A small German allocation inside a multilateral agreement would provide a limit that all the signatories could monitor. It might remove the perceived need for the later Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which created friction with France. Soviet participation could similarly create a legal fleet while diverting Japanese attention in the Far East. An equitable settlement could pursue hard-nosed balance-of-power aims without repeating the humiliating, short-term victories that made later cooperation less likely.
Notable Point · 1:14:11-1:15:47
Multilateral limits instead of a later bilateral deal
Bringing Germany into the common treaty could impose limits without the diplomatic damage caused by the later Anglo-German Naval Agreement.