René Massigli

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René Massigli (1888-February 3, 1988) was a French diplomat who played a leading as a senior official at the Quai d'Orsay, and was regarded as one of the leading French experts on Germany.

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[edit] Early career

The son of a Protestant law professor, Massigli joined the French foreign service during the First World War. During World War I, Massigli served in the Maisonde la Presse section of the Quai d'Orsay in Bern, Switzerland, where he analyzed German newspapers for the French government[1]. In the spring of 1919, Massigli was sent on several unofficial missions to Berlin to contact German officials about the terms of the Treaty of Versailles[2].

[edit] The 1920s

Massigli served as the secretary-general for the Conference of Ambassadors between 1920-1931 before becoming the head of the Quai d'Orsay's section dealing with the League of Nations[3]. Using a pseudonym, Massigli wrote an article in the L'Ere Nouvelle newspaper in March 1920, in which condemned "the revival of militarism" in Germany as represented by the Kapp Putsch, predicated that the Reichswehr would never accept democracy, but claimed that there was a genuine desire for democracy among the German people[4]. In another series of articles published in June 1920, Massigli articulated what he regarded as the central dilemma of France’s German policy; namely to insist upon a too forceful enforcement of Versailles would undermine German moderates, but at the same time, enemies of democracy were strong in Germany, and thus to loosen Versailles would make the task of any potential future anti-democratic government in Germany easier[5].

During his time at the Conference of Ambassadors, Massigli was closely involved in the disputes about Upper Silesia, the Memelland, the Vilnius/Wilno dispute, the borders of Austria and Hungary, and the enforcement of Part V of the Treaty of Versailles (the section dealt with disarmament)[6]. In the early 1920s, Massigli was known for his vigorous efforts to enforce Part V, and attempted to thwart German efforts to violate Part V[7]. In Massigli's view, the French should be moderate in the enforcement of Versailles, but in return, the Germans must obey all of the articles of Versailles, above all Part V. As Massigli wrote: "The touchstone for Germany is the execution of the Treaty, or at least, since I am prepared to believe that certain of its clauses cannot be applied, to give evidence of goodwill in its execution. The starting point must be the disarmament of the Reichswehr"[8]. In September 1923, during the Ruhr crisis, Massigli was sent to the Rhineland to report to Paris on the viability of the Rhenish separatist movement, and what support, if any France should offer the separatists[9]. Massigli was very cool in his assessment of the Rhenish separatists, whom he described as badly organized and lacking in popular support, and advised against support for a Rhenish Republic[10].

Starting in the mid-1920s, Massigli came to relax his views, and started to advocate reconciliation with Germany, through not at the expense of French security[11]. In 1925, Massigli played a major role in the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Locarno. Through welcoming the Gustav Stresemann's initiative in renouncing claims upon Alsace-Lorraine as a very important step for peace, in private Massigli was troubled by the refusal of the Germans to give similar guarantees for their neighbors in Eastern Europe, especially Poland or to abide by the terms of Part V[12]. A close friend and associate of Aristide Briand, Massigli worked strongly in the late 1920s for Franco-German détente[13]. However, Massigli never lost any of his concerns about the Reichswehr, and felt that Franco-German rapprochement should best take place within the broader framework of European integration and collective security[14]. As Massigli later told the historian Georges-Henri Soutou "Briandism had the great merit of drawing a good number of European states towards the French viewpoint"[15]. In accordance with these views, Massigli played a major role in working behind the scenes in the talks that led to Germany joining the League of Nations as a Council permanent member in 1926[16]. For Massigli was open to revising Versaillies within Germany's favor, but only within the context of multilateral organizations like the League of Nations[17]. In 1929-1930, Massigli worked closely with Briand in his project for creating a European "federation" that many have seen as a prototype for the European Union[18].

