Chapter 1358 Navy Proportion
The meeting officially started at nine o'clock in the morning.
The main point of contention at this London Naval Conference was not in Europe, but rather in the fierce competition between Britain and East Africa, the United States and Japan.
In Europe, Germany and Austria-Hungary did not pay much attention to their navy due to their poor naval performance in World War I.
After all, the development of the German navy before the war was itself deeply influenced by William II personally. Before William II, Germany had never been a country that attached importance to sea power. During World War I, even though the German navy was the second largest in the world, it was unable to break through geographical limitations. In this way, even if William II was not smart, he would not blindly pursue the dream of a large navy. This is a question of cost-effectiveness.
As for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it has never been a maritime power. Even in the most recent naval competition, its navy was not taken seriously, and the naval plan it formulated was the most conservative among the great powers.
As for France, Britain, to a certain extent, supported France in vigorously developing its navy. With the "friendship" forged during World War I, at least the Anglo-French conflict had been resolved to a certain extent by Germany.
In addition, Britain also hopes to continue to cooperate with France to fight against new maritime powers such as East Africa, the United States, and Japan, and thus stabilize the old international order. After all, Britain and France were the beneficiaries of the old international order.
Finally, France's national strength is no longer able to support France to play a more active role in maritime policy, so the British are well aware that even if there are no restrictions on the French navy, France can only play a supporting rather than a leading role in the cooperation between the two countries.
Therefore, British Prime Minister David said at the conference: "The lessons of the world war tell us that the expansion of the navies of various countries and military competition have caused great harm to European and world peace."
"Countries around the world should reduce the size of their navies, stop building new warships and avoid a new round of naval competition. We in the UK are willing to set an example and stop unlimited and unreasonable competition in the naval field."
"Countries around the world should also formulate corresponding naval development strategies in accordance with their national conditions and the needs of international stability."
"For example, Germany and Austria-Hungary, their main maritime interests are in the Baltic Sea and the Adriatic Sea, so the navies of the two countries should not be built blindly from the beginning with plans that exceed their own needs. Austria-Hungary did a good job in this regard."
"As the leader and defender of the world's maritime order, the UK is itself a maritime country with a large number of overseas territories and interests, so it should have the largest proportion of the navy."
"The same is true for France. France has always been an important naval power in the world. It also has abundant marine resources and interests to protect. It plays an important role in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and other waters. Therefore, our two countries should have the first and second largest naval proportions in Europe."
Here, Prime Minister David specifically placed Britain in both the world and Europe for argument, indicating that being number one in Europe is also number one in the world, and specifically refers to the unshakable position of the British Royal Navy in the world.
As for France, even if Britain wants to support the French navy to become the second in the world, France does not have this ability, so it can only be the second in Europe.
As Prime Minister David finished his first speech, other countries turned their attention to the representatives of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
But unfortunately, no negative emotions such as "anger" and "reluctance" were seen from the representatives of the two countries, which gave other countries, especially Japan and the United States, a bad feeling.
The countries that had participated in two secret peace conferences before had already had a plan in mind, so they naturally would not interfere with the British plan.
British Prime Minister David was very satisfied with the reactions of the representatives of various countries. He went on to say: "In addition, there is only one major country in Europe, Russia, which cannot be implemented for the time being. However, we all know that suppressing and blocking Russia is the basic task and responsibility of all countries present here. However, this is not the main content of this meeting. We will hold a special meeting to discuss the Russian issue later."
"Next, we will focus on discussing issues related to the development of navies in countries outside Europe."
"Since Europe has already made its position clear and imposed restrictions on naval development, countries outside Europe should also make positive contributions to world peace and stability."
"So..." Prime Minister David said, "East Africa, the United States, Japan and other countries should also restrict their navies and return to normal levels. What do you three countries think?"
Naturally, the United States and Japan are unwilling to easily reduce the size of their navies, so representatives of the two countries naturally want to bargain and obtain good conditions.
However, at this time, the East African representatives began to cooperate tacitly with Britain to disrupt the situation.
General Bruce, Commander-in-Chief of the East African Navy and head of the East African delegation, said: "We in East Africa support Prime Minister David's view that at this stage, the unlimited expansion and blind construction of the navies of various countries in the world have caused serious damage to the world order."
"East Africa is willing to make concessions for world peace, but since East Africa is also a maritime power, our East African navy must have a place in the world's navy. However, we will naturally assume corresponding responsibilities."
