Suchergebnisse

The position of the German government at the First Hague Peace Conference of 1899 was to play an important role after WWI in the debate on the issue of "war guilt." While it very soon became apparent that the sweeping & pointed accusations made against Germany were not justified, Germany, especially Emperor William II, regarded the aims of the Conference with great skepticism. The reservations expressed as to the question of the limitation of arms & war budgets were largely based on the assumption that Russia & the other great powers were attempting to further weaken Germany's already inferior position. On the question of arbitration, however, Germany's reservations were largely a matter of principle. Adapted from the source document.

"Das 'lange 19. Jahrhundert' zeichnete sich durch eine bis dahin ungekannte historische Beschleunigung aus. Die Staaten Europas expandierten überall auf der Welt und entwickelten nachhaltige Gegensätze. Dennoch kam es im Vergleich zum 'kurzen 20. Jahrhundert' nur zu wenigen großen Kriegen. Zunehmende Konflikthaftigkeit, aber auch Begrenzung im Austrag waren kennzeichnend für das Zeitalter des Imperialismus. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde 1899 die Erste Haager Friedenskonferenz einberufen, deren zentrales Anliegen ein Stopp des internationalen Wettrüstens aber vertagt wurde. Mit dem Haager Schiedsgerichtshof wurde jedoch eine erste internationale Institution zur Streitbeilegung geschaffen. Im Jahr 1907 wurde die Zweite Haager Konferenz einberufen, deren wichtigstes Ergebnis eine umfassende Kodifikation des Kriegsrechts war." (Autorenreferat)

The "long 19th century" has seen a previously unknown acceleration of historic developments. European states both colonized most parts of the globe & opposed each other with severe long-term consequences. Yet, unlike the "brief 20th century," the 19th gave way to relatively few wars between great powers. The era of imperialism was characterized by increasing aggressiveness, on the one hand, & by self-containment in military actions, on the other. That was the setting for the First Hague Peace Conference in 1899 & for its endeavor of stopping the international arms race. It was not successful, but by creating the Hague Court of Arbitration, a first international institution of conflict resolution was founded. In 1907, the Second Hague Peace Conference came into being. It resulted in a comprehensive codification of the international law of war. 18 References. Adapted from the source document.

At the Second Hague Peace Conference diplomacy was confronted with a market of political information significantly shaped by an international public sphere. The media & civil society wanted to be acknowledged as new participants of international politics. Increasingly they tried to challenge the hitherto existing diplomatic privilege of interpretation. This article analyses the manifold interactions of diplomacy, civil society networks & the public sphere using the newspaper edited specially for the Peace Conference by William T. Stead, the Courrier de la Conference, as an example. The preparations for the Third Hague Conference were to show that an international public sphere & multilateral cooperations had become an essential part of international politics. References.

Maritime law stood (quantitatively) at the center of the Second Hague Peace Conference. The Russo-Japanese war had again demonstrated the need for clear & generally accepted rules for naval war. Especially at a "Peace Conference" debates were therefore under severe pressure from the expectations of the press & the public. Thus delegates were inclined to use humanitarian arguments for their -- decisive -- military-political interests, for example in debates about submarine mines, contraband or the right of capture. But only when this determining factor had vanished, at the London Naval Conference an agreement about binding rules became possible. References.

This article shall demonstrate the significance of The Hague Peace Conference of 1907 for the development of contemporary Public International Law. Important achievements of modem international law found their beginning within the 1907 codifications. It will be shown how the 2nd Hague Peace Conference caused a distinct change of the "westphalian" international law system with its free right of warfare (ius ad bellum) as an expression of sovereignty. The Conventions of 1907 mark the beginning of a new development in Public International Law -- starting with the codification of an ius in bello & leading to a general prohibition of the use of force, a legal system of collective security & consequently a law against war (ius contra bellum). Furthermore, some new tendencies in international law will be identified, which do not only regulate the sovereignty of states related to the law of warfare, but which also constitute a set of rules that requires the states to conduct active peacemaking. References.