In Chamberlain's words, a ‘breeze from Locarno blew through the stuffy hall of the Assembly’ when on 10 September 1926 the German delegation was received into the Société des Nations, ‘well … but not too boisterously’. With its successful accession to the League, an important first stage in Germany's reintegration into the international system after 1918 had been concluded. At the same time, this reintegration had found its publicly most recognisable expression. It was more than a symbolic moment in post-World War I international history. Yet it was by no means an end-point to the underlying processes of European stabilisation underway since the Ruhr crisis.

Concretely, the study commission charged with proposing a way out of the Council crisis in March had completed its task in time. The League Council followed its recommendation that only Germany be granted a permanent seat while the number of non-permanent seats was increased from six to nine. Of these, one was to fall to Poland, de facto with a guarantee of eligibility for re-election after three years. Up to the last minute, Chamberlain, Cecil and their continental counterparts had been ‘involved in petty jealousies and squabbles’ to secure this outcome. The British foreign secretary had finally impressed on Briand and Skrzyński that Poland was in danger ‘of losing everything by asking too much’. But the ‘bargain’ had ultimately been carried through.