Washington Naval Conference
The Washington Naval Conference was a disarmament conference called by the United States and held in Washington, D.C., from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922.[1] It was conducted outside the auspices of the
regarding interests in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia.[1]Held at Memorial Continental Hall, in Downtown Washington,[4] it resulted in three major treaties:
Background
The global appetite for peace and disarmament was aplenty throughout the 1920s. Women had just
At the end of World War I, the British still had the largest navy afloat, but its big ships were becoming obsolete, and the Americans and the Japanese were rapidly building expensive new warships. Britain and Japan were allies in a treaty that was due to expire in 1922. Although there were no immediate dangers, observers increasingly pointed to the American-Japanese rivalry for control of the Pacific Ocean as a long-term threat to world peace. By then, considering their colonial interests in Asia, the British decided that it was better for them to cast their lot with Washington than Tokyo. To stop a needless, expensive, and possibly dangerous arms race, the major countries signed a series of naval disarmament agreements.[8]
Meeting
The American delegation, led by
The British, however, took a more cautious and tempered approach. Indeed, the British officials brought certain general desires to the conference: to achieve peace and stability in the West Pacific; avoid a naval arms race with the United States; thwart Japanese encroachment into areas under their influence; and preserve the security of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dominion countries, but they did not enter the conference with a specific laundry list of demands. Rather, they brought with them a vague vision of what the West Pacific should look like after an agreement. [citation needed]
Japanese officials were more focused on specifics than the British, and they approached the conference with two primary goals: to sign a naval treaty with Britain and the United States and to obtain official recognition of Japan's special interests in Manchuria and Mongolia. Japanese officials also brought other issues to the conference: a strong demand to remain in control of Yap, Siberia, and Tsingtao as well as more general concerns about the growing presence of American fleets in the Pacific.
The American hand was strengthened by the interception and decryption of secret instructions from the Japanese government to its delegation. The message revealed the lowest naval ratio that would be acceptable to Tokyo; US negotiators used that knowledge to push the Japanese. This success, one of the first in the US government's budding eavesdropping and cryptology efforts, led eventually to the growth of such agencies.[4]
The head of the Japanese delegation to the Washington Naval Conference was Prince Iyesato Tokugawa, who during the first four decades of the twentieth century led a political movement in Japan that promoted democracy and international goodwill with the U.S., Europe and Asia. His influence was significant in the negotiations and ratification of the Washington Naval Treaty.[9][10]
Agreements
US President
While the admirals were unhappy, peace activists strongly supported the results and successfully worked for ratification. In the United States they included the
The Washington Conference exactly captured the worldwide popular demand for peace and disarmament.[14] Without an agreement, the US, Britain and Japan would have engaged in an expensive buildup, with each fearing the other two getting too powerful. However, even with the restrictions, the agreement solidified Japan's position as a great power and was treated as a colonial power with equal diplomatic interests, a first for a non-Western nation.[15]
The naval treaty was concluded on February 6, 1922. Ratifications of the treaty were exchanged in Washington on August 17, 1923, and it was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on April 16, 1924.[16]
Japan agreed to revert Shandong to Chinese control by an agreement concluded on February 4, 1922. Ratifications of the agreement were exchanged in Beijing on June 2, 1922, and it was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on July 7, 1922.[17][18]
Results
The Washington Naval Treaty led to an effective end to building new battleship fleets, and the few ships that were built were limited in size and armament. Many existing capital ships were scrapped or sunk. Some ships under construction were turned into
Even with the treaty, the major navies remained suspicious of one another and briefly (1927–1930) engaged in a race to build
Termination
The pacts and the treaties that resulted from the Washington Naval Treaty remained in effect for fourteen years. Japan ended participation in 1936.[21]
See also
References
- ^ S2CID 147404493.
- ^ JSTOR 40486746.
- ^ a b "Washington Naval Conference". u-s-history.com. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
- ^ a b "On the Trail of Military Intelligence History: A Guide to the Washington, DC, Area" (PDF). fas.org. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
- ^ Michael J. Turner, Britain and the World in the Twentieth Century (2010) p. 10
- ISBN 9780198207757.
- ^ Robert Moats Miller, "The Attitudes of the Major Protestant Churches in America Toward War and Peace, 1919-1929", The Historian 19#1 (1956), pp. 13-38 online.
- ^ Richard W. Fanning, Peace and disarmament: naval rivalry & arms control, 1922-1933 (1995) pp. 1-24
- ^ "Introduction to The Art of Peace: the illustrated biography of Prince Iyesato Tokugawa". TheEmperorAndTheSpy.com. 13 April 2020.
