Ambassador Hoesch on relations between Germany and Britain
Ambassador Hoesch to Ministerialdirecktor Meyer concerning relations between Germany and Britain
Source: Documents on German Foreign Policy, vol. IV, p.557. IV Ru. 3308.
LONDON, August 15, 1935 DEAR MEYER:
I am replying to the questions in your personal letter by the first available courier. (1) Does the creation of a friendly relationship with Britain depend on the conclusion of an Air Pact? As you will no doubt be aware, I have pointed out on various occasions in my reports that the framework for the encirclement of Germany has been almost completed and that it depends on Britain alone whether the complete encirclement of Germany is achieved or not. If Britain joins the ring of encircling States, then the encircling structure will be complete; without Britain, however, there can be no encirclement of Germany. From this it follows that good relations with Britain are more than ever of decisive importance for Germany. This premises justifies the conclusion that every sacrifice which it is useful or possible to make must be made in order to bring about a lasting relationship of trust between ourselves and Britain. The British Government's decision as to their future attitude to Germany depends, as I have also already emphasised, on whether the British Government can be caused to continue in the belief that Germany's aims are peaceful and that she is therefore prepared to take part in measures designed to secure world peace, or whether they become convinced that Germany is refusing to co-operate in organising peace so as to keep her hands free to act independently in future at a suitable moment. The Air Pact, the Eastern Pact, the Danubian agreement and our return to the League of Nations are, in British eyes, factors in this problem of securing world peace. In accordance with Germany's wishes, and also in accordance with Britain's interests at present, Sir Samuel Hoare tackled the Air Pact first, and in so doing came up against the familiar, and, it seems, truly insuperable resistance in Paris, which in its turn had been strengthened by the conclusion of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and by the latent conflict between the British and French views on the Abyssinian question. Hence the pressure exerted by Britain on Germany over the problem of the Eastern Pact, the conclusion of which France wishes to link with the conclusion of the Air Pact.
