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In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the South American nations of Argentina and Chile engaged in an expensive naval arms race to ensure the other would not gain supremacy in the Southern Cone. Although the Argentine and Chilean navies possessed insignificant naval forces in the 1860s, with zero and five warships, respectively, Argentina's concern over a strong Brazilian Navy and the Chilean war against Spain caused them to add capable warships to their fleets in the 1870s. During this time, diplomatic relations between Argentina and Chile soured due to conflicting boundary claims, particularly in Patagonia. By the beginning of the 1880s, after the War of the Pacific, the Chilean government possessed possibly the strongest navy in the Americas. They planned to add to it with an 1887 appropriation for one battleship, two protected cruisers, and two torpedo gunboats. Argentina responded a year later with an order for two battleships of its own. The naval arms race unfolded over the next several years, with each country buying and ordering vessels that were slightly better than the previous ship, but the Argentines eventually pulled ahead with the acquisition of multiple ''Garibaldi''-class cruisers. The race ended in 1902 with the British-arbitrated Pacts of May, which contained a binding naval-limiting agreement. Both governments sold or canceled the ships they had ordered, and three major warships were mostly disarmed to balance the fleets. The pacts proved to be the answer to the Argentine and Chilean disputes, as the countries enjoyed a period of warm relations. This did not last, though, as the Brazilian government's attempt to rebuild its own naval forces sparked another naval arms race, involving all three countries' orders for revolutionary new "dreadnoughts", powerful battleships whose capabilities far outstripped older vessels in the world's navies. == Background == Conflicting Argentine and Chilean claims to Patagonia, the southernmost region in South America, had been causing tension between the two countries since the 1840s.〔Garrett, "Beagle Channel," 85–87.〕 Both countries were incapable of enforcing these claims with a seaborne force, though: in 1860, the Chileans had only five small vessels, while the Argentine Navy had no seagoing ships.〔Grant, ''Rulers, Guns, and Money'', 118; Lyon, "Argentina," 401.〕 These attitudes quickly changed when the circumstances warranted; when Chile joined Peru against Spain in the Chincha Islands War, the Spaniards blockaded and bombarded Valparaíso, leading the Chilean government to strengthen the navy. The Argentine government, under President Domingo Sarmiento, decided to build a navy in the 1870s to counter Brazilian naval acquisitions. Two large monitors, ''Los Andes'' and ''El Plata'', were ordered from Laird Brothers, a British company, along with two gunboats. They were delivered in 1874 and 1875.〔Grant, ''Rulers, Guns, and Money'', 118; Lyon, "Argentina," 401, 403; Lyon, "Chile," 410.〕 The Patagonian tensions heightened in 1872 and 1878, when Chilean warships seized merchant ships which had been licensed to operate in the disputed area by the Argentine government. An Argentine warship did the same to a Chilean-licensed American ship in 1877. This action nearly led to war in November 1878, when the Argentines dispatched a squadron of warships to the Santa Cruz River. The Chilean Navy responded in kind, and war was only avoided by a hastily signed treaty.〔Scheina, ''Naval History'', 43, 45.〕 Both countries were incapable of enforcing these claims with a seaborne force in the next few years, as the Argentines were occupied with internal military operations against the indigenous population (1870–84), and the Chileans involved in the War of the Pacific (''Guerra del Pacífico'', 1879–83) against Bolivia and Peru. Still, several warships were ordered by both nations: the Argentines commissioned a central battery ironclad, , and a protected cruiser, , in 1880 and 1885, respectively.〔Scheina, ''Naval History'', 45–46, 347; Grant, ''Rulers, Guns, and Money'', 122.〕 For their part, the Chileans ordered a protected cruiser, , to bolster its fleet, which was centered around two central battery ironclads, and .〔Scheina, ''Naval History'', 45–46, 347.〕 With these ships, the Chilean Navy emerged from the War of the Pacific as the preeminent navy in the Americas, surpassing even the navy of the United States, which had fallen into steep decline after the American Civil War.〔Grant, ''Rulers, Guns, and Money'', 122–23; (The 'Big Five' of the Sea )," ''National Labor Tribune'', 2.〕 The Chilean government utilized this advantage when it deployed ''Esmeralda'' to Panama in 1885 to block the U.S. from attempting to annex the region.〔Sater, ''Empires in Conflict'', 52.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Argentine–Chilean naval arms race」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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