Naval races contribute to war scares but do not cause wars alone

A postwar Anglo-American naval race would not by itself have produced war. Qualitative competition over better ships and guns had occurred repeatedly without conflict, including British rivalry with France in the nineteenth century. Quantitative competition is more dangerous because governments begin counting whether they have enough ships to deter or defeat one another. That arithmetic adds fear, encourages alliance formation, and creates conditions in which an unrelated crisis can escalate. War still requires political causes, decisions, and miscalculations. A naval race is a symptom and contributor to a dangerous international system rather than a sufficient cause on its own.