Question

What was the purpose of the Washington Naval Disarmament Conference and the Kellogg Briand Pact? What prompted them? Was the purpose accomplished?

Answer 1

Hint: The Washington Naval Treaty, commonly said to be the Five-Power Treaty, had been a treaty negotiated among the main Allies of World War I to restrict naval construction in order to avert an arms race. The Kellogg–Briand Pact had been an international agreement wherein the concerned states agreed not to use war to settle disputes or conflicts within themselves, regardless of their existence or source.

Complete answer:
During the 1920s, the League of Nations embodied a brand new hope for open diplomacy, with the aim of preventing another World War-I. The United States organized the Washington Naval Treaty, the world's first disarmament conference, under the auspices of the League of Nations. The conference imposed size limitations on new warships (to avoid an arms race), as well as ratios on the tonnage and number of large warships that the treaty's signatories were allowed to have. The goal was to keep the world's treaty powers from engaging in a naval arms race.

The Kellogg Briand Pact of 1928, which was based on the League of Nations' success, was a treaty aimed at avoiding the use of war as a means of resolving disputes between states. It also made forcible annexation of land illegal.

And, in 1929, came the Great Depression. Within four years of signing the Pact, Japan (a signatory state) invaded Manchuria, Italy invaded Ethiopia in eight years, and Germany and the Soviet Union attacked Poland in eleven years. The Naval Treaty was in shambles by 1935, and a naval build-up (begun by Germany and Japan) put an end to it.

Even so, some commentators and legal experts say the Kellogg Briand Pact is still applicable today, and they argue about it whenever state against state warfare arises. Others say it has been debunked for a long time.

Note: A striking event during these times was the Great Depression of 1929. So the Great Depression was mainly after the October 1929’s crash of stock markets, this caused great tumult to Wall Street and millions of investors were completely broke. Then following this, the number of people buying things and spending greatly decreased along with the fall of investments. All of this over the next few years, resulted in dramatic drops in industrial production and jobs as struggling businesses did not have the need for employees.