France might suffer most among the European powers if competitive naval building continued. Mussolini's Italy could remain in the race for reasons of prestige even when the programme was difficult to sustain. France had been deeply damaged by the First World War, yet victory reduced the pressure for the wholesale political and institutional reconstruction that defeat might have forced. Its empire and national status would still demand a competitive navy while economic recovery and the politics of the Third Republic pulled against the expense. The naval problem was rooted as much in political economy and institutions as in ship design.
Notable Point · 3:19:00-3:22:12
An untreatied naval race would strain interwar France most
Italy might keep building from political ambition, but France would face a sharper conflict between naval status, imperial commitments, war recovery, and unstable interwar government.