Kellogg-Briand Pact
French Foreign Ministry, Quai d'Orsay, Paris, France
What happened
US Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand, with representatives of 15 countries. Ten years after the First World War, Briand and Kellogg proposed a treaty to outlaw war. On 27 August 1928, fifteen nations signed it in Paris, promising to give up war as a way of settling disputes. Many more countries joined in the following years.
Why it matters
Why it matters: It was the first major treaty to try to outlaw war itself. It had no way of being enforced, but after the Second World War it became the legal basis for trying leaders who started wars, and its ideas were written into the United Nations Charter.
What came next
Wars continued, starting with Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931. The pact is still in force today.
Did you know?
The US Senate approved the pact by 85 votes to 1.
Timeline
- 1926Briand shares the Nobel Peace Prize for the Locarno Treaties.
- 1927Briand and Kellogg propose a pact outlawing war.
- 27 August 1928The pact is signed in Paris.
- 192957 countries have joined.
- 1931Japan invades Manchuria.