Anglo-German Naval Agreement
The Anglo-German Naval Agreement was an naval arms regulation treaty.
Contents
History
Negotiations began between the governments of Hitler and MacDonald. Germany's right to build a military navy was restricted by the Treaty of Versailles. Any renegotiation of the treaty was certainly favorable to German interests.
There were several motivations from the British perspective:
There was a sentiment that reparations and restrictions following World War 1 were too harsh, and driving militarization rather than containing it.
- Militarists sought to justify further military naval investment.
Pragmatically, the Foreign Office saw appeasement as preferable to outright dissolution of the treaty-negotiated peace in Europe.
Legacy
The agreement effectively amended the Treaty of Versailles, setting a new restriction for the German Navy as relative to the English Navy, which was being actively rearmed.