- ^ Katz, Stan S. (2019). The Art of Peace - An illustrated biography on Prince Tokugawa Iesato. Horizon Productions.
- ^ Roger Dingman, Power in the Pacific: the origins of naval arms limitation, 1914–1922 (1976) p. 217
- ^ Germany was still limited to zero by the Versailles Treaty, and Soviet Russia, a pariah nation because of its communism, was not invited.
- ^ Richard Fanning, Peace and Disarmament: Naval Rivalry and Arms Control, 1922-1933 (University Press of Kentucky, 2014) p. 9. online
- ^ Richard Fanning, "Peace groups and the campaign for naval disarmament, 1927-1936." Peace & Change (1990) 15#1 pp 26–45.
- ^ Joshua Schenkein, "Japan, The Great Power: Industrialization Through The Lens Of Zaibatsu.", pp. 1–5.
- ^ League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 25, pp. 202–227.
- ^ League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 10, pp. 310-331.
- ^ "China and Japan - Treaty for the settlement of outstanding questions relative to Shantung, signed at Washington February 4, 1922 [1922] LNTSer 78; 10 LNTS 309". www.worldlii.org. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
- ^ George W. Baer, One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U. S. Navy, 1890-1990 (1994) pp. 108-9.
- ^ Quoted in Harlow A. Hyde, Scraps of paper: the disarmament treaties between the world wars (1988) p. 239
- ^ "Results of the Washington Naval Conference". www.u-s-history.com.
Sources and further reading
- Buell, Raymond Leslie. The Washington Conference (D. Appleton, 1922) online
- Dingman, Roger. Power in the Pacific: the origins of naval arms limitation, 1914–1922 (1976)
- Dukes, Paul. The USA in the Making of the USSR: The Washington Conference 1921-22 and 'Uninvited Russia'. (Routledge, 2004).
- Earle, Neil. "Public Opinion for Peace: Tactics of Peace Activists at the Washington Conference on Naval Armament (1921-1922)." Journal of Church and State 40#1 (1998), pp. 149–69, online.
- Elleman, Bruce A. "The Washington Conference, 1921–1922." in International Competition in China, 1899-1991. (Routledge, 2015). 89-102.
- Fanning, Richard W. Peace and disarmament: Naval rivalry & arms control, 1922–1933 (1995) online
- Ferris, John. Armaments and allies: The Anglo-Japanese strategic relationship, 1911–1921 (Routledge, 2003).
- Field, Andrew. Royal Navy Strategy in the Far East, 1919–1939 (2004)
- Gibbs, Norman. "The Naval Conferences of the Interwar Years: A study in Anglo-American Relations" Naval War College Review 30#1 (Special issue Summer 1977), pp. 50–63 Online
- Goldman, Emily O. Sunken Treaties: Naval Arms Control between the Wars. (Pennsylvania State U. Press, 1994). 352 pp.
- Goldstein, Erik, and John H. Maurer, eds. The Washington Conference, 1921–22: Naval Rivalry, East Asian Stability and the Road to Pearl Harbor (Psychology Press, 1994) topical essays by experts.
- Hayashi, Mika. "Disarmament Debates around the 1899 Hague Peace Conference and the 1921–1922 Washington Conference: Community-Oriented Aspirations and Individual Security Concerns." Journal of the History of International Law/Revue d'histoire du droit international 1.aop (2021): 1-28.
- Jordan, John (2011). Warships after Washington: The Development of Five Major Fleets 1922–1930. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-117-5.
- Kaufman, Robert Gordon. Arms Control during the Prenuclear Era: The United States and Naval Limitation between the Two World Wars. Columbia U. Press, 1990. 289 pp.
- Kitching; Carolyn J. Britain and the Problem of International Disarmament, 1919–1934 Rutledge, 1999 online
- Louria, Margot. Triumph and Downfall: America's Pursuit of Peace and Prosperity, 1921-1933 (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
- McKercher, B. J. C. "'A Certain Irritation': The White House, the State Department, and the Desire for a Naval Settlement with Great Britain, 1927–1930." Diplomatic History 31.5 (2007): 829-863.
- O'Brien; Phillips Payson. British and American Naval Power: Politics and Policy, 1900–1936 (Praeger Studies in Diplomacy and Strategic Thought) (1998)
- Schenkein, Joshua. "Japan, The Great Power: Industrialization Through The Lens Of Zaibatsu." 2014 ASIN: B00NRHRMW2
- Seymour, Charles (1922). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
- Willoughby, Westel Woodbury. China at the Conference: A Report. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1922.
Primary sources
- Papers Relating to Pacific and Far Eastern Affairs. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1922.
External links
- Media related to Washington Naval Treaty at Wikimedia Commons