Disarmament: Washington,
London, and Geneva
Conferences
Background: Rising Tension
between the US and Japan
 Japan wanted to expand its territory and
wanted to dominate China
 This could ruin the trade relations China
had with other countries
 The United States was not happy about
this as it did not want to lose its trade with
China and it had possessions in the
Philippines that where threatened by
Japan
 Japan was unhappy about the fact that the
United States did not recognize Japan's position
in Asia and it felt threatened by the increasing
US fleet
 As tension grew there was talk of a possible war
between the two
 The UK was very concerned about this as it had
a defensive alliance with Japan
 For this reason the UK supported the
Washington Conference on disarmament
Disarmament
 A major contributor to the First World War
was the arms race
 Reducing the armaments was mentioned
in Wilson's Fourteen Points and it was an
important target for the League of Nations
 In doing so the goal was to reduce the
threat of a future war
 A permanent advisory commission on
armaments was appointed
Support for Disarmament
 The belief that the arms race was a major
cause of the war and so reducing arms
would reduce the treat of a future war
 A lot of countries where in debt, the costs
of the arms where high, countries wanted
to focus on rebuilding their economy
Washington Naval
Conference
What?
 Military conference called by the administration
of President Warren G. Harding, from
Nov.1921~ Feb. 1922
 Three major treaties emerged out of the
Washington Conference: the Five-Power Treaty,
the Four-Power Treaty, and the Nine-Power
Treaty.
 Primary objective was to inhibit Japanese naval
expansion in the waters of the west Pacific
 It was the most successful of disarmament
conferences
Why was the conference called?
 There where two reasons for which the
conference was called.
 First, Japan and the UK could not afford the
costs of the arms race and the United States
wanted to reduce its own costs.
 Secondly there was growing tension between
Japan and the United States in Asia and the
United States wanted to avoid conflict which
could involve many countries
Terms of the Treaties
 Four Power Treaty
 Five Power Treaty
 Nine Power Treaty
Four Power Treaty
 (December 13, 1921). The major Allied
powers — Britain, France, Japan and the
United States —
 An agreement to recognize each others
possessions in the Pacific and if problems
arose there was an agreement to reach a
diplomatic solution
Five Power Treaty
 Agreed to maintain a fixed constant ratio
of naval armaments
 No new naval armaments where to be
constructed for the next ten years
 The United States and Britain where not
allowed to build new naval bases in the
western Pacific
Five Power Treaty
 Five Power Treaty
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US
5 (Based on 525,000 tons)
Britain
5
Japan
3
France
1.67
Italy
1.67
Limits on tonnage, gun size and number of battleships
and aircraft carriers.
 Major point of contention between Japan and the United
States.
Nine Power Treaty
 Nine-Power Treaty (February 6, 1922).
The signatories — the Big Four, plus Italy,
Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and
China — endorsed the Open Door Policy
and pledged mutual respect for Chinese
territorial integrity and independence.
Open Door Policy
 The Open Door Policy is a concept in
foreign affairs, which usually refers to the
policy around 1900 allowing multiple
Imperial powers access to China, with
none of them in control of that country.
Effects
 The Washington Naval Treaty led to an effective
end to building new battleship fleets and those
few ships that were built were limited in size and
armament.
 Numbers of existing capital ships were
scrapped. Some ships under construction were
turned into aircraft carriers instead.
Geneva Naval
Conference
Geneva Naval Conference
 The Geneva Naval Conference was a
conference held to discuss naval arms
limitation, in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1927.
Geneva Conference
 Restraints were applied to the naval arms
race by the treaties stemming from the
Washington Conference (1921-22), but
those agreements were largely confined to
limitations on battleships and aircraft
carriers.
 Talks dragged on for nearly six weeks
while tensions rose among the former
Allies. In early August, the delegates
adjourned without reaching any significant
agreement.
The London Naval
Conference
1930
London Naval Treaty
 The London Naval Treaty was an agreement
between the United Kingdom, Japan, France,
Italy and the United States, signed on April 22,
1930, which regulated submarine warfare and
limited naval shipbuilding.
 It was a revision and an extension of the Washington
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treaty
US, Japan, Britain, Italy and France met in London
Ratio of capital ships moved from 5:5:3 for the US,
Britain and Japan respectively to 10:10:7
France and Italy did not take part in this agreement
however they did agree to continue to not build new
naval armaments for the next five years
Agreements on the numbers of submarines, cruisers and
destroyers that each country could have where made
Submarine warfare rules where made more strict
The Treaty was to remain valid until 1936