The tsar's 1899 conference sought to civilize and constrain war, but the resulting conventions were heavily watered down because the powers resisted meaningful limits. Britain defended freedom for its dominant navy at the first conference and later tried to use the 1907 meeting to restrain competitors. British defense expenditure peaked near six percent of gross domestic product before settling around three percent before 1914. Those figures support the interpretation that Britain was managing strategy and political priorities rather than facing an economy already broken by peacetime naval spending.
Notable Point · 51:37-55:32
The Hague conferences and Britain's affordable naval burden
Defense spending figures challenge the claim that Britain sought naval limits because its prewar fleet had become economically unbearable.