Evening star., 1935-03-10

last month provided for action in
case of air attack with the added de-
tail that Britain not only promised
to support any other nation attacked,
but asked for herself similar guar
antees.
Would Benefit France.
In theory, the Germans were eligi-
BILE to share the duties and enjoy the
benefits of such an agreement-as they
at once disclosed their desire to do.
In practice, however, this extended
Locarno would insure to France the
aid of British air forces in case of an
air raid. the single form OF attack
which the French have any reason
at present to fear, in view of the ex-
tent and strength of their frontier
fortif1cations and armaments.
There remains the So-called Lo-
carno of the East. which has been
under discussion for a long time and
would amount to regional agree
ment of all the states touching the
Baltic. including Russia, Germany
and Poland, to renounce all designs
~ anu " pACo5C
themselves to come to the aid of any
state wantonly assailed. AS Italy and
Britain had bound themselves to up
hold the Western Locarno and Italy
and France the Danubian, France
and possibly her ally, Czechoslovakia,
would underwrite the Eastern.
The net effect of these three re-
gional agreements would be not only
to construct barriers across the path
way of German expansion east. west
and south, but at the same time to
extract pledges from the Germans to
renounce all invasion purposes and
thus the whole program of territorial
revision which is the basis of Hitler'S
design. The aim of the French, ever
since Barthou launched this am
bilious plan of pacts, has been to
discover some means of tying them
together which would involve obtain
ing some measure of British response
bility for the Danubian pact and of
Italian and British for the eastern.
Germany Needs Expansion.
Now obviously the Germans have
no present intention of accepting the
status quo. To live decently Ger
many must expand greatly-tilat is
the thesis not merely of Hitler and
his followers who are thinking polit-
ically but also of Thyssen and the
other industrialists who are thinking
economically. All perceive, however,
that expansion in the west is out of
the question because that would bring
in the British fleet as well as the
French and British military and air
forces. Thus, almost from the start
Hitler has been making desperate
efforts not merly to reaSsure the Brit
ish but also to placate the French.
The events of last Summer, which
led to the January accords between
France and Italy have. moreover
closed the road down the Danube for
the moment. France. Italy and
Czechoslovakia would certainly move
against Germany. were any new Aus
trian Intervention to occur, and
British moral influence. if not actual
material force, would be exerted
against a Germany which in British
eyes would thus be disclosed as the
disturbing factor in Europe.
OF course the Germans are not
going to renounce union with Austria
definitely and few believe that it can
be prevented. although it is obvious
that 1t can now be postponed for
future which is incalculable. But
time works for them in Austria, where
economic recovery is unlikely. When
Mussolini forced Dollfus to destroy
the Liberal and Socialist elements in
the small republic he actually abol-
ished the real bulwark against
"Nazi" regime. Underneath the sur
face, therefore. forces are working
steadily for an eventual union.
War Strategy Recalled.
As to the Locarno of the east the
Germans perceive that British public
opinion is totally unready to under
take any responsibilities to preserve
the status quo either in the Ukraine
or in Lithuania, where the SovietS see
the Germans and Poles preparing for
annexations Nor are they less salts
fled that French public opinion, while
SCIlSlJlfC aDOdt tA4C DdkloOAoA ASSAoAAf
is far less concerned about lands be-
tween the Dniester and the Dnieper or
territory north of the Niemen
German diplomatic strategy thus
recalls the military strategy Of the
World War. Halted in the west, after
the front had stabilized following the
battles of Flanders and the earlier
Marne, the Germans in 1915 turned
east and, in the main, concentrated
their energies upon destroying Russia,
an end which was accomplished in
the Autumn of 1917. Only then did
they turn to the south to meet Italy
at Caporetto and France and Britain
In the great offensives between March
and July of the following year.
Today the Soviets fear that the
same course will be adopted by the
Germans and the Poles, not impos-
sibly helped by O Japanese offensive