The Treaty of Westphalia
A few research notes...
📺The Treaty of Westphalia by Avneet Thapar details how this crucial milestone in the history of human civilization not only set a precedent for international law and human rights, but also threatened to permanently eliminate the evils of imperial rule.
📜Peace of Westphalia
Articles 1 \& 2 of The Treaty of Westphalia
Especially note the last paragraph in relation to what has happened since WW2. (15 mins into the video)
🇺🇸📘Death of the Westphalia State System, Implications for Future Military Employment by Major Jeff McCoy, US Army
📘History of International Law Since the Peace of Westphalia (1912) by Amos S. Hershey
An article from The American Journal of International Law, Volume 6.
📙The Westphalian Treaties from October 24, 1648
Texts and Tranlsations
ABSTRACT
"Lastly, achieving an understanding of what Westphalia is lends to the appropriate training, manning and equipping of a nation-states military, as Westphalia essentially ended the rein of state-sponsored mercenary armies in 1648."
"De iure belli ac pacis (English: On the Law of War and Peace) is a 1625 book in Latin, written by Hugo Grotius and published in Paris, on the legal status of war. It is now regarded as a foundational work in international law."
"... but the essential principles underlyinig the Grotian system remain the fundamental principles of international law. Such are the doctrines of the legal equality and territorial sovereignty or independence of states."
"The Pure Law Of Nature school, headed by Pufendorf (1632-94)... maintained that the law of nations is wholly a part of the LAW OF NATURE. His great service was his insistence upon the SUPREME IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL LAW."
On June 18, 1793, Abbe Gregoire presented a "Project for a Declaration of the Law of Nations" in twenty-one articles, [34] as a pendant to the "Declaration of the Rights of Man" of 1789.
"Congress of Vienna in 1814-15... declared in favor of the abolition of the African slave trade..."
"In 1815 Emperors of Russia \& Austria \& the King of Prussia formed what is generally known as the Holy Alliance, pledging themselves to apply the precepts of Christianity:
- fraternity
- justice
- charity
- peace
to the conduct of international as well as internal affairs."
The Holy Alliance
Concert of Europe undertook to suppress revolutions, maintain the treaties of Paris \& Vienna, \& regulate the affairs of Europe generally, an attempt to substitute for the old European states-system or community of nations a new society or confederacy...
system \& principles of the so-called "Holy Alliance" were overthrown by (((revolutions of 1830 \& 1848))) which though followed by a period of reaction, eventlually substituted the principles of nationality, democracy and constitutional rule for those of legitimacy and absolutism.
📜Revolutions of 1830
📜Revolutions of 1848
When, however, it was proposed to extend this system to the Spanish colonies in America which had achieved their independence, the President of the United States, interposed and promulgated the famous Monroe Doctrine...
Declaration of Paris 1856
London Conference 1909
"... it seems that the spirit of nationality is being modified or supplemented by that of internationalism... "
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Declaration_Respecting_Maritime_Law
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Naval_Conference
"The first important step towards the codification of the laws of land warfare was taken in 1863... In 1864 there was concluded, on the initiative of Switzerland, the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in War."
1871 "... it is an essential principle of the law of nations that no Power can liberate itself from the engagements of a treaty, or modify the stipulations thereof, unless with the consent of the contracting Powers by means of an amicable agreement."
The Brussels Conference of 1874 failed code of warfare became in its turn the model for the Hague code of 1899
- https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~wggray/Teaching/His300/Handouts/Brussels-1874.html
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Conventions_of_1899_and_1907
The West African Conference, stipulated for freedorm of trade and travel within the Congo basin; agreed to "strive for the suppression of slavery, and especially of the negro slave trade."
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Conference
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_Conference_Act_of_1890
"The period since 1850 has also been characterized by a remarkable number and variety of international unions and conferences, both public and private, dealing with economic, social, and sanitary matters..."
"The most important of these... Many of these unions 60 are endowed with permanent organs of legislation and administration. The administrative organs are commissions and bureaus."
1865 Conference International Telegraph Union
1874 Universal Postal Union
1883 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
1886 Hague Convention Cultural Property
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Telegraph_Union
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Industrial_Property
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Cultural_Property_in_the_Event_of_Armed_Conflict
1893-1904 Hague Conference on Private International Law
1890 Pan-American Conferences
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Conference
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-American_Conference
"The commissions are generally composed of representatives of the members of the unions and sometimes exercise a sort of control or supervision over the bureaus, many of which are located at Berne, Switzerland."
International Arbitration had greatly declined at the close of the Middle Ages \& which had almost disappeared from international usage during the 17th \& 18th centuries, may be said to have been revived by the Jay Treaty of 1794 between England and the U.S.
'Europe has been virtually transformed into an "armed camp." This policy has, indeed, preserved peace on the European Continent for a generation, but at a fearful economic, social, and moral cost to humanity.'
"The founder or apostle of this new imperialism appears to have been Lord
Beaconsfield." i.e. The crypto-jew Benjamin Disraeli, Rothschild's twice serving Conservative Prime Minister.
'With a view of "seeking, by means of international discussion, the most effectual means of insuring to all peoples the benefits of a real and durable peace... Czar Nicholas of Russia convened the First International Peace Conference which met at The Hague on May 18, 1899.'
📜Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907
'Owing, to the continuance of the Russo-Japanese War until Sep 5, 1905, the outbreak of the Russian Revolution which followed... President Roosevelt generously coneeded the honor of convening the Second Hague Conference to Czar Nicholas II...' 🤔
👆So that's the development of International Law from The Treaty of Westphalia up to the eve of The Great War. Clearly the creation of many treaties \& institutions were for a New World Order \& its aftermath, with any attempts to build on Christian values side-lined \& thwarted.
"1648 is a little known, and even less understood date that continues to have a profound impact in the world today as it marks the signing of the Peace of Westphalia... The Peace of Westphalia ended the carnage and set the framework for modern state sovereignty... "
