Geneva Protocol

   aimed at the peaceful resolution of international disputes, it was adopted by the League of Nations in October 1924. This amend-ment to the League Covenant proposed a broad extension of courts of arbitration and sought to institute the principle whereby signatory states would come to the assistance of any threatened member state. Requiring great-power approval, the protocol was quickly upheld by France. But the British government, swayed by a negative vote in the Committee of Imperial Defence, rejected it. Unable to commit to a defense of France, let alone pledge his country to defend Poland,* Austen Chamberlain announced on 12 March 1925 that Britain found the pro-tocol unacceptable. Yet while its concept of collective security proved abortive, it was a necessary prologue for the Locarno Treaties.*

   A resolution of October 1922, also labeled the Geneva Protocol, echoed Ar-ticle 88 of the Saint-Germain Treaty between Austria* and the Allies in pro-scribing "any economic or financial engagement calculated directly or indirectly to compromise" Austrian independence. The prohibition assumed importance in 1931 when steps were taken to form an Austro-German customs union.

   REFERENCES:Eyck, History of the Weimar Republic, vol. 2; Jacobson, Locarno Diplo-macy; Kent, Spoils ofWar.