Monday, November 21, 2011

Kellogg-Briand Pact


A Kellogg-Briand Pact summary which will take you back to 1928 in a bid to explain what this pact was all about and which countries signed. Continue reading for more information on the Kellogg-Briand Pact aka the Pact of Paris.

According to the Kellogg-Briand Pact definition, it was a multilateral treaty which renounced aggressive war and prohibited the use of war as a national policy, unless it was a case of self defense. Even though its formal name was the 'General Treaty for the Renunciation of War', this pact is more famous as the 'Kellogg-Briand Pact' or the 'Pact of Paris'. It was signed on 27th August, 1928, by various countries including the United States of America, and was proclaimed to come into effect on 24th July, 1929. The Kellogg-Briand Pact was named after its authors, Frank B. Kellogg - the then U.S. Secretary of State, and Aristide Briand - the then foreign minister of France.

A Summary of the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928

The anti-war feelings were at its all-time high post World War I, and most of the nations advocated the need of outlawing wars in order to avoid any such calamities in the future. At the same time, the relationship between the United States of America and France was going through a rough phase. In a bid to put things in place, the then foreign minister of France - Aristide Briand, came up with a proposal of a treaty which would outlaw war between two countries. At this point of time, the United States administration under the leadership of President Calvin Coolidge was concerned about being stuck in some indirect alliance with France or other European nations. After showing some hesitation in going ahead with any sort of treaty, the U.S. Secretary of State - Frank B. Kellogg, counter-proposed a multilateral treaty which would involve all the nations who intend to outlaw wars.

After initial hesitation about getting into a multilateral pact, the French government finally agreed to go ahead with the same. What had started off as a bilateral French-American accord, turned out to be a full-fledged multilateral treaty with 15 countries of the world signing it on 27th August, 1928, at Paris. These 15 countries were Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, India, the Irish Free State, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Eventually, 62 countries signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact which outlawed wars and prohibited the use of war as a tool in national policy. By signing this pact, all these countries agreed that irrespective of what the origin or nature of conflict was, the sides involved had to come to a settlement by peaceful means - and not a war.

Kellogg-Briand Pact Significance

The significance of Kellogg-Briand Pact is a subject of debate among historians. Even though 62 countries ratified this pact, its effectiveness was hampered by the fact that it had no provisions for sanctions on members who broke the treaty. As a result of this drawback, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was never able to make a mark at the international level in the world history. A slight ray of hope was seen when the pact was invoked in the wake of territorial dispute between China and the USSR in 1929. That, however, was short-lived and the trend of waging undeclared wars in 1930s eventually resulted in the Kellogg-Briand Pact losing whatever little importance it had in the world.

That covered all the information you needed to know about what was the Kellogg-Briand Pact and which all countries signed it. As we mentioned earlier, historians seem to be divided over the success of this pact, with most of the people calling it an outright failure. Whilst citing that the pact was a failure, the critics of Kellogg-Briand Pact also highlight the fact that all the signatories of this pact were involved in the largest war the world had ever witnessed - the World War II, within a period of 12 years of signing it.

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