Which services held influence before the Second World War

How influential was each major power’s navy compared with its army and air force before the Second World War?

The balance varied sharply: Britain’s Navy and Air Force were near peers, continental armies usually led, and Germany’s navy remained the least influential service.

Britain is presented as a close contest between the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, with the army somewhat behind despite its high level of motorisation and mechanisation. The Navy’s ability to regain the Fleet Air Arm shows that it could still secure important institutional objectives, while the crisis of 1940 shaped the fight over land-based fighters. France is described as army-led, followed by the navy and air force, while Italy placed the army and air force ahead of its navy. Germany’s navy occupied the weakest position, and the American services are portrayed as competing for attention from a government reluctant to favour any of them.