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A naval arms race among Argentina, Brazil and Chile—the most powerful and wealthy countries in South America—began in the early twentieth century when the Brazilian government ordered three "dreadnoughts", formidable battleships whose capabilities far outstripped older vessels in the world's navies. In 1904, the Brazilian Navy found itself well behind the Argentine and Chilean navies in quality and total tonnage; few ships had been ordered since the fall of the Brazilian emperor Pedro II in 1889 and subsequent naval rebellions in 1891 and 1893–94, while its continental rivals Argentina and Chile had just concluded a fifteen-year naval arms race which filled their navies with modern warships. Rising demand for coffee and rubber brought the Brazilian government a large increase in revenue, and they voted to devote some of the proceeds to address this naval imbalance. They believed that building a strong navy would play an essential role in their goal of making the country an international power. The Brazilian government ordered three small battleships from the British company Armstrong Whitworth in late 1905, but the appearance of the revolutionary British warship in 1906 quickly scrapped these plans. Instead, the Brazilians ordered three dreadnoughts—a warship type which quickly became a measure of international prestige, similar to nuclear weapons today. This action focused the world's attention on the newly ascendant country: newspapers and politicians in the great powers fretted that Brazil would sell the ships to a belligerent nation, while the Argentine and Chilean governments immediately canceled their naval-limiting pact and ordered two dreadnoughts each (the and es, respectively). Meanwhile, Brazil's third dreadnought faced a good deal of political opposition due to an economic downturn and the Revolt of the Lash, in which the crews of both of their brand-new battleships mutinied and threatened to fire on Rio de Janeiro if their demands were not met. Despite these pressures, Armstrong successfully held the Brazilians to their contractual obligations. Construction on the new ship, preliminarily named ''Rio de Janeiro'', was halted several times due to repeated design changes. Brazil's coffee and rubber booms collapsed soon after. Concerned that their ship would be outclassed by larger super-dreadnoughts, they sold the incomplete vessel to the Ottoman Empire in December 1913. The First World War marked the end of the naval arms race, as the South American countries found themselves unable to purchase additional warships. The Brazilian government ordered a new battleship, ''Riachuelo'', in May 1914, but the conflict effectively canceled the ship. The British purchased the two Chilean battleships before they were completed; one was sold back to Chile in 1920. Argentina's two dreadnoughts, having been built in the neutral United States, escaped this fate and were commissioned in 1914–15. Although several South American post-war naval expansion plans called for dreadnoughts, no additional units were constructed. == Background: naval rivalry, revolts, and export crops == 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「South American dreadnought race」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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