CHANCERIESTHE DIPLOMATIC ATLAS

Four-Power Treaty

1921-12-13

Replacing the Anglo-Japanese Alliance

The United States, British Empire, France, and Japan signed the Four-Power Treaty at Washington on December 13, 1921. The agreement was one part of the Washington Naval Conference, convened by Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes amid naval competition and disputes in East Asia. American policymakers wanted to reduce the danger that the Anglo-Japanese alliance would draw Britain into a future conflict between Japan and the United States. [2]

The treaty required the four powers to respect one another’s rights in their Pacific island possessions and to consult when a dispute over those rights could not be resolved through ordinary diplomacy. If another power threatened them, the parties would discuss possible joint or separate responses. The agreement supplied a conference mechanism without a pledge that each government would automatically fight for the others. [1]

The Washington Settlement

The treaty took effect when ratifications were deposited in 1923, terminating the existing Anglo-Japanese alliance. Its negotiators included ambassadors already serving in Washington, among them Kijūrō Shidehara of Japan and Jules Jusserand of France. Their signatures joined those of visiting ministers and other delegates, reflecting the conference’s dependence on both permanent diplomatic missions and special delegations. [1]

The Four-Power Treaty formed part of a wider settlement. The Five-Power Treaty limited capital ships, while the Nine-Power Treaty addressed China’s sovereignty and commercial access. These arrangements briefly reduced immediate sources of rivalry, but they left major disputes and categories of naval construction unsettled. Limits on capital ships left room for competition in cruisers, leading the naval powers to seek further agreements at Geneva in 1927 and London in 1930. [2]

Sources

  1. Treaty between the United States of America, the British Empire, France, and Japan, Signed at Washington December 13, 1921

    Articles I–IV, signatories, and editorial ratification note

  2. The Washington Naval Conference, 1921–1922

    Four-Power Treaty and conference outcomes

Related Reading

Cite This Article

Four-Power Treaty. Chanceries Diplopedia. Record 94e365fb972ca27d2106. https://chanceries.org/research/history/four-power-treaty/

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