Anglo-German Transfer Agreement

The naval pact was signed in London on 18 June 1935, without the British government being consulted with France and Italy or subsequently informing them of the secret agreements that provided that the Germans could build in certain categories more powerful warships than each of the three Western nations at the time. The French saw it as a betrayal. They saw it as another appeasement of Hitler, whose appetite for concessions grew. They were also upset that the UK`s private agreement further weakened the peace treaty, thereby reinforcing Germany`s growing military power as a whole. The French claimed that the United Kingdom had no right to exempt Germany from complying with the maritime clauses of the Treaty of Versaille. [46] The British delegation led by Sir Frederick Leith-359 Ross, who has visited Berlin in recent weeks, negotiated with german government officials to establish a reasonable basis for the settlement of the outstanding trade debt and to ensure the sustainability of current trade between the two countries under acceptable conditions. During the negotiations, it did not seem to find a solution to the difficulties for some time, except in the sense of a compensation agreement, despite the disadvantages of such a system and the inevitable obstacles it places on trade flows. A draft compensation agreement, which it is hoped would avoid the great difficulties of such a settlement and the pitfalls that prevented similar agreements between Germany and other countries from functioning properly, was agreed and initiated with German representatives. On May 22, 1935, the British cabinet voted to officially resurrect Hitler`s offer on 21 May. [36] Sir Eric Phipps, the United Kingdom`s ambassador to Berlin, advised London that „due to French short-sightedness“ no chance of a maritime agreement with Germany be lost. [36] Chatfield informed the firm that it was very unwise to „refuse [Hitler`s] offer, but the Reactions of the French towards them are more uncertain and their reaction to our own battleship replacement even more so.“ [36] 361 The agreement represents the best thing that could have been achieved in all circumstances.

At the same time, I do not want Parliament to think that it will automatically remove all difficulties from the Anglo-German trade route and I would ask our exporters to continue to exercise caution. Due to the length of time required to build warships and the short duration of the agreement, its effects were limited. German and British naval experts estimated that the earliest year germany reached the 35% limit was 1942. [47] In practice, the lack of shipbuilding, design problems, a shortage of skilled labour and a shortage of foreign exchange to buy the necessary raw materials slowed the reconstruction of the German navy.