After World War I, when people in various countries thought that peace had arrived, the United States, which had made a huge profit from the war, had gained nothing in the division of post-war interests.
It cannot be said that nothing was achieved. At least one of the fourteen peace proposals put forward by President Wilson was implemented.
The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace, but it was dominated by Britain and France. The most critical thing was absolute freedom of navigation on the high seas in both wartime and peacetime, as well as the elimination of economic barriers between countries and the establishment of trade equality treaties.
The rejection was ruthless. This made the fledgling U.S. government very unfair. It was also a completely unacceptable result for the highly motivated U.S. government.
From the perspective of the United States, it played a major role in this war and should have shared the world's dominance with Britain and France. Unfortunately, Britain and France completely took advantage of the United States and then threw it aside. President Wilson, who had achieved nothing, returned to
After Washington, it was strongly criticized by Congress. Therefore, the Treaty of Versailles was also rejected by the U.S. Congress.
The angry United States felt that it had been wronged, so the U.S. Navy planned to build 10 battleships from 1919 to 1921, including 4 Colorado-class battleships and 6 Lexington-class battlecruisers. This was also the United States' response to its exclusion from European affairs.
Responses from others. Among them, the Lexington-class battlecruiser can be regarded as the first battlecruiser built by the United States. As the embodiment of the wealthy and powerful U.S. Navy, this class of battlecruiser also fully demonstrates it.
Its original plan was to have a standard displacement of 44,300 tons and be equipped with a 356 mm (14-inch) gun, with a speed of 35 knots (terrible). However, the United States later improved it, and the new plan increased the tonnage to 53,200 tons and replaced it with
It is equipped with a 406 mm (16-inch) naval gun and increased armor protection. Although the tonnage has increased, due to the replacement of a new heavy oil boiler, the speed can still reach 35 knots. (If it is really built, Hood will be his younger brother, but
There will be no Lexington-class aircraft carriers by then)
This kind of shipbuilding move by the United States has undoubtedly made Britain and France very nervous. France is currently unable to follow up due to heavy losses in World War I, and Britain, which regards sea power as its lifeline, cannot accept it.
Therefore, in the face of the United States' continued shipbuilding, the United Kingdom must respond. Its Prime Minister Lloyd George even publicly stated: "Great Britain would rather spend every last penny to maintain a navy that is competitive with the United States or any other country."
The advantages."
However, even if a tiger dies, the Empire is also the world's hegemon. Of course, it cannot lose its prestige in this new competition. Then the three Admiral-class battlecruisers (Hood class) that were suspended continued to work.
It was built. However, judging from the modesty of the British Empire, which had only built three ships, its financial resources were running out.
Speaking of the new naval race, I have to mention a new player here, that is Japan. As a country that has benefited a lot from this war (Romania: You can’t see me, you can’t see me), Japan has also emerged
The ambition to dominate the Eastern Pacific. So the famous Eighth-Eight Fleet came on stage (this is considered the Eighty-Eight Fleet in the 1920s. There was a version after the Russo-Japanese War, then there was a version before the outbreak of World War II, and there was a version in the 1980s, now called April 4th.
fleet).
This plan will allocate money to build 4 more battleships and 4 battlecruisers on the basis of 2 Nagato-class battleships, 2 Kaga-class battleships, and 4 battlecruisers Amagi-class. To this end, Japan will not hesitate to mobilize national donations to build this ship.
Fleet. (Nagato, this bad guy, even defrauded elementary school students of their pocket money)
Faced with the increasingly fierce shipbuilding plans of Britain, the United States and Japan, France and Italy were also forced to join this competition.
Faced with yet another naval competition, countries that have long been tired of war are rushing to call for the continuation of the shipbuilding plan that wastes people and money. But at this time, a sudden economic crisis after the war made this naval competition a pleasure for all major countries.
, feeling powerless.
In fact, this economic crisis was foreseeable. After the war, a large number of factories that were busy because of the war had their orders cancelled. The reduction in orders meant that factories did not need to hire so many workers, so a large number of workers were pushed back into the market. And with this
At the same time, retired soldiers and the government cut spending, making it impossible for economic activities to immediately transform from wartime controls to free competition in peacetime.
In addition, previous governments had no experience of how to deal with this kind of situation after a war, so the people lacked purchasing power and factory inventories could not be sold. The economic crisis broke out suddenly. The outbreak of the economic crisis made people in various countries increasingly demanding disarmament.
is getting higher and higher. The naval arms race among various countries is also in trouble.
The United Kingdom cannot afford to accompany it first. It has already been deprived of financial resources by the war, and now it is miserable to insist on joining the arms race. Japan is also unable to do what it wants. In order to implement the Eighth Eighth Fleet Plan, naval allocations have accounted for one-third of the entire national budget.
1. Although the United States is rich and powerful, it is very difficult to truly overwhelm Britain and Japan.
It was against this background that U.S. President Warren Gamelier Harding proposed convening a conference to limit naval armaments. Faced with the U.S. proposal, the competing nations, Britain and Japan, immediately agreed.
Now that the United States, Britain and Japan agreed, France and Italy, which were forced to join, naturally agreed. In order to show respect for the first initiator of the proposal, after consultations with the relevant countries, Washington, the United States, was chosen as the venue for negotiations. In order to show this,
The talks and consultations attach great importance to the talks, and all countries attend with the highest standards. Therefore, not only the prime ministers and presidents are involved in the talks in Washington, but also the monarchs of various countries are participating (what can a monarch with insufficient intelligence do? Is he wearing glasses?).
For a time, Washington, the United States, became the focus of all countries. This also allowed the American people to feel up close for the first time that so many people were paying attention to the United States, which indirectly increased Americans' sense of pride.
The purpose of the Washington Conference was to resolve the balance of naval power among the major powers that had not been resolved by the Treaty of Versailles, as well as the conflict of interests in the Far East and the Pacific, especially in China, and to improve the world's peace system after World War I.
The three parties involved in the Washington Conference played a major role: the United States, Britain, and Japan.
Unlike other countries in the world that have focused their attention on Washington, the venue for the talks, Edel, an outlier, has not paid much attention to this negotiation related to the future. After all, this is mainly a negotiation about the navy and the Far East, and Romania currently cannot reach it.
In the Far East, as for the topic of the navy, let’s just go to sleep.
