Geneva Naval Conference

[1] Britain and Japan accepted the invitation, but France and Italy (the other nations which had signed the Washington Treaty) declined.

[2] The Washington Treaty had defined a ratio of 5:5:3:1.75:1.75 in the strength of capital ships (battleships and battlecruisers) between Britain, the United States, Japan, France, and Italy respectively.

[4] Britain, by contrast, was prepared to accept parity with the US in its cruiser fleet, so long as the Royal Navy was able to maintain the very large cruiser force, if necessary of smaller and cheaper ships, which it felt was necessary to protect the long trade routes and imperial commitments of the British Empire.

[6] However, since the British and American delegations were unable to reach agreement, Japanese objections were not crucial to the failure of the summit.

Agreement was reached in part because the British and US delegations recognized a greater shared interest[7] and the need to cut government expenditure as a result of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.