The strategic gamble behind Washington disarmament

The Washington system saved money by cutting fleets and suppressing a new round of capital-ship construction. That economy also created a lost generation of ships, designers, industrial facilities, and practical building experience. Treaty advocates assumed that the participating powers would remain cooperative and overwhelmingly stronger than everyone outside the agreement. Different countries did not interpret the First World War's lessons in the same way, so the shared aversion to another conflict was less universal than those advocates hoped. Once cooperation broke down, the reduced fleets and weakened construction base became liabilities on the road to World War II.