Date of Award
4-1974
Degree Type
Master's Essay - Restricted
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Thomas E. Hachey
Abstract
The Anglo-German and Anglo-Soviet Naval Treaties, signed at London on July 17, 1937, represent the final stage in the development of agreements limiting naval armaments, a process begun some fifteen years earlier at the Washington Naval Conference. The treaties indicate Britain's continuing concern with maritime power and strategy, upon the strength of which her European ascendancy had previously been based. Viewed from a purely military standpoint, Britain's negotiations with Germany and the U.S.S.R. clearly illustrate one aspect of a somewhat belated attempt to regain naval supremacy (or at least equality) both in a world which, in terms of naval strength, included two other major powers (the United States and Japan), and in a European situation in which at least five powers had to be taken into account (Italy, France, the U.S.S.R., Germany, and Britain). Diplomatically, the negotiations reveal the fears and anxieties of a British Government consciously aware of their nation's military weakness. The London Naval Conference and Treaty of 1936 and the subsequent Anglo-German and Anglo-Soviet agreements are the most obvious manifestation of an effort on the part of the British to legitimize the numerical rebuilding of their navy, and to make their own naval expansion programme as inexpensive and effective as possible by concluding agreements limiting the size and armament of the warships of all nations. These agreements thus are linked to the policy of rearmament begun in earnest by Britain in 1935; a policy which, in terms of the British Navy, was made necessary by developments which reached their zenith in the early 1930's.
Recommended Citation
Niles, Richard K., "British Naval Policy in the Inter-War Period: The Anglo-German and Anglo-Soviet Naval Agreements of 1937" (1974). Master's Essays (1922 - ). 2584.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/essays/2584
Comments
An Essay submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.