Kellogg Briand Pact and the Ethiopian Invasion of Italy - Research Paper Example

The pact was proposed in 1927 by Aristide Briand the then foreign minister of France. Briand proposed to the government of the US the establishment of a treaty prohibition war between the two nations (Special Cable 1935, 1). The US Secretary of State Franc Kellogg agreed to Briand’s proposal and proposed that the pact encompasses other nations in the deterrence of war among nations. After intense negotiations, the Kellogg-Briand pact encompassed 15 nations including among others Italy, New Zealand, Britain, the US, Germany and South Africa.

Parties that accepted the contract agreed that, despite the origin and nature of conflicts among the contracting parties, neither party would use war as a medium of national policy. While up to 62 states eventually ratified the pact, the effectiveness of the Kellogg-Briand was eventually impaired by its inability to provide guidelines of enforcement. In addition, many nations gave the pact a rather unenthusiastic reception because most states recognized war as the sole solution to conflict resolution.

It is essential to, however, note that while the Kellogg-Briand pact did not advocate resolution to war, the pact acknowledged the right of states to defend their integrity when under attack. The ineffectiveness of the Kellogg-Briand pact is also apparent because no nation or entity was given the authority to ensure all parties abide by the provisions of the pact. Apparently, the pact did not make any substantive contributions to ensuring international order in most cases. However, in 1929, the pact was invoked rather successfully when the USSR and China arrived at a tense moment regarding possession of the Chinese Eastern RR located in Manchuria (George 1969, 308).

However, the Kellogg-Briand pact proved to carrying no significant weight, especially because of the practice of engaging in undeclared wars during the 1930s. Such undeclared wars include the 1931 invasion of Manchuria by the Japanese, German’s 1938 occupancy of Austria and Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. This section of the paper will examine Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in the year 1935, and discuss the effects of the Kellogg-Briand pact, if any. The war between Italy and Ethiopia, or the Second Italo-Abyssinian War as it is often referred occurred in 1935 between Fascist Italy and the Empire of Ethiopia.

The war between the two nations is notable because of Italy’s use of underhanded strategies against Ethiopia (Mark 2001, 239). For instance, Italy’s illegal utilization of mustard gas clearly contravened the Kellogg-Briand pact. Italy, being a signatory of the pact had contravened the essence of the pact by engaging in undeclared and unwarranted warfare against Ethiopia because of Italy’s desire to annex Ethiopia, which was still uncolonized at the time. Perhaps the reason why Italy sought to annex Ethiopia was its inability to do so in the 19th century.

When Italy acquired nations such as Eritrea and Somaliland, it was unable to annex Ethiopia. Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia exposed the inherent limitations of the League of Nations because the league was unable to protect Ethiopia or control Italy. This was despite the fact that both nations were its members and Italy was a