On July 24th 1929, the Kellogg-Briand pact went into effect. Also known as the Pact of Paris, this agreement stated that the signatory states promised to renounce the use of war as an instrument of national policy. It has been said of the Kellogg-Briand pact that it legally forbade war; this is not true. The Kellogg-Briand pact, a French-American initiative, proposed the conviction of using war as a way of resolving inter-state conflicts, and the settlement of these issues through peaceful methods. Although it has been applauded as a remarkable diplomatic initiative, the Pact was, in fact, a failure: it failed to impose sanctions in case its principles were breached. As such, the signatory states could easily break the Pact without fear of retribution. The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, on August 27th 1918, by representatives of 15 states: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zeeland, Poland, South Africa, Great Britain, the US and the Free Irish State. In 1927, with the occasion of celebrating 10 years since America had joined the War, French Foreign Affairs Minister Aristide Briand went to Washington to present a project for a treaty through which the French and American governments would condemn the idea of war and promote a peaceful settlement of conflicts. The project was presented to Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg, who ‘really had no idea how to react when confronted with a document that condemned something nobody was afraid of and offered something everybody knew to be implied.’ However, Kellogg did accept to support such a pact, realizing it would have no practical consequences. ‘Aristide Briand was the classic political leader of the Third Republic. After beginning his career as a leftist activist, he became a permanent member of French cabinets – sometimes as prime minister, but most often as F