war on France. 16 June 1940. UK proposes an Anglo-French Union. 22 June 1940. Armistice between Germany and France. 30 June-10 July. New government at Vichy with Pétain as Head of State; end of Third Republic
Note: throughout the interwar years, the franc steadily lost value, and there were numerous devaluations by the government. Persons on low and fixed incomes, including most military personnel, and the working and lower middle classes generally, were badly hurt.
Robert Bunselmeyer April, 2018