Anglo-German Naval Agreement

The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA), was signed between United Kingdom and Germany on June 18, 1935. Despite provisions in the Treaty of Versailles, the agreement negotiated by von Ribbentrop allowed Germany to increase the size of its Navy to one-third the size of the Royal Navy. At the same time, the United Kingdom agreed to withdraw its navy from the Baltic Sea completely , making Germany the dominant power in the Baltic. Adolf Hitler himself was privately ecstatic at the agreement, saying, "Great Britain has in fact renounced her naval influence in the Baltic, a bottle that we Germans can close. The English cannot exercise any control there. We are the masters of the Baltic." Even the Times of London reported that the "German Fleet will now be in unchallenged control of the Baltic. Every new unit added to the German fleet makes Sweden's (and the rest of the Baltic nations) position so much worse...Even before 1914 our position was better, as then the Russian and German fleets about balanced."

It was agreed that the German navy wouldn't exceed thirty-five percent of the size of that of the British navy. This number was chosen deliberately, as a well-known theory at the time stated that if there were two evenly-matched opponents in a war, neither would win. However, if an opponent had only one-third of the armaments of the other, then they were bound to lose. This theory dated back to World War I and greatly pleased the British cabinet.

Negotiation process

The negotiation process for the agreement was very unusual, particularly from the British perspective. The first peculiarity was that Hitler wanted to negotiate the terms within four days, and that he would send a representative to Britain. Before this point, Britain had sent representatives to Germany when negotiating treaties.

The next irregularity was that Ribbentrop, an industrialist rather than a qualified politician, was sent. The British cabinet had expected Konstantin von Neurath, the German foreign minister, to negotiate the agreement.

The last and most unusual step in the process was that Ribbentrop had the Anglo-German Naval Agreement with him already, and he wanted it to be signed by four o'clock in the afternoon the next day, after which he would leave. This gave no time for any discernible negotiations to be held, and so the agreement was signed in less than one day.

Impact

The Anglo-German Naval Agreement made it possible for the German navy to control a major portion of the sea traffic traveling in and out of the Baltic, including sea traffic traveling through the Gulf of Bothnia. It was from the Gulf of Bothnia and the Swedish port of Luleå that the majority of Germany's iron-ore imports originated. Half of Germany's iron-ore imports came from Sweden, an important consideration for the German military's attempts at rebuilding its war arsenal. Grand Admiral Raeder, head of the German navy, said himself that it would be "utterly impossible to make war should the navy not be able to secure the supplies of iron-ore from Sweden."

At the time of the signing of the AGNA, Denmark had the capability of deciding what ships made their way into and out of the Baltic, but when Germany invaded Denmark and Norway (Operation Weserübung, April 9, 1940), it was Germany that gained complete control of the Baltic, since the United Kingdom had voluntarily withdrawn from Baltic waters. It was now truly a 'bottle' that the Germans were capable of closing. If the British naval withdrawal from the Baltic had not been included in the AGNA, and had the British navy continued to sail the waters of the Baltic, Germany's ability to secure the iron-ore shipping routes to Sweden in time of war would have been made more difficult. In fact, Germany's ability to initiate war may have been quashed, with such a vital mineral as iron-ore cut off from the German mainland. However, while the United Kingdom's superior navy may have been able to stave off a smaller German naval fleet initially, in the long run the power of the German Luftwaffe would have challenged Britain's ability to control the German navy in the Baltic.

Germany's expanded power, as granted through the AGNA, posed a serious threat to the independence of nations that bordered the Baltic, particularly Sweden and the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. It forced some of those nations to seriously reconsider their traditional policies and alliances.

See also

• Stresa front
• Events preceding World War II in Europe

External links

• The Anglo-German Naval Agreement 1935