The 1936 treaty is treated mainly as evidence of intent because it did not constrain the dictatorships against which Britain, France, and the United States might need naval strength. Its proposed 8,000-ton cruiser ceiling further reduced Allied flexibility after 10,000 tons had become the established standard. The moment illustrates a central arms-control problem: restraint by only one prospective coalition can weaken deterrence without moderating its opponents. An analogy to the anti-Napoleonic coalition has its members limiting their own ships while Napoleon remains free to build, showing why participation mattered more than the text alone.
Notable Point · 10:16-13:30
Why the Second London Treaty lacked strategic weight
A treaty among powers likely to cooperate had little restraining value once the principal revisionist states rejected its limits.