Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments

Legacy of First World War During the First World War, the world, particularly Europe, underwent a vast development in arms. During the course of the war, technology surrounding weaponry development and new types of arms emerged: specifically, a focus on not only land equipment and personal but also the navy and the air force, which Borg described as having "considerable weight and influence". The developments included aircraft for infantry support, reconnaissance, and bombing; naval warfare, with submarines such as German U-boats; and land armaments, including poison gases, machine guns, and grenades. The aim of the Geneva Conference was disarmament that would target land, air, and naval programs. After the war, the extensive death toll and the social effects of total war resulted in a general antiwar sentiment, one favoring disarmament. The British Women's Society received 8 million signatures for disarmament and was accredited with a driving force behind the convening of the conference. The Treaty of Versailles laid out the terms for the Germans' conditional surrender, including their national disarmament. • Article 160 stated that the German Army was to have no more than 7 infantry divisions and 3 cavalry divisions, with 100,000 men and 4000 officers. • Article 165 limited German guns, machine guns, ammunition, and rifles. • Article 168 limited the manufacture of munitions, which was to be overseen by the League of Nations. • Article 170 limited importations of arms. Diplomatic preliminaries The first effort at international arms limitation was made at the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907, which had failed in their primary objective. Although many contemporary commentators and Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles blamed the outbreak of the war on the war guilt of Germany, historians writing in the 1930s emphasised the quick arms race before 1914. Also, all of the major powers except the United States had committed themselves to disarmament in both the Treaty of Versailles and in the Covenant of the League of Nations. A substantial international nongovernmental campaign to promote disarmament also developed in the 1920s and the early 1930s. A preparatory commission was initiated by the League in 1925. By 1931, there was sufficient support to hold a conference, which duly began under the chairmanship of former British Foreign Secretary Arthur Henderson. The motivation behind the talks can be summed up by an extract from the message that US President Franklin Roosevelt had sent: "If all nations will agree wholly to eliminate from possession and use the weapons which make possible a successful attack, defences automatically will become impregnable and the frontiers and independence of every nation will become secure". The League of Nations failed to ensure the success of the talks, which impacted the likelihood of a second major European conflict. == Nations involved ==

The Geneva Conference involved all of the nations signatory to the Covenant of the League of Nations, which included the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan as permanent members of the League of Nations Council. and all neutral countries such as Switzerland that had vested interests in disarmament in Europe specifically.” The Covenant of the League of Nations had been published on 28 April 1919 by unanimous agreement. Article 8 of the Covenant stated that "the members of the League recognise that the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations". The Geneva Conference was convened by the League of Nations in 1932 to fulfil the terms of Article 8 and to progress towards world peace by the process of disarmament. == Negotiations ==

The conference convened on the 1 February 1932 in Geneva, Switzerland, with the intention of implementing strategies to fulfill Article 8 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Emphasis on security This specifically focused on the geopolitical relations of the period, which included USSR, Turkey, Iran, France and Germany. The main focus was France and developing relations that reassured that it could safely disarm, which involved a development of American-French and Anglo-French relationships. However, nations often disagreed about the technicalities of certain weaponry. Sir Basil Liddell Hart, a British military historian who was known largely for his strategy surrounding mechanical warfare, was present at the conference. He contended that tanks, a new development from the First World War, were both offensive and defensive weapons and so could not be classified as either. As argued by Marlies ter Borg, the proposal that Hoover presented to the conference on the 22 June 1932 was a "potential turning point" by suggesting that the US would abolish all aircraft, submarines, military aviation, tanks, poison gas and one third of the battleships. The involvement of the United States "injected life into a nearly dead conference". However, these proposals were never passed through the US Congress, and although they showed the promise and the spirit of disarmament, they did not resonate in the conference. == Problems ==

The General Commission made progress with having nations agree on a number of terms. In 1932 and 1933, the USSR, led by Joseph Stalin underwent the widespread Soviet Famine. The USSR was occupied with national issues and was rarely present at the conference. In addition, during the interwar period, Stalin led the modernisation and buildup of the Soviet Army. That included a peacetime size of 1,100,000 and compulsory military service. In December 1931, Vyacheslav Molotov talked about "[the] growing danger of military intervention against the USSR". That meant that like many other countries, the USSR was hesitant to disarm. Additionally, Japan invaded Manchuria on 18 September 1931 after the Mukden Incident and became hesitant and hostile to the whole idea of disarmament. Its disagreement caused it not to be present or involved with negotiations. == Departure of Germany ==

Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933 and quickly gained complete authority over the German government. He first proposed an universal disarmament of all nations, but France couldn’t accept the deal. So he withdrew Germany from the League of Nations and then the Geneva Conference in October 1933. He temporarily rejoined the Geneva Conference under the Five-Power Agreement but quickly withdrew Germany again as progressions with the conference began to halt. As soon as Hitler rose to power, he began the process of rearming Germany, clearly defying both the Treaty of Versailles and the objective of the Disarmament Conference. == Aftermath ==

Ultimately, when Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles the French were unwilling to disarm. US Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson later wrote that Americans regarded the Geneva Conference as "a European peace conference with European political questions to be settled. The necessary work of settling them must be done by the leaders of Europe". Stimson realised that Germany's position in European affairs could not be ignored, as it had been at Geneva in 1927 or at London in 1930, but he did not know how to reconcile German military ambition with French fear of its neighbour. Stimson hoped the Europeans to find a solution. He also hesitated over further naval disarmament because of the Manchurian crisis and particularly worried whether the US Navy had enough aircraft carriers for a possible action in the Far East. The exact reasons are not clear or agreed by historians for exactly why the conference failed. However, most academic sources and historians blame a combination of the rise of Hitler, the consequent withdrawal of Germany from the conference, the general unwillingness of nations to disarm, the highly-unstable political and economic climate and the looming threat of another world war. ==References==