The Locarno Treaties during the "Quinquennium of Détente" 1925-1929

ORGANIZER: Società Storica Locarnese e Società Dante Alighieri Locarno

Locarno. Palexpo.

Thursday, 9 October 2025, 6:00 pm.

Admission: free.

• Locarnese Historical Society website
• Dante Alighieri Society Locarno website

The drafting of the Locarno Treaties, between 5 and 16 October 1925, and its signing in London on 1 December 1925, marked the beginning of a "five-year period of détente" in Europe. This era culminated in the treaty drawn up in Paris on 27 August 1928 by Aristide Briand, French Foreign Minister, and Frank Kellogg, U.S. Secretary of State, which aimed to eliminate war as a means of resolving disputes.

This interlude, defined by the peak influence of the League of Nations (LoN), sought to ease the tensions left by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. However, the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, its spread to Europe by 1930-31, and the subsequent weakening of the League following the withdrawal of Germany and Japan in 1933, Italy in 1937, and Spain - with the expulsion of the Soviet Union - in 1939, brought an end to this period of hope and presaged the outbreak of World War II.

This lecture, richly illustrated with historical iconography, will situate the Locarno Treaties within the broader context of this hopeful yet fragile five-year era.

Marino Viganò

A graduate in Political Science from the Catholic University of Milan, he earned his doctorate in Military History from the University of Padua. He contributed to the Swiss Second World War Commission of Experts (1997–98) and the Italian Commission on the Spoliation of Jewish Property (1998–2001). As director of a Milan-based foundation, he has edited several works, including Surviving the Ruins: Private Diary of a Banker (Rome 1943–45) by Massimiliano Majnoni (2013) and How I Became Interesting: Diary 1943–52 by Stefano Jacini (2025).

Supported by the Fondazione Magna Charta and Fondazione cultura nel locarnese.