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Washington Conference 1922 a delayed US reaction to Russo-Japan War 1904
Laugk Updated: 2004-02-14 09:45
The US reacted to this Russo-Japan War of 1904 gradually and warily. More so now that it had a piece of real estate in the Philippines with its short and easy victory against Spain in the Spanish American War. I wonder how similar this was to Bush's Iraq War (note my avoidance of 'America's').
By 1922, the US convened a 5-Power Treaty consisting of the US, Britain, Italy, France and Japan.
Washington saw the emergence of Japan as a great naval power and convened the Washington Conference (1921-1922) to agree on the tonnage of battleships. The ratio was 5:5:3:1.7:1.7 for US:Britain:Japan:Italy:France. The warning by the US if Japan demurred, it would go on building unlimited tonnage with all its industrial might. This forced Japan to acquiesce.
Looking at the arrangement, the Western line-up in tonnage is 13.4:3 for West:Japan. (See Walter LaFeber, The Clash, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1997, pp132-143)
Pearl Harbour was a desperate gamble by Japan, and by Washington Conference was not the surprise that Franklin Delano Roosevelt claimed in his 'Day of Infamy' speech. A number of Americans claimed it was a lure by Roosevelt to tempt Japan to give him an excuse to go to war in the Pacific.
Whatever the postulation, clearly Washington saw the day coming when the US would have to take on Japan. Hence the Washington conference 1921-1922 sought to curb the rise of Japanese naval power to project in the Pacific and beyond.
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