Dear Colleagues!

Call for Conference Papers

World before and after Locarno Treaties:

On the Centennial of the 1925 Locarno Conference

The event is to be held in Moscow on 1–2 October, 2025.

Co-Organizers: The Journal of Modern and Contemporary History, The Journal of Education and Science “ISTORIYA” (History)

The end of the First World War required the emergence of a new international legal system which radically differed from that which had existed before. The post-war settlement was initiated by a series of agreements signed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919–1920. However, the so-called Versailles world order proved to be fragile, as the occupation of Ruhr by the Franco-Belgian troops, constant local armed conflicts and the arrears in war-reparation payments demonstrated during the first half of the 1920s. Hence, the 1925 Locarno Conference aimed at the strengthening of the European security through the modification of the Versailles system in order to define Germany's western borders with France and Belgium according to the principles of international arbitration.

With the problem of global security’s maintenance is growing in importance at present, the Organizing Committee welcomes the submission of abstracts of papers related to the broad theme of international relations:

● Consequences of the First World War and imperatives for the formation of the Versailles system of international relations;

● Territorial changes in Europe after the Great War;

● Position of the major powers and minor countries during the initial post-war decade;

● Prerequisites for the conference’s convention and conduct in Locarno (including preliminary diplomatic contacts, formulation of agenda, goals of participants, and the course of negotiations themselves);

● Historical sources and scholarship of the Locarno Conference;

● USSR’s attitude to the Locarno Conference;

● League of Nations as a new instrument of international cooperation;

● Post-Locarno ‘aftershakes’: reality and prospects.

The abstracts should be submitted via e-mail to Evgeny Sergeev or Anna Matveeva.

Contact emails for conference queries: eugene.sergeev59@gmail.com;:  annagmatveeva@yandex.ru .

The deadline for submissions is 15 July 2025. Decisions will be announced by 1 September 2025.

The Conference is held internally, yet the online participation is also welcome.

The application form should include the following items:

1. Contributor’s full name
2. His/her academic degree and status
3. Academic affiliation and current job position
4. Topic of the conference paper with an abstract (up to 500 words)
5. Request for an official invitation (if required)

The Conference schedule will be submitted to selected participants by 15 September 2025.

Travel expenses and accommodation fees are paid by participants themselves. No refunding is possible.

CONFERENCE ORGANISING COMMITTEE