The Abyssinia crisis supplies a concrete test for the claim that fleet size changes diplomacy. Britain historically considered intervention but doubted that it could concentrate overwhelming force at Alexandria; years of uninterrupted construction could alter that calculation or deter Mussolini earlier. Italian naval spending might also compete with the resources required for the invasion itself. Gradual British infrastructure investment from the early 1930s could reduce the costly emergency acceleration that began historically in 1937. Roosevelt might use the same naval competition to justify American infrastructure spending.
Chapter · 1:38:37-1:41:22
A stronger fleet at the Abyssinia crisis
Gradual naval expansion could give Britain more credible force at Alexandria during the Abyssinia crisis while reducing the cost of the later emergency rearmament surge.