When World War II ended, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in
Paris in 1919. In this treaty, the Germans lost land and were
also required to make reparations of material goods and cash
payments. Germany was not happy with this. They did not even
want to sign the treaty at first, but were convinced because of
threats from the Allied nations. The Locarno Treaties were meant
to improve this tense post-war situation by reaching compromises
in order to help prevent future wars. Great Britain, France,
Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Czechoslovakia participated
in the Locarno Conferences in Switzerland. These conferences
opened up a possibility that the biggest threat to the
tranquility of Europe, the ever existing hostility between
France and Germany, might at last be extinguished. Austin
Chamberlain of England, one of the leaders at Locarno, was
accurate in calling it "the real dividing point between the
years of war and the years of peace". He and the other two
leaders at Locarno, Aristide Briand of France