Transcript Disarmament: Washington, London, and Geneva Conferences

Disarmament: Washington,
London, and Geneva
Conferences
JOHN D CLARE

http://www.johndclare.net/LoN_Disarmament_Brett.htm
Essential Questions

Why were the most successful disarmaments achieved outside the League
of Nations?
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(
point 4) 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
The Washington Five Power Treaty
and Naval Convention
1922
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
Treaty : Its General Success

Lasted for 14 years

Halted the building of large battleships and battle cruisers

Established a ratio of of three for Japan and 1.75 each for Italy and for
France to every five in Japan and the USA.

Placed limitations on the aircraft carriers it could possess

However, there was NO agreement on smaller ships and submarines

Japan asked and received agreements not to build fortifications on island
possessions throughout the Pacific.

USA was required to scrap 10 old battleships, two new ones and thirteen
others that were being built.

Result:

US- 18 ships, GB 22, Japan 10.

Nota Bene: GB was allowed to have more as their ships were not as modern
and were less powerful
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

Ended Anglo-Japanese Alliance and replaced it with an agrrement
between USA, Japan, France and Britain to respect each other’s
territory.
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

US

Britain 5

Japan 3

France
1.75

Italy
1.75


5 (Based on 525,000 tons)
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.

Japan agreed to remove its military from the Shantung peninsula and
all nations agreed to respect China’s independence and borders
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.
Effects

GB and Japan decided to increase the strength of their navies, submarines
and destroyers .

By 1926, GB had 54 cruisers in operation and Japan had 25, US had 15

As a result , USA will request a conference in 1927 in Geneva. Switzerland, to
adress this new arms race.
Treaties on Submarines, gas , bacteria

Signed between 1922-1925

USA, GB, France, Italy and Japan agreed in 1922 to outlaw unrestricted
submarine warfare.

i.e . Crews of merchant ships had to be taken to safety before a submarine
was allowed to destroy it. Since it was impossible, it outlawed the use of
submarines aganist merchant ships.
Geneva Agreement 1925

Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of Poisonous Gases and Bacteriological
Methods of Warfare confirmed the outlawing of poisonous gas and the use
of biological warfare in the form of bacteria.

US Senate failed to ratify this treaty ,but Britain signed it in 1930.
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.
Kellogg –Briand Pact, 1928

US sustained the pressure not to get involved into any war.

It is named after its authors: U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand. (
formerly known as General Treaty for the Renunciation of the War)

The Pact was initially signed by fifteen nations that included France, the United States, and Germany.

Could be signed by as many countries as possible to outlaw a war

A month later in September 1928, the General Act for Pacific Settlement of Independent Disputes was signed.

With this agreement, countries agreed to allow commissions to study disputes between nations and if the disputes
were not resolved to the nation’s pleasing , they would be referred to the Permanent Court of International Justice
Litvinov’s Pact

Arranged by the Soviet Union’s Foreign Minister Litvinov and neighbouring
countries.

USSR was not invited to Kellogg- Briand Pact yet also desired to prevent the
war.

Pact between USSR, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Lithunia, Turkey and
Persia( today’s Iran)

Agreed to settle disputes not through a war but through diplomacy
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 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
The London Naval Conference 1930

It was a revision and an extension of the Washington 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
The London Naval Conference 1935-1936

The major powers met again in 1935 to discuss the treaty of London (1930)
as it was to expire the following year

Japan wanted equality in terms of ratio of fleets with the US and Britain but
this was denied and so Japan walked out of the conference, as did Italy

France, Britain and the US did agree on limiting the size and number of their
naval armament however this collapsed in 1936 with the Japanese and
German rearmament programs and the increasing conflicts arising in the
world

All in all, the conference was a failure
The Geneva Conference 1932-1934

There was an increased demand to revise the Paris Peace Settlement

A number of crises had occurred in the last few years

The Great Depression of 1929 had reduced the optimistic outlook and
international co-operation

The United states wanted the elimination of offensive weapons, however there
where disagreements to what weapons where offensive and which were
defensive

France was worried about German regaining its strength and so it did not want
to reduce its military spending unless it got a guaranteed agreement with the
other major powers to support France
The Geneva Conference 1932-1934

The other major powers were not interested in a guaranteed agreement and so
France refused to reduce its military spending

Germany wanted the major powers to either reduce their military spending to
Germanys level or Germany should be allowed to increase its military spending
to their level

This was not accepted by the major powers and so Germany walked out of the
conference in 1932

Germany rejoined the conference in 1933

Adolf Hitler was now chancellor and wanted Germany to have equal treatment
to the major powers
The Geneva Conference 1932-1934

Once again this was denied and so Germany walked out of the conference

This caused Germany to embark on a rearmament scheme

France had no choice but to increase its military spending as it did not gain the military guarantee from
either the United States nor the UK. It was well aware of Germany's larger population and industrial capacity.
Decreasing its military spending was not an option for France

Italy was also not interested in reducing its military spending

The conference was a failure as no agreement was reached

Tension was rising in Europe and countries where starting to consider what was best for themselves

Disarmament was not possible at this point as tension started to rise and there was a potential source of
conflict