What was washington naval conference

When the Great War broke out, Germany had a leased territory and railroad in the peninsula and the Japanese troops captured them. The naval disarmament was the most successfully concluded agenda item for the conference, and this section will specifically explain the negotiations in some detail. Despite the war ending, the United States and Japan continued their large-scale naval programs, which had begun during the war. Consequently, Britain was forced to try and match them.

This arms race situation was the immediate reason the Americans called the conference. The race was causing instability in international politics in the region; it was also a significant burden on the fiscal health of the nations involved.

Public opinion also demanded large-scale disarmament, especially in the United States. Thus, binding themselves with a naval limitation treaty appeared to be the only rational choice for any of the three nations.

The final treaty was, however, not reached smoothly. At the center of the hard bargain was the contradiction between the naval strategies of the United States and Japan, which made it challenging to satisfy both, as their navies considered the other the most possible enemy.

Hughes proposed a dramatic plan for naval disarmament that was composed of two elements. The first was a total prohibition of capital ship construction for the next ten years, which was to include the scrapping of all vessels of that kind in the process of being built. The second was the introduction of a fixed total tonnage ratio of capital ships respectively possessed by the United States, Britain, and Japan, as 10 : 10 : 6.

Although their fleets contained many warships which were becoming obsolete, the British could have claimed some superiority over the United States based on the fleets on the sea. In fact, the Japanese delegation initially insisted that the actual ratio of the existing naval strengths of Britain, the United States and Japan should be : : The British, however, accepted all basic lines of the American proposal. For Britain, the worst possible scenario was a continuation of the naval race with the United States and Japan, a race in which the Royal Navy could only reach third place.

In contrast, the American proposal offered the British the assurance of naval parity between the two nations in terms of capital ships. Britain put more emphasis on vessels in this class than America and Japan to maintain the long sea lines in its empire. In this regard, the American proposal was harshest toward Japan.

This assessment was basically consistent with that of the U. The Japanese delegation decided to accept the essential part of the proposal, due to the leadership of Kato Tomosaburo , the chief delegate, a full admiral, and the serving navy minister of Japan.

Sign in via your Institution. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Sign in with your library card Please enter your library card number. Washington conferences Washington Convoy conference. Subjects: History. Washington Conference Nov. Military Length: 80 words. All rights reserved. Sign in to annotate. Delete Cancel Save. Over the following weeks, a series of agreements was concluded: Four-Power Pact December 13, The major Allied powers — Britain, France, Japan and the United States — agreed to submit disputes among themselves over Pacific issues to a conference for resolution.

Four-Power Pact December 13, The same Allied powers pledged mutual respect for the possessions and mandates of other signatories in the Pacific. Shantung Treaty February 4, The area had been leased by Germany in , but was seized by Japan at the outbreak of war in Nine-Power Treaty February 6, The same Allied powers agreed to extend Chinese control over trade matters within Chinese borders.

This agreement implemented the sweeping proposals of Hughes in somewhat modified terms.