[edit] The 1930s

From 1930 on, Massigli was intimately involved in the preparatory work for the World Disarmament Conference scheduled to open in 1932[19]. The increasing divergence between German demands for gleichberechtigung (“equality of armaments”) (i.e. abolishing Part V) and the French demand for sécurité (“security”) (i.e. maintaining Part V) together the strains in Franco-German relations imposed the abortive Austrian-German customs project of 1931 left Massigli increasing disillusioned with the Weimar Republic[20]. In 1931, Massigli advised the Premier Pierre Laval before his summit with the German Chancellor Dr. Heinrich Brüning that France should offer a bail-out for the collapsing German bank system only if the Germans were prepared to forgo the demand for gleichberechtigung at the upcoming World Disarmament Conference[21]. Dr. Brüning refused the French conditions at his summit with Laval. Massigli was a prominent player at the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva, and helped to write famous "Barthou note" of April 17, 1934 issued by the Foreign Minister Louis Barthou that helped to terminate the conference[22]. Massigli was especially opposed to the Premier, Édouard Herriot's acceptance in December 1932 "in principle" of gleichberechtigung, predicating correctly that it would lead to opening the door for German rearmament[23].

In 1933, Massigli was appointed the Deputy Political Director at the French foreign ministry. During the 1930s, Massigli was a leading member of the so-called "Protestant clan", namely a group of Protestants who held high offices in the Quai d'Orsay[24]. In general, Massigli was identified with as an advocate of "firmness" in dealing with the new German government, and in note of December 11, 1933 argued that the main thrust of German policy would be to keep Franco-German relations in good state in exchange for French acceptance of German expansionism into Eastern Europe before turning west for a final showdown with France[25]. During the crisis caused in March 1936 by German remilitarization of the Rhineland, Massigli urged that Paris use the crisis as a way of strengthening French ties with the United Kingdom and Belgium and the League of Nations[26]. After meeting with the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden in London in March 1936, Massigli was angry with what he regarded as the feeble British response to the Rhineland remilitarization[27]. In 1937, he was promoted the Political Director of the Qui d'Orsay upon the recommendation of the Secretary-General of the Quai d'Orsay, Alexis Saint-Legér Léger[28].

During the crisis in 1938 occasioned over Czechoslovakia, Massigli was not in sympathy with his government's policy, and in private deplored the Munich Agreement as a disaster to France[29].In September 1938, Massigli followed the Premier, Édouard Daladier to Munich as part of the French delegation, and upon his return to Paris, witnessing the vast cheering crowds, he wrote in a letter “Poor people, I am overwhelmed with shame”[30]. After the Munich Agreement, Massigli wrote in memo that "Far from bringing Germany back to a policy of co-operation, the success of her method can only encourage her to persevere in it. The enormous sacrifice conceded by the Western powers will have no counterpart: once more we will be reduced to an act of faith in the peaceful evolution of the new Pangermanism"[31]. In August 1938, Massigli argued to the British Chargé de Affairs, Campbell what he saw as the significance of Czechoslovakia as way of blocking German expansion into Eastern Europe[32]. However, Massigli felt given various economic and strategic concerns, that France could not go to war over Czechoslovakia without British support, and should that support not materialize, then it would be best for the French to explain the strategic state of affairs “frankly” to Prague[33]. Massigli felt that in the event of a German attack, then France should not automatically declare war as the Franco-Czechoslovak alliance of 1924 required, but instead Paris should present the hypothetical German-Czechoslovak war to the League of Nations Council, and then wait until the Council decided if the war was a case of aggression or not[34]. Massigli saw the Czechoslovak crisis as a way of strengthening Anglo-French ties and on September 17, 1938 Massigli wrote a memorandum in which stated: “If the British Government pushes us along the path of surrender, it must consider the resulting weakness of French security, which on numerous occasions, has been declared inseparable from British security. To what extent might a reinforcement of the ties of Franco-British collaboration compensate for this weakening in the common interests of the two countries? This is a matter to which the attention of the British leaders should be drawn"[35].

