Treaty-induced neglect and wartime rearmament

The closing argument traces unintended fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-order effects from treaty restrictions into naval technology and industrial readiness. In this interpretation, the United States, Britain, and other major naval powers entered the Second World War still rebuilding fleets and productive systems instead of completing that work beforehand. Part of the Pearl Harbor problem is connected to a US Navy still pulling itself together after treaty-era contraction, while the Royal Navy was likewise rebuilding under wartime pressure. The phrase treaty-induced neglect distinguishes this decay from a direct treaty command to abandon capability. A different treaty cannot be treated as a guaranteed better outcome because historians cannot observe the alternative future. Counterfactual analysis can still test informed estimates against known constraints of industry, policy, and wartime demand.