How treaty parity tied French choices to Britain

The treaty system capped French tonnage and made Britain essential to any decisive advantage over Italy. That strategic dependence gave British preferences unusual influence when London pressed for battleships smaller than the treaty maximum. France followed that path into the Dunkerque sequence even while Italian and German construction increased the pressure on its battle line. The resulting design compromises grew from a wider political problem: an apparently balanced treaty settlement made sustained naval investment difficult to justify.