The Third Republic divided authority among the president, prime minister, National Assembly, and shifting coalitions. Repeated changes of government made long-term naval strategy hard to sustain and could place a different minister across the table from one meeting to the next. France also believed Britain and America had disadvantaged it at Washington, yet its fragmented negotiating position left it dependent on Italy's firmer demand for parity. Negotiations could not retain momentum when each meeting might bring a new counterpart.
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French government instability weakens treaty diplomacy
Eleven French governments in seven years made consistent naval policy and sustained negotiations exceptionally difficult.