Presentation on the Anglo-German Naval Agreements of 1935 and 1937

Wednesday 14 October 2026, 1100-1200 AEST Presentation has been deferred due to schedule conflicts. A new date will be advised in due course.

The Anglo-German Naval Agreements of 1935 and 1937 are among the most misunderstood and misrepresented elements of the interwar naval arms control architecture. Far from being the short-sighted acts of appeasement they are commonly portrayed to be, these agreements represented a logical and sensible approach by Britain to resolve the seemingly impossible strategic dilemmas facing the British Empire at that time, and to shape their environment by directing German naval development in a direction least-threatening to British interests.

This presentation will explore the history of the agreements, starting with the breakdown of the Versailles restrictions following the failure of the 1932 World Disarmament Conference. It will include the extensive negotiations that took place following the 1935 agreement to convert a brief and ambiguous Exchange of Notes into a practical arrangement, as well as the protracted negotiations conducted with Germany (and the parallel interdependent talks with the USSR) to reach a compromise that would allow the extension of the 1936 London Naval Treaty provisions to Germany. Finally, this presentation will address the progressive deconstruction of the agreements as Europe descended towards World War Two.

Along the way, this presentation will explore a number of other aspects of the agreements, such as why, after the ravages wrought by U-boats in World War I, Great Britain allowed an exception which permitted Germany to build up to parity in submarines, what these potential enemies hoped to achieve from the agreements, and how the agreements contained the seeds of their own demise.

Further details: Naval Historical Society of Australia event page