Thursday, 7 November 1929

Paris:  

New Prime Minister Andre Tardieu outlines to Parliament his government’s priorities, and what they will cost.  Included in them are plans to fund the construction of a proposed line of fortifications in northern France to serve as a defensive protection against Germany.  In the debate, Henry Franklin-Bouillon, a radical socialist who opposes France’s planned early withdrawal from the Rhineland, says Germany still represents a military threat, and that German military appropriations are enough to give it an army five times as strong as France’s.  He says Germany has built high-quality roads to the French border, over which an army could move quickly if needed. 

On the same day, the new Minister of War in Tardieu’s cabinet, Andre Maginot, announces that France will suspend further troop withdrawals from the Rhineland if Germany does not ratify the Young Plan.

Elsewhere:

Vienna:  More anti-Semitic violence at Vienna University, as a group of nationalist Heimwehr students again attacks Jewish students (see Nov. 5).  The school’s deans say they will close the school to restore order.

Tokyo:  A gag order is lifted today on a “preliminary court” that has been processing the cases of accused communists who have been arrested over the past two years.  The public is at last able to get information on what the court has been doing.  In total, 825 people have been charged with plotting against the government.  The government began arresting and charging the communists in March 1928 after it discovered that 20 Japanese communists, trained in Moscow, had returned to the country and were organizing disruptive activities.