Chapter 777 Naval Arms Race

As time entered mid-March 1931, the great powers faced a difficult choice, that is, whether to renew the naval limitation treaty.

It has to be admitted that the naval limitation treaty is still very helpful for world peace.

Under the constraints of the naval limitation treaty, the military expenditure of various countries has been reduced by at least 30%, and the competition caused by naval expansion has been avoided.

But the problem is that this so-called naval limitation treaty is not equally fair to every country.

The naval ratio of each country agreed at that time was 60:55:35:35:30:17.5.

After the demise of the United States, the naval size limit of the United States no longer applies to the small countries split from the United States.

After all, those small countries are not big enough, and their economies cannot support a large fleet.

In this way, this naval limitation treaty has become a restriction on several relatively powerful countries at present, namely Britain, France, Australasia, island countries and Italy.

The British occupy the largest share, and almost the sum of the second and third, so they will naturally not oppose this treaty.

But other countries may not be.

First of all, France. After the demise of the United States, the French, driven by Australasia, firmly took the throne of the world's second largest power.

No matter what other countries think, the French firmly believe in such statements and regard themselves as the world's second largest power from time to time.

For the French, as the world's second largest power, it is acceptable for the navy share to lag behind the British, but it is unacceptable to have only a little more than half of the British.

However, the French did not think of tearing up the treaty, but took the opportunity to increase the size of their navy during the renewal of the treaty.

Usually, such a request is actually nothing. At most, Britain and France will argue with each other and finally reach a compromise.

But the French happened to run into the islanders who wanted to tear up the treaty.

The size of the island's navy is limited to 300,000 tons, 50,000 tons behind France and Australasia.

Although it is now the fourth in the world, such a navy size is too small for the ambitious islanders.

The ambition of the islanders can be seen from the battleships built by the islanders. Their largest battleship tonnage has exceeded 40,000 tons, and the 300,000-ton navy is even less than the tonnage of eight battleships.

Compared with the French who only want to increase their naval size limit, the islanders want to tear up the treaty directly and develop their navy unscrupulously.

If it were normal, the islanders would not have the courage to do so under the supervision of Britain and France.

But now it is not only the islanders who have ideas about this treaty. The French request to modify the treaty is like opening Pandora's box, which directly caused the renewal of the naval limitation treaty to fall into a stalemate.

After the French expressed their demands, the islanders and Italy also stated that there were many problems with the previously signed treaty.

The French demanded that their naval size limit be increased to 450,000 tons, and the islanders also demanded that their naval size be kept at the same level as the French, that is, about 450,000 tons.

Italy demanded that its naval size be doubled to the same level as Australasia, about 350,000 tons.

This also means that the naval limitation treaty must undergo major changes to meet the ideas of these countries.

The question is, will the British agree? Will Australasia agree?

Obviously not. The French request will greatly narrow the gap between the naval size of Britain and France, which is something the British do not want to see.

For Australasia, the naval size of France and the island countries has surpassed itself, and even countries like Italy can maintain the same level as itself, which is simply unacceptable.

In addition, Arthur originally wanted to refuse to renew the naval limitation treaty, which basically made the renewal of the naval limitation treaty fail.

On March 21, 1931, with the failure of the third renewal negotiations on the naval limitation treaty, all countries had to announce the temporary suspension of negotiations on the naval limitation treaty.

Since there has been no result in the negotiations, the best result is that all countries reach a compromise privately, and then re-sign a naval limitation treaty within the scope acceptable to everyone.

But things are not as easy as imagined.

The naval limitation treaty was signed in 1921, with a validity period of 10 years, and it is valid until 1931.

Before all countries renewed the treaty, the naval limitation treaty theoretically did not restrict the shipbuilding plans of all countries after 1931.

With this idea in mind, the islanders decided to take advantage of the loophole and build two super-large battleships for themselves before the new treaty was signed.

But what the islanders did not expect was that their every move had already been closely monitored by Australasia.

Arthur's purpose was very simple. One was to make the island country the first country to tear up the treaty.

Although many countries may have ideas, the country that takes the first action will definitely be targeted by the British.

For Arthur, it would definitely be good for him to let the islanders be the first country to take action.

Secondly, it would also be a good thing for Australasia to let the islanders stir up the water.

The naval arms race often also represents the army arms race. This also means that once the water is stirred up, countries will start to invest heavily in armaments.

If the strength of Britain and France can be stronger, they will have more advantages in facing Germany in the future.

Excessive investment can also consume the potential of Britain and France, ensuring that Britain and France will fight each other in the war with Germany.

As soon as the news that the island country secretly built a super-large battleship was exposed, it immediately attracted the attention of countries around the world.

What countries did not expect was that the first to tear up the treaty was not France, which ranked second in the world, but the island country, which ranked fourth in the world.

But it doesn’t matter who tears up the naval restriction treaty first. Once the island country’s super dreadnought plan was leaked, the French immediately expressed their intention to change the 1932 shipbuilding plan and add two super dreadnoughts.

The British naturally would not accept the actions of the island country and France. In order to ensure their naval advantage, Britain also revised its shipbuilding plans.

Coupled with Italy, which fished in troubled waters, the water had indeed been muddied by Arthur.

Seeing that their actions could no longer be concealed, the island country stopped pretending. On March 27, 1931, the island country announced its shipbuilding plan starting in 1932.

This round of shipbuilding plan is still relatively large. The island country will build three super dreadnoughts, two aircraft carriers, four battlecruisers as main warships within five years, as well as dozens of small and medium-sized warships, greatly expanding the size of the island country's navy.

