Kellog-Briand+Pact

The Kellogg–Briand Pact is named after its authors: Frank B. Kellog and French foreign minister Aristide Briand. The Kellog-Briand Pact (or Pact of Paris because of where it was signed) was signed in 1928. The pact was one of many international efforts to prevent another World War, but it had little effect in stopping the rising militarism of the 1930s or preventing World War II.

It denounced war as a method of solving disputes. It was not a formal treaty, but a declaration of policy by 15 nations including Germany, U.S.A., and the U.S.S.R..  The Kellogg- Briand pact was a renunciation of war between France and the US but was a proposal for no war and was open for all to sign. By July 24, 1929, 63 nations signed the pact.  After negotiations, the pact was signed in Paris at the French Foreign Ministry by the representatives from Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, British India, the Irish Free State, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was provided that it would come into effect on July 24, 1929. By that date, thirty-one more nations had deposited instruments of definitive adherence to the pact. Eight further states joined after that date.

The pact was accepted by 60 plus countries and was supposed to end war but the Kellogg-Briand pact failed because of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935, and the German invasion of Poland in 1939. This happened because it provided no effective enforcement mechanism and therefore could not force anyone to back down. When Japan entered Manchuria in 1931 the League of Nations could protest but could not remove Japanese forces. The Kellogg–Briand Pact did not live up to its aim of ending war, and made no immediate contribution to international peace. It proved to be ineffective in the years to come.

Nevertheless, the pact is important because, in addition to binding the nations that signed it, it has also served as one of the legal bases establishing the international norms that the threat or use of military force in contravention of international law, and the territorial gain resulting from it, are unlawful.

The pact did some good for international laws and still known in the US as a federal law.

 -Jessica MacNeil

