2 май 1939 г. - The Treaty of Geneva

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On 2 May 1939, The Allied leaders (with diplomats) of the UK, Poland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, the Low Countries and Denmark walked up the stairs of the palace. They were all anxious and dreaded as they entered the palace's doors and marched into the Conference Room again.
Waiting on the other side were the representatives of Germany and France. They had arrived earlier than the rest of the Allies.
In the room with them were the Swiss observers.
 
The newly-arrived Allied diplomats walked to the table to sit in their respective seats. Some of the leaders and their staff got slightly annoyed by the loud chatter and flashes from the cameras.
Prime Minister Halifax was indeed stressed and conflicted. He was divided and lost in his thoughts, believing he was making the right choice. Halifax soon broke out of his thoughts and turned his gaze towards the German host of the treaty, General Wilhelm Keitel.
 
General Keitel stands up from his seat and asks the translators if the UK and France have familiarised themselves with the statement of peace. The translators repeated the sentence to Halifax in English.
 
Edward stood up and replied, "I do".
 
The translators told Keitel Halifax's response in German.
 
Keitel spoke again, "Are the Representatives of the United Kingdom ready to sign the treaty?"
 
Translators repeated the sentence to Halifax in English.
 
Halifax replied, "Yes, of course".
 
Translators repeated his answer back in German.
 
With a slight nod, Keitel sits down, the same did with Halifax.
 
A German diplomat passed the treaty over to Keitel. He signed his signature on the treaty for Germany.
 
The diplomat collected the treaty and walked over to Halifax.
He placed down the treaty for Halifax to sign.  
 
Halifax picked up his fountain pen. Fear came upon him as his hand began to shake as he wrote down his name. He began to feel terrible as if he was writing away his soul for the devil.
 
Once Halifax finished writing his signature, he knew what he had done. He started to feel guilty. He blamed himself for doing nothing to stop German hegemony in Europe.

France was willing to hand over Madagascar because it was nothing more than an irrelevance of an island. Germany's interest in the island was of no interest to the French.
The UK did question the decision, only to be refused any information by the German delegation.

France also handed over the Mandates (as expected), the Neukamerun territory and the islands Germany demanded. The French were reluctant to hand over their Middle Congo (Gabon-Congo) because this colony was economically important, as it produced extractions of ivory, rubber and timber to her, but this didn't stop Germany from demanding it as a new colonial possession of theirs.

France wasn't the only one that lost territory because Yugoslavia suffered a few losses to its neighbours.

It was a small win for the Yugoslav government, but they were grief-stricken by the loss of land with so little fighting on their side during the war.
Paul was not an unrealistic man and accepted that to refuse to concede now would see his whole nation devastated. So it was better to protect the remainder of Yugoslavia's independence than to lose all of it.

As such, Yugoslavia accepted the transfer of territories to Hungary and Germany but with the condition that they were permitted to arm themselves as they saw fit.
The German delegation assured that they would not interfere with the various Croatian independence movements in the Sava, Vrbas and Littoral Banovinas.

The UK would lose little to nothing from the Treaty of Geneva except the Channel Islands, which are in striking distance to Great Britain; the Germans, especially Hitler, wanted these islands badly and kept demanding them. The threatening positions of possible future German naval and air bases on the Channel Islands and on the coast near the Straits of Dover, the UK made a counterproposal.

This proposal was this, Germany would have the Channel Islands and as much as it pains the British, their recognition over the occupation of Belgium if, in exchange, Germany guaranteed the complete absence of German naval and air bases on former Belgian cities and the Islands in order to avoid endangering the British in the English Channel.

The Germans, who became impatient and wanted the treaty dealt with, agreed to the counterproposal since they got what they wanted and kept the British "happy".

The British had strategically secured their eastern flank by ensuring the security of Norway, secured the independence of a "free" Netherlands, and protected Great Britain from any possible invasion and limited German port access.

Furthermore, they secured their independence by refusing the so-called "friendship treaty" with Germany while protecting themselves from German naval advancements with the help of the continuation of the UK's initial naval treaty with Germany from 1935.


The terms of the TREATY OF GENEVA:

1) The German Reich shall annex the nations of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Kingdom of Belgium.
2) The French Republic, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the United Kingdom shall recognise the continued occupations of fDCzechoslovakia and Poland by the German Reich.
3) The Autonomous Regions of Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine will be ceded to the Kingdom of Hungary by the Second Czechoslovak Republic.
4) The disputed regions of northern Orava and Spiš will be ceded to the Kingdom of Hungary by the Republic of Poland.
5) The Kingdom of Denmark will be under the status of a protectorate of the German Reich.
6) The overseas colonies and the Commonwealth of Iceland of the Kingdom of Denmark will be administered directly by the Protectorate Government.
7) The "North-East Line" territory in the French Republic will be incorporated into the German Reich.
8) The French Republic shall agree to limit the size of their armed forces to 400,000 men and their air force, armoured units, and naval vessels limited accordingly. No French naval vessel shall be permitted to transfer to the control of the German Reich.
9) The German Reich must guarantee the independence of the Kingdom of Norway for ten years.
10) The Kingdom of the Netherlands will be placed under the protection of German Heer, and all damages done from the war shall be rebuilt with German aid for five years.
11) The Dutch Colonial Empire will be administered under Dutch authority with German protection for five years.
12) The French Republic will cede the colonies of Madagascar, the port cities of Dakar and Conakry, Middle Congo, Réunion and Mayotte, and the French Class B Mandates of Togoland & Cameroon (with 1911 borders) to the German Reich.
13) The United Kingdom of Greater Britain and Northern Ireland will cede the Channel Islands, the British Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Zanzibar islands, Seychelles, the city of Mombasa, and British Cameroon, Tanganyika, Western Togo Class B Mandates to the German Reich.
14) The Kingdom of Yugoslavia will transfer Styria and Upper Carniola to the German Reich.
15) The Kingdom of Yugoslavia shall cede the regions of Bačka, Baranja, Međimurje and Prekmurje to the Kingdom of Hungary.
16 Germany, France, Yugoslavia and the United Kingdom will agree to a non-aggression pact for five years which the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the United Kingdom will be permitted to rearm should they decide it best.
17) The German Reich and the United Kingdom of Great Britain of Northern Ireland will renew the 1935 Naval Treaty.
18) The German Reich shall guarantee the independence of the Republic of Turkey for ten years to secure British and French interests in the Middle East.
19) The Kingdom of Hungary shall relinquish all historical claims on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and guarantee their independence as a nation for ten years.
20) The Allies will recognise the German Reich's claim in Antarctica.

After the Allies signed the treaty, the rest of the Allied Powers knew there was no hope but to beg that things would get better in the future, even though they knew it wouldn't.

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