France faced a difficult strategic position after the naval treaties. Equal nominal strength with Italy did not give the French fleet a margin to protect its North African empire or its Mediterranean convoys. Italy could route supplies through the central Mediterranean more securely unless Britain became an enemy as well. British intervention could transform the balance, but that dependence constrained French naval choices and weakened the domestic case for greater naval investment.
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France's Mediterranean strategic trap
The French fleet faced treaty parity with Italy while still needing to protect North African imperial routes across the Mediterranean.