Editing Joachim von Ribbentrop (section)

===Undermining Versailles===
The Nazis and Germany's professional diplomats shared a goal in destroying the [[Treaty of Versailles]] and restoring Germany as a great power.<ref name="Trevor-Roper pp 241-242"/> In October 1933, German Foreign Minister Baron [[Konstantin von Neurath]] presented a note at the [[World Disarmament Conference]] announcing that it was unfair that Germany should remain disarmed by Part V of the Versailles Treaty and demanded for the other powers to disarm to Germany's level or to rescind Part V and allow Germany ''Gleichberechtigung'' ("equality of armaments"). When France rejected Neurath's note, Germany stormed out of the [[League of Nations]] and the World Disarmament Conference. It all but announced its intention of unilaterally violating Part V. Consequently, there were several calls in France for a [[preventive war]] to put an end to the Nazi regime while Germany was still more-or-less disarmed.<ref name="Bloch 40-41">Bloch, pp. 40–41.</ref>

However, in November, Ribbentrop arranged a meeting between Hitler and the French journalist [[Fernand de Brinon]], who wrote for the newspaper [[Le Matin (France)|''Le Matin'']]. During the meeting, Hitler stressed what he claimed to be his love of peace and his friendship towards France.<ref name="Bloch 40-41"/> Hitler's meeting with Brinon had a huge effect on French public opinion and helped to put an end to the calls for a preventive war. It convinced many in France that Hitler was a man of peace, who wanted to do away only with Part V of the Versailles Treaty.<ref name="Bloch 40-41"/>