Traitor! This is what the United States and Japan think in their hearts. After all, in theory, East Africa, the United States and Japan belong to the "non-European" circle, and the three countries should stick together for warmth.
Now, East Africa has expressed its willingness to cooperate with Britain's so-called idea of limiting the navy, which puts the United States and Japan in a rather passive position.
After all, the world's voice is divided according to strength, but the embarrassing thing is that the East African Navy is just ranked second or third in the world, or on par with Germany.
If the two world's second largest naval powers do not oppose Britain's proposal, then other countries will only become more passive. After all, this means that the world's top three naval powers have reached a consensus.
Especially the United States. In fact, the strength of the US Navy is not much worse than that of Germany or East Africa, at least in terms of naval size, but this cannot change the reality that the US Navy now ranks fourth.
The Americans knew very well that first of all, Britain would definitely get the largest share of the world's navy, there was no doubt about that, and then the main competitors of the United States would be Germany and East Africa. However, Germany had obviously withdrawn from the competition at the naval level, so the competitor of the United States became East Africa.
However, the East Africans' current behavior clearly showed that they had reached some kind of tacit understanding with Britain, which made the American representatives very uneasy.
U.S. Secretary of State Henry had to stand up and say: "Prime Minister David, we in the United States naturally support restricting the blind development and expansion of the navy, but as a country in both oceans and a major world trade country, our interests must be effectively protected."
It is obvious that all major European powers, except Russia, have reached some kind of secret agreement with East Africa. The consensus reached between Britain, France, Germany, Austria and East Africa together is obviously not something the United States can contend with, at least on the surface.
In this way, the United States naturally cannot stubbornly confront the "international community" and can only safeguard its own interests to the greatest extent possible.
Prime Minister David said: "It is natural that the United States, like East Africa, plays an important role in international maritime affairs."
Britain puts the United States and East Africa together, naturally hoping to balance the naval power of the two countries and thus reduce Britain's burden and pressure. This has always been the British's usual tactic, and this also means that Britain tends to balance the United States with East Africa in naval power. Of course, there is a very important premise in this, that is, it cannot threaten the status of the British Royal Navy.
Prime Minister David's words reassured the Americans, which made US Secretary of State Henry breathe a sigh of relief.
However, although Secretary of State Henry was relieved, he was very dissatisfied with Britain in his heart. After all, the United States and Britain were "brothers" in the same trench, but Britain chose to cooperate secretly with East Africa.
Although Secretary of State Henry had no concrete evidence, the performance of European countries and East Africa gave us a glimpse that these major powers seemed too "harmonious" at the meeting.
Fortunately, the result is good. Since Prime Minister David has said that the United States and East Africa are equally important, the United States should have the same share of the naval share.
This is a position that both satisfies and dissatisfies the United States. From an objective point of view, it is a fact that the East African navy is slightly stronger than that of the United States, so the United States is allocated the same proportion as East Africa, and the United States even gets a little advantage.
However, the United States certainly does not see it that way. If East Africa is replaced by France, Germany, the United States will not feel uncomfortable, but what country is East Africa?
East Africa’s history is not even as good as that of the United States. Compared with East Africa, Americans can even call themselves an “ancient civilization.”
Europe uniformly classifies the United States and East Africa as "nouveau riche", but for the United States, East Africa is the real "nouveau riche". So from a historical perspective, the United States has the same mentality towards East Africa as European countries do towards other parts of the world, that is, a feeling of superiority.
However, the United States now considers itself to be "superior to East Africa", but the British simply put it on the same level as East Africa, which naturally causes dissatisfaction among Americans.
However, it is undeniable that East Africa is indeed at the same level as the United States in terms of strength, so although Secretary of State Henry is dissatisfied, he cannot speak about it openly, which makes him very uncomfortable.
However, Japan is in a worse situation than the United States.
Prime Minister David said: "You are the only Japanese representatives who have not expressed their views yet. Are you willing to make corresponding contributions to world peace and support the suggestions of the international community?"
The Japanese representative Kato Tomosaburo said with a somewhat embarrassed look: "Of course, but Japan is an island country like the United Kingdom, and we have many practical interests to protect in the East Asian waters, so the Imperial Navy cannot cut too many troops."
Japan is naturally the country that least wants to reduce the size of its navy. After all, Japan has already embarked on the path of militarism. Without strong ships and powerful guns, how can it achieve its goal of invading other regions?