Relations between Massigli and his superior in 1938, Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet were very poor and his memoirs, Bonnet lambasted Massigli quite severely[36]. For his part, Massigli accused Bonnet of seeking to alter the documentary record in his favor[37]. In October 1938, Massigli was sacked as Political Director by Bonnet who exiled him to Turkey as Amabassador[38]. During his time in Ankara, Massigli played an important role in ensuring that the Hatay dispute was resolved in Turkey's favor[39]. Massagli felt that the best way of ensuring a pro-Western tilt in Turkey was to accede to the Turkish demands for the sanjak of Alexandretta (modern İskenderun)[40]. During his talks with the Turkish foreign minister, Şükrü Saracoğlu, Massigli was hindered by the continual poor state of his relations with Bonnet. In addition, Massigli faced much opposition from Arab nationalists and the French High Commission in Syria, who were both opposed to ceding the sanjak of Alexandretta[41]. When the talks over Hatay began in February 1939, Massagli went for weeks without negotiating instructions by Bonnet, and thus was only able to complete the Hatay negotiations on June 23, 1939[42]. In 1939, Massigli was heavily preoccupied with competition with the German Ambassador Franz von Papen in an effort to secure Turkish adhension to the Allied side in the event of war breaking out.

[edit] World War Two and the Cold War

In 1940, Massigli was removed by the Vichy government as Ambassador to Turkey. After his firing, Massigli returned to France and was in contact with several Resistance leaders in the Lyon area, most notably Jean Moulin. In January 1943, Massigli escaped to London and served as Charles de Gaulle's Commissioner for Foreign Affairs in 1943-1944. From late 1944 until June 1954, Massigli was the French Ambassador to the Court of St. James's in London. During his time in Britain, Massigli was very much involved in the debates about the Cold War and European integration . Massigli was strongly opposed to the vision of European federation of Jean Monnet. Instead he urged the creation of an Anglo-French bloc which would serve as the basis for a federation of Europe. In 1954-1956, Massigli served as the Secretary-General of the Quai d'Orsay, and then retired. His memoirs, Une Comédie des Erreurs were published in 1978.

[edit] Endnotes

  1. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 132
  2. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 pages 132-133.
  3. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 132
  4. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 135.
  5. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 pages 135-136
  6. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 134
  7. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 134.
  8. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 136.
  9. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 136.
  10. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 136.
  11. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 135
  12. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 pages 138-139.
  13. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 137.
  14. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 137.
  15. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 137.
  16. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 140.
  17. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 140.
  18. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 140.
  19. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 141.
  20. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 pages 141-142.
  21. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 142.
  22. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 142.
  23. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 142.
  24. ^ Duroselle, Jean-Baptiste France and the Nazi Threat New York: Enigma Books, 2004 pages 217-218.
  25. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 pages 142-143
  26. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 144
  27. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 144
  28. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 132.
  29. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 page 145
  30. ^ , Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 150.
  31. ^ Vaïsse, Maurice "Against Appeasement: French Advocates of Firmness, 1933-38" pages 227-235 from The Fascist Challenge and the Policy of Appeasement edited by Wolfgang Mommsen and Lothar Kettenacker, George Allen & Unwin, London, United Kingdom, 1983 page 233.
  32. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 150.
  33. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 150.
  34. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 150.
  35. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 150.
  36. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 149.
  37. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 142.
  38. ^ Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998 pages 145-146.
  39. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 328.
  40. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 328.
  41. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 328.
  42. ^ Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977 page 328.

[edit] Work

  • Une Comédie des Erreurs, 1943-1956 souvenirs et réflexions sur une étape de la construction européenne, Paris: Plon, 1978.

[edit] Reference

  • Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, London: Frank Cass, 1977, ISBN 0 7146 3035 7.
  • Burgess, Patricia (editor) pages 100-102 from The Annual Obituary 1988, St James Press, 1990 ISBN 1558620508
  • Duroselle, Jean Baptiste France and the Nazi Threat: The Collapse of French Diplomacy, 1932-1939, New York Enigma Books, 2004 ISBN 1929631154
  • Watt, D.C. How War Came : The Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938-1939, New York : Pantheon Books, 1989, ISBN 039457916X.
  • Vaïsse, Maurice "Against Appeasement: French Advocates of Firmness, 1933-38" pages 227-235 from The Fascist Challenge and the Policy of Appeasement edited by Wolfgang Mommsen and Lothar Kettenacker, George Allen & Unwin, London, United Kingdom, 1983, ISBN 0049400681.
  • Ulrich, Raphäelle "René Massigli and Germany, 1919-1938" pages 132-148 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-415-15039-6.
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