Hague Peace Conferences

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The Hague Peace Conferences were convened in The Hague in 1899 and 1907 at the suggestion of Russian Tsar Nicholas II and at the invitation of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and were intended to serve the purpose of disarmament and the development of principles for the peaceful settlement of international conflicts. The reason for this development towards conferences was the result of a pacifist movement in the 19th century that began with the Enlightenment . The conferences were the first attempt by the international community to abolish war as an institution. They wanted to forbid armed arms and instead make legal recourse binding.

historical development

Delegates to the Second Hague Peace Conference

Tsar Nikolaus had initiated the conferences in 1898 on the grounds that otherwise “a catastrophe” threatened. In 1899, lawyers and politicians from a total of 26 countries met from May 18 to July 29 . At the second conference from June 15 to October 18, 1907, representatives from a total of 44 countries took part in order to work out an international legal order and to achieve norms for peaceful solutions to international disputes. They could not agree on any disarmament steps and failed when introducing compulsory arbitration due to the requirement of unanimity due to the rejection of the German Reich, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and some smaller states. Nevertheless, the court of arbitration was set up in The Hague.

At a third peace conference, originally planned for 1914 and then for 1915, the aim was to decide on compulsory jurisdiction according to the majority principle and to discuss issues of an international executive which was then institutionalized for the first time in the League of Nations as collective security. In the two conferences, the participants developed a comprehensive program for peacekeeping and rules of conduct in the event of conflict, and worked out standards for land and sea warfare.

The permanent court of arbitration has an international office in The Hague. The International Court of Justice as the highest judicial body builds on the Court of Arbitration. The Federal Republic of Germany undertook by law with reference to Article 24 (3) of the Basic Law to submit to the case law of the Hague Court of Justice in interstate disputes.

See also

literature

  • Jost Dülffer : Rules Against War? The Hague Peace Conferences in 1899 and 1907 in international politics. Ullstein Verlag, Frankfurt 1981, ISBN 3-550-07942-7 .
  • Walther Schücking : The national association of the Hague Conferences. Publishing house Duncker & Humblot, Munich and Leipzig 1912

Web links

Individual proof

  1. ↑ Jost Dülffer : The way to war , in: G. Hirschfeld / G. Krumeich: Encyclopedia First World War , 2003