Prime Minister David said: "Japan does not need to worry too much. Japan is an important force in the East Asian waters, so we in the UK support the Japanese navy to maintain a reasonable size and play a role in stabilizing East Asia."
Britain's plan was simple: Japan must have sufficient military strength to counterbalance the expansion of the United States and East Africa in the Pacific direction.
Although the interests in the Far East are huge, Britain is well aware that its current strength is no longer sufficient to safeguard its interests in the Far East. At this time, it needs to support an ally that is neither too strong nor too weak.
As for these two allies, the British government already had plans. In addition to France, the second one is Japan. France also has interests in the Far East, and the situation it faces is the same as that of Britain, which is out of reach.
Therefore, Britain and France can definitely work together in the Far East, but this is not enough. Because of the geographical location, even if Britain and France are combined, they cannot compete with East Africa and the United States.
Naturally, Britain does not want East Africa and the United States to go further in the Far East and gain greater benefits, so it would be better to give advantage to Japan, a member of the Far Eastern countries.
Moreover, Britain itself has a great influence on Japan, which to a certain extent makes Britain believe that it can control Japan.
The reality is that Japan may not be convinced by the British in its heart, but it does need the help of Britain to deal with the pressure from East Africa and the United States, especially the United States.
At this stage, it can be said that Britain and Japan are each taking what they need and colluding with each other. In the presence of two major enemies, East Africa and the United States, they can "unite" together.
Prime Minister David's promise also made Kato Tomosaburo happy, which showed that Britain supported Japan. This is very important, after all, in terms of comprehensive strength, Britain is still the world's number one power.
Moreover, Japan itself is in a very embarrassing position when participating in this meeting. Among the countries present, except for the "outcasts" from East Africa, all are white.
This made Japan stand out from the crowd, so Japan was even more eager for Britain's support.
After Prime Minister David finished his speech, representatives from various countries began to speak in turn. The content of the first round of speeches was very clear, which was to focus on their country's maritime rights and interests and the necessity of maintaining the size of the navy. After all, this is the basis for the subsequent "sharing of fruits", so there is no room for carelessness among people from various countries.
Even Germany and Austria-Hungary, which had relatively weaker demands in this regard, tried their best to argue their case. After all, no one was willing to give up these rights if they could preserve more naval power.
January 22, 1920.
The second round of meetings began, and the content of this meeting truly determined the formation of the world's naval structure after the war.
Following the groundwork laid in the previous round of meetings, countries launched more intense debates in sub-sectors at this meeting.
In addition to the proportion of the navy, it also involves issues such as the construction and demolition of main battleships, and even specific warships, but it mainly focuses on main battleships, that is, battleships, cruisers and other combat ships.
The final result of the meeting was that the United Kingdom ranked first in the world, followed by East Africa, and tied with the United States for the second tier in the world. France and Japan ranked third, and Germany, Austria-Hungary and Spain ranked fourth.
The ratio is 6:3:3:2.5:2.5:1.25:1.25:1.25.
In this way, the size of the British Navy after the war was the sum of East Africa and the United States, continuing to maintain Britain's two-power standard. At the same time, Britain increased the naval ceiling of its two potential allies, France and Japan, as much as possible, so that it could cooperate with the Royal Navy's global strategy and balance countries such as East Africa, the United States, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
However, this London Naval Conference only involved the main warships of various countries, which was the same as the Washington Naval Conference in the previous life.
As for the proportion of aircraft carriers among the main battleships, the proportion is different from that in the previous life. With the efforts of East Africa, East Africa has obtained the greatest right to build aircraft carriers. Of course, the same is true for Britain and the United States. In this way, Britain, the United States and East Africa are tied for first place in the world in terms of the proportion of aircraft carriers.
However, the United Kingdom and the United States are mainly trying to achieve a balance by following East African policies, rather than really overemphasizing the role of aircraft carriers. At least at the current stage, the status of battleships is certainly unshakable.
In addition to the London Naval Conference, a European Army Conference was also held in Paris at the same time, but this conference was not worthy of East Africa's attention.
After all, no matter how many armies there are in East Africa, they cannot affect the military balance in Europe. Similarly, countries outside Europe, such as the United States and Japan, do not need to attend this meeting.
The main focus of the European Army Conference was actually the affairs between the three European continental countries, Germany, France and Austria-Hungary. Britain, as an island country, although also a European country, did not take it too seriously, as long as a new balance could be formed on the European continent.
(End of this chapter)
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