"The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an agreement signed in August 1928 by 63 countries, which all promised, after the horrors of the First World War (1914-18), to regard war as an illegal instrument of national policy. Unfortunately, this sentiment for peace and cooperation was not upheld by all future leaders, and the pact was broken several times through the 1930s by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan, to name just a few."
"Acts of aggression by totalitarian states once more led the world down the pitiless path to war in 1939 when the Second World War broke out. Despite the agreement's omission of just what would happen to those states that waged war and the absence of a lasting peace, the Kellogg-Briand Pact at least established a legal framework that has helped international bodies deal with the consequences of war, such as apportioning blame and imposing punishments, such as reparations."
The Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed in Paris on 27 August 1928, committed states to regard war as an illegal instrument of national policy. Fifteen powers signed initially, and the number of signatories grew to 63 by 1929, encompassing almost all recognized countries of the time. The pact lacked enforcement mechanisms and did not specify penalties for aggressor states. During the 1930s several signatories violated the agreement, notably Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan, leading to renewed large-scale aggression. Despite these failures and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the pact established a legal framework that aided international bodies in apportioning blame and imposing punishments such as reparations. Frank B. Kellogg led negotiations while Aristide Briand conceived the idea that conducting war should be unlawful.
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