“If the Nations want peace, the League gives them the way by which peace can be kept. League or no League, a country which is determined to have a war can always have it.” H. Fisher A History of Europe (1938)

Article VIII of the League Covenant… “The members of the League recognize that the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations.”

London Naval Conference 1930 An attempt at further naval disarmament; building on the Five Power Treaty (1922) Great Britain, USA, France, Italy, Japan attended Included submarines and smaller warships Modified the ratio agreed to in :10:7 for Britain, USA & Japan France & Italy opted out from the new ratio Continued limitations on aircraft carriers Continued tonnage limits for cruisers and limit on how many heavy cruisers a country could have

London Naval Conference 1935 Met because limits in both Washington Naval Conference & London Naval Conference were to expire in 1936 Italy walked out of the conference; then Japan left By 1936 all countries were building ships irrespective of the naval agreements 1937 Japan began construction of four Yamato class battleships

Anglo-German Naval Agreement 1935 Allowed Germany to rebuild its navy Limited the size of the German navy to 35% of the British navy Germany could build a submarine fleet 45% the size of the British submarine fleet Gave Germany the ability to ship iron ore from Scandinavia into Germany due to withdrawal of British navy from the Baltic Sea March 1936, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland

May 1926, League member nations met at Geneva, Switzerland The committee was called “The Preparatory Commission for the Disarmament Conference, being a Commission to prepare for a Conference on the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments.” Because of lack of concrete progress, the Kellogg- Briand Pact was written and signed in 1928.

Geneva Conference 1932 Also called the World Disarmament Conference or the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments 31 nations attended, including the US & USSR The US and several other nations worried about the cost of maintaining military New technology, such as airplanes and tanks were targeted as the items making military more expensive Douglas MacArthur suggested ending military aviation programs One suggestion from the Conference was to stop building aircraft carriers… supported by Japan

France was wary of disarmament unless the US and Britain supported enforcement of military restrictions on Germany, enforcing the Versailles Treaty A major problem at the conference was to distinguish between defensive weapons and offensive weapons At the same time, the US Senate rejected a proposal that would have allowed the US to join other nations in an arms boycott of an aggressor nation US objective at the Disarmament Conference was for Germany to stay at their level of disarmament and for other countries to reduce their arms to Germany’s level

Germany said they wanted equality with other nations in armaments Germany left the Disarmament Conference, then withdrew from the League of Nations (1933) By 1934 nothing had been accomplished and the Conference ended

Reasons for failure… France feared Germany Czechoslovakia and Poland wanted reassurances in case Germany looked their way Britain would not give assurances of security to France

“The Conference Excuses Itself” May 1934

Sources (conference excuses itself)