Expensive war-fleet dominance deterred conflict and produced relative peace

Evidence

At a time when most of the world had no first-rate ships at all, Britain kept dozens and dozens in her fleet. During the Napoleonic Wars, for example, Britain had 180 warships of seventy-four guns or larger. The Spanish, Dutch, and French navies all vied for power with Britain at one time or another, but none could match the British navy and, by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain alone ruled the seas. For most of the nineteenth century, a period called the “Pax Britannica,” the majority of local conflicts were settled without escalation simply because of the presence of a British warship. As with crabs and caribou, big weapons and deterrence ushered in a window of relative peace. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 395

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s core thesis that exaggerated weaponry in animals produces deterrence and stable equilibria — here applied to naval supremacy. — connects to: Warship-building cost restrictions turned fleet size into deterrent signals. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 392; British imperial dominance depended on naval supremacy. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 391; Modern naval weapons cost billions and thus only wealthy nations can field them — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 396 (+5 more)
• SEED: Angle for an essay: naval arms races as an animal-weapon arms race analogy, ‘Pax Britannica’ as sexual selection’s stable equilibrium.

Related

• Known military inferiority of rivals creates an effective monopoly (similarity 0.90)
• British imperial dominance depended on naval supremacy. (similarity 0.88)
• Warship-building cost restrictions turned fleet size into deterrent signals. (similarity 0.85)
• The most expensive weapons serve as deterrents by projecting power globally. (similarity 0.79)