In fact, from the island country's shipbuilding plan, it can be seen that the imaginary enemy of the island country's navy has become Australasia.

If the islanders can complete their shipbuilding plan, their navy will be slightly larger than Australasia, becoming the most powerful navy on the Pacific coast.

This is very helpful for the island country to dominate the Pacific, and their ambition is to defeat Australasia and become the new Pacific hegemon.

In order to achieve this ambition, the island country's investment in the navy is not small. For this country with a narrow land area and poor mineral resources, such a large investment is a heavy burden on the country.

The islanders' shipbuilding plan caused a thousand waves, causing European powers to change their shipbuilding plans to respond.

What is unexpected is that the biggest reaction is not the British, but the French.

The French always stick to their position as the second largest in the world, believing that they cannot let the island countries surpass them in terms of naval tonnage.

In order to maintain their face, the French also announced a five-year shipbuilding plan starting in 1932.

Among them, France plans to build two super dreadnoughts, an aircraft carrier, three battlecruisers and 24 submarines.

This naval construction plan can make the number of French main battleships firmly ranked second in the world, both from the perspective of strength and from the perspective of face, which is more in line with the expectations of the French.

Although the British did not intend to participate in the naval arms competition at the beginning, the crazy attitude of the island countries and France to build warships still made the British feel a crisis.

Although the British navy is currently very advantageous, the advantage will sooner or later be made up by the island countries and France.

To maintain the strength of the Royal Navy, continuous investment in the navy is essential.

After thinking about it, the British also announced their shipbuilding plan starting in 1932.

Compared with the small fights between France and the island countries, the British shipbuilding plan is even crazier.

The British plan to build five super-large dreadnoughts, two aircraft carriers, four battlecruisers, 12 submarines and dozens of small and medium-sized warships within five years.

In terms of the number of main battleships to be built, the number to be built by the British is almost the sum of the island countries and France, which also proves the British's firm attitude to maintain naval superiority.

In fact, the British are still very confident in this regard. After all, the British control the most essential area of ​​the United States, that is, the East Coast of the United States.

With the annual income brought to the United Kingdom by the East Coast of the United States, this naval investment is just a drop in the bucket for the British.

As countries have joined the naval arms race, the situation in Europe has become more and more chaotic.

As mentioned before, the naval arms race often symbolizes the army arms race.

Sure enough. After countries have entered the naval arms race, Italy took the lead in announcing the expansion of the army.

In fact, Italy has expanded its army many times since Mussolini's reign.

At present, Italy's army has exceeded 500,000, making it the second largest army in Europe after Russia and France.

But it is obvious that 500,000 troops cannot satisfy Mussolini's ambitions. Especially after the stimulation of the naval arms race, Mussolini directly announced that the size of the Italian army would be expanded to 700,000, and also came up with a naval construction plan.

Italy, which had just annexed the Abyssinian Empire, was also confident in its military investment at this time.

After all, an additional large colony is an additional cornucopia that can generate income for Italy.

It is worth mentioning that after the arms race began, there was a country that was very envious of the military expenditure of various countries.

This country is Germany.

Compared with countries that can decide their own military expenditure, Germany is more uncomfortable in this regard.

The army size is strictly limited to 150,000 people, and the navy is not allowed to have large warships, which means that Germany's military expenditure is impossible to rise to a higher level.

But this did not bother Hitler, who was smart.

Since the open German army cannot be expanded, the best way is to expand its own private army, that is, the stormtroopers that have been renamed the SS.

At present, Germany's official army has 150,000, of which the German Empire's army has less than 70,000 people.

In comparison, Hitler's SS has expanded to 200,000 people, and all of them are private armies loyal to Hitler.

It is no exaggeration to say that if Hitler wants, his private army can control the entire country at any time.

Including the 80,000 troops controlled by the various states, it is impossible to be the opponent of Hitler's private army.

After all, there is already a huge gap in quantity, and there are great restrictions on weapons and equipment, which also determines that the current combat effectiveness of the German army is limited.

If the army can still achieve alternative expansion by expanding the SS, then in terms of the navy, Hitler has no way for the time being.

Britain and France still have relatively strict restrictions on the German navy. No matter what method Hitler uses, he can't hide it from Britain and France to build a navy alone.

Moreover, Germany's current financial situation does not support Hitler's large-scale navy construction.

If it were not for the large amount of assets and currency seized for the government through various oil drainage operations (not a typo), I am afraid that the German government could have declared bankruptcy long ago.

If we have to select a country that has not yet emerged from the economic crisis, it must be Germany, whose economy is in a state of collapse.

The good news is that after Hitler took office, Germany's economy has improved.

Although the collapse of the German economy is not entirely blamed on the Jews, the Jews are definitely responsible.

The Jews who lent usury in large quantities were eradicated, and part of the seized funds were returned to the victimized Germans, and part of them were directly transferred to the government's finances, alleviating the financial pressure on the German government.

This has to admire the wealth of the Jews. Although the German people have not had a good life since World War I, and most of the German people do not even have the right to eat enough.

But this does not mean that the Jews in Germany are not rich. Although the oil drainage operation has only been carried out for half a year so far, the fiscal revenue created for the German government is no worse than some major projects.

Hitler's private army was able to expand to 200,000 people. In addition to the German people's great trust in Hitler, a large amount of property from the Jews was also very important.

It is worth mentioning that Hitler used the assets seized from the Jews to expand his army, and then used his army to massacre and exploit the Jews. It can only be said that it is a tit-for-tat, and the Jews are not as innocent as imagined.

4000 words update sent, please vote for the monthly ticket, please support!