Definition:

The Washington Naval Conference was a disarmament effort among the great naval powers Britain, the United States , Italy, France and Japan in 1921 to limit naval power. The conference was mainly held because Great Britain and the US felt threats to world peace in the Japaneses' sharp escalation in naval forces in the Pacific Ocean. The conference resulted in three major treaties: Four-Power Treaty, Five-Power Treaty (Washington Naval Treaty) and the Nine-Power Treaty.

Significance:

The treaties under the conference preserved peace in the 1920s but also credited the rise of the Japanese Empire as a naval power leading up to World War II.