Hague Peace Conferences

Hague Peace Conferences (1899, 1907) were the largest diplomatic conferences between the
Congress of Vienna and the outbreak of World War I. Czar Nicholas II of Russia, calling for
limitation of armaments, proposed the first conference (1899) at the Dutch seat of government.
Representatives of twenty‐six governments attended. President Theodore Roosevelt, responding
to wishes of peace movement leaders, in 1904 proposed a second conference, and the czar
officially called the 1907 conference. Forty‐four governments attended.

The Russians originally proposed discussion only of limitation of armaments at the 1899
conference, but expanded the agenda to include the laws of war on land; extension of the
1864 Geneva Conventions to the sea; and international arbitration. These topics made the
conference acceptable to governments determined to oppose arms limitation. At the same time,
peace movement leaders and some journalists, who labeled the proposed meeting a “Peace
Conference,” welcomed addition of arbitration to the agenda.

The 1899 conference accomplished little in regards to armaments. The German delegates
opposed limits on armies; the British on navies. U.S. naval delegate Capt. Alfred T. Mahan,
famed historian of seapower, made clear his opposition to limiting armaments. The Russians
proposed bans on new firearms, submarines, and ships with rams, and prohibitions against
throwing projectiles or explosives from balloons or “similar means.” The conference did nothing
about new firearms or submarines but negotiated declarations against expanding (“dumdum”)
bullets, poison gas, and the aerial use of explosives from balloons. Renewal of the balloon
declaration was the only arms limitation of the 1907 conference. German opposition convinced
the Russians that limitation should not appear on the 1907 program; an Anglo‐American
resolution recognizing the seriousness of the arms race was only a gesture.

The Hague conferences made important advances in codification of the laws of land warfare.
General Orders No. 100, The Union army code announced in 1863 strongly influenced the
unratified Declaration of Brussels (1874). The 1899 conference concluded a comprehensive
convention based on that declaration, which proved its worth during the Boer and Russo‐
Japanese Wars. The 1907 conference revised that convention and concluded two related
conventions: one concerned neutral rights and duties on land; the other required formal
declarations before beginning hostilities. Angry over the surprise Japanese attack on Port
Arthur, Manchuria, in 1904, the Russians urged agreement on this convention. Generally
respected during World War I, this convention was often disregarded thereafter, notably by the
Japanese when they attacked on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The 1899 conference achieved little for
the laws of war at sea. The Russian program called for extension of the 1864 Geneva convention
which protected victims of war on land to the sea, and this was done; but there was little
discussion of larger matters. An American proposal that the conference consider immunity of
private property at sea from capture—a traditional U.S. principle—was blocked by the British.

The 1907 conference, however, dealt seriously with war at sea, for the Russo‐Japanese War had
presented neutrals with numerous maritime problems. The conference concluded a new
convention about the Geneva rules at sea and conventions about the status of merchant ships at
the beginning of hostilities, conversion of such vessels into warships, submarine mines, and the
maritime rights and duties of neutrals. British, German, and American delegates obtained
Convention XII, which provided for an international prize court, but there was general
recognition that the restrictions on capture in Convention XI were inadequate for decisions by
the proposed court. The British called a special conference to consider blockades and
contraband.

The result was the Declaration of London (1909), a careful statement of prize law; but when the
British House of Lords blocked ratification, other governments also delayed action. During the
first months of World War I, American efforts to secure the adherence of the belligerents failed,
largely because of British objections. The project for an international prize court was soon
forgotten.

International arbitration agreements were major achievements of the Hague conferences. The
1899 conference framed a convention setting forth principles and procedures. British and
American proposals resulted in the Permanent Court of Arbitration—a list of judges named by
signatory powers from which parties to an arbitration could select a panel of judges. U.S.
delegates at the 1907 conference called for a worldwide agreement to make arbitration obligatory
in a very limited sense and a Court of Arbitral Justice that would have had a few judges sitting
continuously. The Germans defeated agreement on obligatory arbitration; several small nations,
particularly in Latin America, defeated the court proposal by insisting upon equal representation
for all member governments. The United States, however, secured a convention requiring that no
nation use force to collect debts unless arbitration had been offered and refused.

The 1907 conference called for a third conference in 1915, but the outbreak of war in 1914
prevented that meeting. Much of the work of the Hague conferences survived. The League of
Nations in 1920 adopted a world court statute based on the 1907 court project. The United States
never adhered to that statute but in 1945 accepted the United Nations version. The Hague
conventions on warfare were of large importance during the two world wars and other wars.
Since World War I, the Hague idea of limiting armaments through multinational negotiations has
often inspired the calling of large international conferences.

[See also Arms Control and Disarmament; Internationalism; Neutrality; Peace and Antiwar
Movements.]

Bibliography

Merze Tate , The Disarmament Illusion: The Movement for a Limitation of Armaments to 1907,
1930.
Calvin D. Davis , The United States and the First Hague Peace Conference, 1962.
Warren F. Kuehl , Seeking World Order: The United States and International Organization to
1920, 1969.
Calvin D. Davis , The United States and the Second Hague Peace Conference: American
Diplomacy and International Organization 1899–1914, 1976.

Calvin D. Davis "Hague Peace Conferences." The Oxford Companion to American Military
History.
"Hague Peace Conferences." The Oxford Companion to American Military History. . Retrieved February 01, 2018 from
Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/hague-peace-conferences-0