 |
Delegates to the First Peace Conference in
1899
in The Hague, Netherlands |
By: James G. Apple, Editor-in-Chief, International
Judicial Monitor and President, International Judicial Academy
In the
middle and late 19th Century, after literally hundreds of wars that occurred in that time period, some European nations were
beginning to rearm and invest in new tools of war. Two of these nations were
major European powers, Germany and England. Other nations felt the pressure
exerted by Germany and other rearming nations on their own governments to
attempt to keep up with these developments. This situation would later become
known as an arms race.
One nation, Russia, because of the nature of its government,
its military, its culture, and its society, could not hope to meet the
challenges of this arms race. Thus, in late August of 1898, Czar Nicholas II of
Russia issued a “rescript” describing the then current European situation, and
calling on nations with which the Czar’s government had diplomatic relations to
meet at a conference to discuss this “grave problem.”
In the rescript the Czar specifically mentioned the economic
crises that was facing many nations because of the armaments race. It stated:
The economic crises, due in great part to the
system of armaments … and the continual danger which lies in this
massing of war material, are transforming the armed peace of our days into
a crushing burden, which the peoples have more and more difficulty in
bearing. It appears evident then, that if this state of things were
prolonged, it would inevitably lead to the very cataclysm which it is
desired to avert, and the horrors of which make every thinking man shudder
in advance.
The rescript then noted that it was the “supreme duty”
imposed on all states to “put an end to these incessant armaments.” The
rescript proposed “to all Governments whose representatives are accredited to
the Imperial Court, the meeting of a conference which would have to occupy
itself “with these issues.
The August 24 Russian rescript was followed by a Russian
“circular” on January 11, 1899 seeking preliminary exchanges of ideas for
“putting a limit to the progressive increase of military and naval armaments”
and for a “discussion of the questions relating to the possibility of
preventing armed conflicts by the pacific means at the disposal of
international diplomacy.” To that end the Czar proposed subjects to be
submitted to international discussion at the Conference:
- An
understanding not to increase the present effective of the armed military and
naval forces and at the same time not to increase military budgets “for a fixed
period.”
- Prohibition
of the use of armies and fleets of any new kinds of firearms and explosives and
powders.
- Restriction
on the use in military warfare of formidable explosives already existing, and
prohibition of the throwing of projectiles or explosives from balloons.
- Prohibition
of the use, in naval warfare, of submarine torpedo boats and
vessels constructed with rams.
- Application
to naval warfare of the terms of the Geneva Convention of 1864 (which dealt
with conditions of wounded armies in the field).
- Neutralization
of ships and boats employed in saving those overboard during or after an
engagement.
- Revision
of the Declaration concerning the laws and customs of war elaborated in 1874 by
the Conference in Brussels.
- Acceptance
in principle of the use of good offices, of mediation and arbitration with the
object of preventing armed conflicts between nations.
There was much skepticism among the representatives of the
nations invited to the Conference about achieving any progress on the overall
mission of it, or on the specific points of discussion identified by the Czar.
For instance the U.S. State Department, in its instructions to the U.S.
delegates, after noting the inapplicability of the first issue to the United
States, stated:
The second, third, and fourth articles, relating
to the non-employment of firearms, explosives and other
destructive agents, the restricted use of existing instruments of
destruction, and the prohibition of certain contrivances employed in
naval warfare, seem to be lacking in practicability, and the
discussion of these propositions would probably prove provocative of
divergence rather than unanimity of views. It is doubtful if wars are to be diminished
by rendering them less destructive, for it is the plain lesson of history
that the periods of peace have been longer protracted as the cost and destructiveness
of war have increased.
The instructions were, however, positive about the
desirability of discussion of some of the issues, especially number eight:
The eighth article, which proposed the wider
extension of good offices, mediation, and arbitration, seems like to
open the most fruitful field for discussion and future action. ‘The
prevention of armed conflicts by pacific means … is a purpose well
worthy of a great international convention, and its realization in
an age of general enlightenment should not be impossible. The duty
of sovereign States to promote international justice by all wise and effective
means is only secondary to the fundamental necessity of preserving their own
existence'.
The instructions gave the State Department's blessing that
the proposed Conference “promises to offer an opportunity thus far unequaled in
the history of the world for initiating a series of negotiations that may lead
to important practical results.” It also proposed one other area for discussion
and action:
Since the Conference has its chief reason the
existence in the heavy burdens and cruel waste of war, which
nowhere affect innocent private persons more severely or unjustly than in the
damage done to peaceable trade and commerce, especially at sea, the
question of exempting private property from destruction or capture
on the high seas would seem to be a timely one for consideration.
The instructions to the U.S. delegation also included two
annexes, one reviewing historical developments in the U.S. in the area of
peaceful resolution of disputes between nations, which reveals a significant
amount of activity, and the second a plan for an international tribunal. It is
clear that the U.S. diplomats at that time had in mind a true court in the
nature of the Permanent Court of International Justice, which did not
materialize until after the First World War, rather than an arbitration
tribunal, which was born at the Hague Peace Conference of 1899.
The reluctance of many nations to accept the invitation of
the Czar were overcome by the efforts of early manifestations of what are now
known as non-governmental organizations. Peace societies existed in many
European and other countries, and they promoted participation in the peace
conference. This peace movement was informally led by Baroness Bertha von
Suttner of Austria, who published ten years before the Conference, Die
Waffen Nieder (“Lay Down Your Arms”). She founded an Austrian pacifist
organization in 1891 and then became editor of an internationally renowned
pacifist journal by the same name as her book. She was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1905.
The actual conference opened in The Hague on May 18, 1899
and concluded its business by the signing of the “Convention” on July 29, which
Convention entered into force on September 4, 1900. Twenty-six nations
participated in the meetings in The Hague.
The most important result of the Conference related to the
adoption of a convention for the peaceful settlement of disputes, which
included a section creating the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which was the
first international dispute settlement tribunal in the world. Other positive
results of the Conference were a declaration (updating) of the laws and customs
of war on land, a declaration of the adaptation of the principles of the Geneva
Convention of 1864 to maritime warfare, and a declaration prohibiting the
launching of projectiles and explosives from balloons. Two other declarations
prohibited the use of projectiles containing “asphyxiating or deleterious
gases” (chemical warfare) and the use of bullets “which expand or flatten
easily in the human body” (hollow-point or dum-dum bullets).
No progress was made at the Conference on disarmament.
However it paved the way for a second conference in 1907, called by U.S. President
Theodore Roosevelt.
Although the Hague Peace Conference of 1899 failed to meet
the great hopes an aspirations of the Czar and diplomats of those countries
who participated in it, it did pave the way for other international
conferences, and definitively marked the beginning of worldwide efforts to
limit and finally eliminate war, efforts that are continuing. It marked the
first time in history that a large group of nations met to consider how to
limit and ultimately prevent the scourge of war, and in that sense, the Hague
Peace Conference of 1899 was an event in international law worth remembering.
International
Judicial Monitor