Nations Outlaw War: Kellogg-Briand Pact Signed
Fifteen nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact in Paris on August 27, 1928, solemnly renouncing war "as an instrument of national policy." The treaty was the brainchild of French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand and U.S. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg, both of whom received the Nobel Peace Prize. Eventually 62 nations signed. The pact contained no enforcement mechanism and no definition of what constituted "war," which is why Japan invaded Manchuria three years later without technically violating it. The pact was widely mocked as naive, but it had a lasting legal consequence: its prohibition on aggressive war became the basis for the "crimes against peace" charge at the Nuremberg Trials, establishing that starting a war was itself a criminal act.
August 27, 1928
98 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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