Arms control diplomacy is not a new idea. The Hague Conference of 1899 was the first international conference specifically discussing a "freeze" on armaments. The Vatican Edict of 1139, an early example of arms control, banned the use of the crossbow in wars between Christians (though use against non-Christians was still allowed). The practice of limiting weapons by treaty has a long record (going back to ancient China) from which much can be learned. But it is largely a history of failure, boding ill for current attempts at disarmament.
Before the advent of nuclear weapons, naval fleets were the center of modern arms control efforts. Warships, with their combination of heavy firepower, advanced technology, and global mobility, are strategic weapons. They are highly visible and expensive symbols of a nation's strength and resolve. Many efforts to control the arms race at sea in the modern era have been undertaken. The period between the First and Second World Wars marks the high tide of such efforts.
The First World War shattered the hopes of those who felt that religion, free trade, or the solidarity of the working class could transcend the political imperatives of the nation-state and the sense of collective destiny the individual feels as patriotism. Yet in the Western democracies there was a strong hope that Woodrow Wilson's claiming the First World War was the "war to end all wars" would be borne out. Disarmament was the fourth of Wilson's Fourteen Points. At the end of the war, Russia was convulsed by revolution; Austria-Hungary ceased to exist; and disarmament was forced on Germany. The winners thought a sufficient body of common interest made arms control a possibility.
The major naval powers, England, Japan, France, Italy, and the United States, had all been allied in the First World War. however, it was not clear that they would remain allies in the postwar world. England, Japan, and the United States had conflicting interests in the Pacific. France and Italy were suspicious of each other's aims in the Mediterranean and Africa. England's dependency on imported food-stuffs led to defeat when U-boats threatened to cut the sea-lanes. England feared all other navies.
Against these security concerns, a tide of pacifism swept Europe while isolationism swept the United States. In addition, a postwar economic slump required either cutbacks in U.S. government spending or new taxes. Politicians preferred reducing defense spending. In 1921, the U.S. House of Representatives cut the Navy budget by half.
The Washington Naval Conference
The covenant of the new League of Nations encouraged disarmament. Though the United States rejected membership in it, the League participated in all of the interwar arms limitation negotiations. In June 1921, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Borah Resolution calling on the new president, Warren G. Harding, to conduct disarmament negotiations. When a British government put out feelers suggesting it would accept naval parity with the United States, the administration responded favorably. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes sent out invitations August 11, 1921, for the Washington Naval Conference, convening November 21, 1921.
President Harding outlined the four points of the American plan
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