The Kellogg–Briand Pact Aims to Bring an End to War

The horrors and atrocious death-toll of the First World War inspired efforts afterwards to make it the ‘War to End Wars’. They obviously did not succeed, but they did lead the way towards a structure of international law. A leading figure was Aristide Briand, who six times held the office of prime minister of France between 1909 and 1929. The United States had not joined the League of Nations when it was set up in the aftermath of the war, and in 1927 Briand, hoping to get the Americans involved in international peace-keeping, proposed that France and the USA should renounce war between them. Frank B. Kellogg, the American secretary of state under President Coolidge, replied by suggesting a pact for the renunciation of war by all nations willing to sign it.