Anglo-German Naval Agreement - Negotiation

Negotiation

On May 22, 1935, the British Cabinet voted to take up formally Hitler's offers of May 21 as soon as possible. Sir Eric Phipps, the British Ambassador in Berlin, advised London that no chance at a naval agreement with Germany should be lost “owing to French shortsightedness”. Admiral Chatfield informed the Cabinet that it most unwise to “oppose offer, but what the reactions of the French will be to it are more uncertain and its reaction on our own battleship replacement still more so”. On March 27, 1935, Hitler had appointed Joachim von Ribbentrop, who served as both Hitler’s Extraordinary Ambassador-Plenipotentiary at Large (making part of the Auswärtiges Amt, the German Foreign Office) and as the chief of a Nazi Party organization named the Dienststelle Ribbentrop that competed with the Auswärtiges Amt was appointed to head the German delegation to negotiate any naval treaty. Baron Konstantin von Neurath, the German Foreign Minister was first opposed to this arrangement, but changed his mind when he decided that the British would never accept the 35:100 ratio, and having Ribbentrop head the mission was the best way to discredit his rival.

On June 2, 1935, Ribbentrop arrived in London. The talks began on Tuesday, June 4, 1935 at the Admiralty office with Ribbentrop heading the German delegation and Simon the British delegation. Ribbentrop, who was determined to succeed at his mission, no matter what, began his talks by stating the British could either accept the 35:100 ratio as "fixed and unalterable" by the weekend, or else the German delegation would go home, and the Germans would build their navy up to any size they wished. Simon was visibly angry with Ribbentrop’s behavior, stated that “It is not usual to make such conditions at the beginning of negotiations”, and walked out of the talks. On Wednesday, June 5, 1935, a change of opinion came over the British delegation. In a report to the British Cabinet, that they “definitely of the opinion that, in our own interest, we should accept this offer of Herr Hitler’s while it is still open...If we now refuse to accept the offer for the purposes of these discussions, Herr Hitler will withdraw the offer and Germany will seek to build to a higher level than 35 per cent...Having regard to past history and to Germany’s known capacity to become a serious naval rival of this country, we may have cause to regret it if we fail to take this chance...”. Also on June 5, during talks between Sir Robert Craigie, the British Foreign Office’s naval expert and chief of the Foreign Office's American Department and Ribbentrop’s deputy, Admiral Karl-Georg Schuster, the Germans conceded that the 35:100 ratio would take the form of tonnage ratios, during the Germans would more or less build their tonnage up to whatever the British tonnage was in various warship categories. On the afternoon of that same day, the British Cabinet voted to accept the 35:100 ratio, and Ribbentrop was informed of the Cabinet’s acceptance in the evening. During the next two weeks, talks continued in London on various technical issues, mostly relating to how the tonnage ratios would be calculated in the various warship categories. Ribbentrop was desperate for success, and agreed to almost all of the British demands. On June 18, 1935, the A.G.N.A was signed in London by Ribbentrop, and the new British Foreign Secretary, Sir Samuel Hoare. Hitler called June 18, 1935 the day of the signing of the A.G.N.A. “the happiest day of his life” as he believed that the A.G.N.A marked the beginning of an Anglo-German alliance.