I Blame Communism
Banned
Not letting France become the "new Hun" is not the same as giving Germany a kiss on the cheek![]()
France was not really in a position to become "the New Hun". The "Hun" was the German who was building a fleet that seemed a direct challenge to Britain while its vast army threatened to compromise the independence of other European powers and so allow Germany to create an unstoppable fleet and Tek Offer Ze Vurld. France just can't do this. It's smaller, less central, less of a potential military-industrial giant. By beating Germany it could, in the long term, treat a bigger country as an equal, whereas had Germany beaten France she would have lost her de-facto foreign policy independence. She certainly couldn't grip Russia in fear.
Speaking of which, while Britain of course perceived the Soviet Union as something of a New Hun we'd want to maintain co-operation with France which means humouring them on the Rhine.
And of course while the government was hardly thrilled by the Ruhr occupation, there was a lot of Germanophobia around in British society (Wilhelm-Fawkes remained populare throughout the early 20s) until time healed the wounds at the worst possble time in the early 1930s.