Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann Addresses the General Assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva (Detail) (September 10, 1926)

Germany’s formal entry into the League of Nations on September 10, 1926, coincided with the twelfth anniversary of the Battle of the Marne. In his speech to the General Assembly, German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann declared: “Germany today advances into a company of states, with some of whom she has lived in untroubled friendship for many decades, others of whom were allied against her in the World War. It is of historical importance that Germany and these latter states now find themselves associated within the League in enduring and peaceful cooperation.” After the speech, which was received with enthusiastic applause by the General Assembly, French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand mounted the podium and declared: “Away with rifles and machine guns and cannon; make way for arbitration and peace.”

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