Spa Conference

The Spa Conference was a meeting between the Supreme War Council and the government of the Weimar Republic in Spa, Belgium on 5–16 July 1920. The main topics were German disarmament, coal shipments to the Allies and war reparations. Attendees The Spa Conference was the first post-war conference to include German representatives. The Allies considered that if there were violations of the peace treaty and issues concerning reparations it would be better to discuss the problems face-to-face than through an exchange of notes. The conference was attended by heads of state, heads of government and foreign secretaries. The attendees included British and French Prime Ministers David Lloyd George and Alexandre Millerand, German Chancellor Constantin Fehrenbach. The British and French ambassadors to Germany, Lord d'Abernon and Charles François Laurent, were invited to the Conference and tasked with supervision of reparation payments and control of the Berlin-based Reparation Commission. Discussions Coal shipments Contrary to German expectations the conference did not focus on the issue of war reparations but was initially dominated by the topic of disarmament, also part of the Treaty of Versailles. Due to current events the coal negotiations then moved to centre stage.