International Law and the First World War: Introduction

This Bibliographical Calendar focuses on a general armed conflict within Europe that spread to most parts of the world. It started during the second decade of the twentieth century. In this context the present Calendar offers an overview of the chronology leading up to the First World War. It is also a documented survey of official transactions relating to the World War with particular attention to the sources of record. The main focus of the work is on diplomatic acts of the belligerent and neutral parties that accompanied the military dimension of the conflict.The Calendar assumes the form of a compilation of related kinds of information situated between a bibliography and a repertory, with the aim of elucidating the course of World War One from the perspectives of international law and diplomacy.

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The Sovereign Order of Malta Today

International Review of the Red Cross ◽

10.1017/s0020860400018222 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 15 (166) ◽

pp. 3-6

Author(s):

Béat de Fischer

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Catholic Church ◽

First World War ◽

Spiritual Life ◽

World War ◽

Half Century ◽

Holy See ◽

The First World War ◽

Intimate Association ◽

First World

A half century has gone by since 1927. During that time, the sovereign Order of Malta has sought to adapt itself to the evolution of international life and international law. Its experience during the First World War, in which it brought aid to the wounded, the sick, the prisoners and the refugees with its medical units, ambulances, trains, aircraft and ships, enabled it to make its working methods responsive to emerging needs. In addition, the mid-century dialogue between the Order and the Catholic Church led to the acceptance of a formula put forward by the Cardinals' Commission, whereby the Holy See recognized the functional sovereignty of the Order in carrying out its international humanitarian activities. Finally, the increasing number of its members, particularly those recruited from amongst those distinguished personalities who combine a spiritual life with an intimate association with governmental circles, provides the order with an invaluable human reserve of men of thought and action who are available in case of need.

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IV

The American Journal of International Law ◽

10.2307/2202071 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 80 (4) ◽

pp. 908-911

Author(s):

Philip C. Jessup

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Oral History ◽

First World War ◽

West Point ◽

Columbia University ◽

World War ◽

Civilian Life ◽

Hamilton College ◽

The First World War ◽

First World

When I first heard this account of my father’s early motivation to take up international law I cannot remember, but it surfaces again, I believe, in the Columbia University oral history. His experience in the trenches in France towards the end of the First World War was the key. He was in the infantry, carrying a light machine gun, and fought through a number of the terminal battles with the American Expeditionary Forces. Although he was shipped back at the end of the war as a West Point candidate, he mustered out at the earliest opportunity to resume civilian life and complete his undergraduate degree at Hamilton College.

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The Continuity of the Sovereign Status of China in International Law (1956)

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198766070.003.0016 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

C. H. Alexandrowicz

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

First World War ◽

World War ◽

Sovereign State ◽

The First World War ◽

Law Of Nations ◽

Chinese Empire ◽

First World ◽

Peculiar Nature ◽

Interim Period

Historians of the law of nations agree that China enjoyed the position of a fully sovereign State up to the conclusion of the Sino–British treaty of Nanking in 1842. Likewise, no international lawyer questioned the sovereign status of China in the period after the end of the First World War, when limitations on Chinese territorial sovereignty imposed by a number of powers were removed one by one. However, the peculiar nature of the interim period between 1842 and 1918, in which these limitations were in force, led some writers to conclude that China’s position as a subject of international law was to some extent doubtful. This chapter examines the opening stages of this interim period. It discusses one of the first diplomatic missions sent to Beijing/Peking for the purpose of establishing closer relations with the Chinese Empire, and looks into some of the nineteenth-century diplomatic correspondence.

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Conclusion

10.1093/oso/9780198785415.003.0012 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Will Smiley

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

International Law ◽

Ottoman Empire ◽

First World War ◽

State Agency ◽

World War ◽

The First World War ◽

First World

This chapter sums up the arguments of the book, after a brief discussion of how Ottoman captivity during the First World War continued earlier legacies. It assesses the book’s lessons for our view of international law, of the Ottoman Empire, and of slavery. Law, it argues, was never absent from the story of Ottoman captivity; the question was which rules were seen as binding, by which individuals or institutions, how they interpreted them, what their sources were, and how they were enforced. The Ottoman law of captivity was a contingent product of its context, but nonetheless converged with practices in Europe. Thus we might look for changes in the eighteenth century, often seen as a period of stagnation or undifferentiated transformation. We also see active Ottoman state agency, in conversation with its own subjects’ claims, in shaping the international rules by which the empire was bound and foreshadowing later political developments.

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III. International Law from the Congress of Vienna to the First World War, 1815-1914

Theory and Reality in Public International Law ◽

10.1515/9781400875023-007 ◽

1968 ◽

pp. 44-52

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

First World War ◽

World War ◽

The First World War ◽

First World

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Peace through Law: Lessons from 1914

The Justification of War and International Order ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198865308.003.0013 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 241-258

Author(s):

B.S. Chimni

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

International Law ◽

First World War ◽

World War ◽

Institutional Structures ◽

The First World War ◽

The Rich ◽

The Times ◽

First World

The theme ‘peace through law’ has engaged the continued attention of states and international law scholars – and indeed for a much longer time than often assumed, as the chapters in Part III have shown. In the context of the First World War, the urgency of this project again became particularly clear. But despite the changes in the normative and institutional structures since the beginning of the twentieth century, wars are still with us. It is in this context that Bhupinder S. Chimni revisits the rich reflections of the times on the causes of the First World War and asks whether more international law could have prevented the war. The aim is to draw certain lessons for our times.

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‘Cities of barracks’: refugees in the Austrian part of the Habsburg Empire during the First World War

Europe on the Move ◽

10.7228/manchester/9781784994419.003.0007 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Martina Hermann

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Daily Life ◽

First World War ◽

Prisoners Of War ◽

Central Position ◽

World War ◽

Habsburg Empire ◽

The First World War ◽

Inadequate Nutrition ◽

First World

This chapter introduces refugee politics in Austria-Hungary, in particular Cisleithania, and then explores the approach of the Habsburg administration towards refugees. Austrian officials established a network of large camps in seven administrative regions of Cisleithania. The daily life of the refugees was characterised by poor housing, inadequate nutrition and low standards of sanitation as well by as other constraints that created conditions that hardly differed from those of enemy aliens or prisoners of war, who were at least guaranteed minimal standards of treatment under international law. The barrack camp in Gmünd in Lower Austria is accorded close scrutiny. It occupied a central position in the network of camps, since it was not only the largest camp on Austrian soil, housing predominantly Ruthenian refugees, but also served as showcase camp for propaganda purposes between its creation in 1914 and closure in 1918.

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Wilson's Neutrality Re-Examined

World Politics ◽

10.2307/2009009 ◽

1950 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Edward H. Buehrig

Keyword(s):

Great Britain ◽

International Law ◽

First World War ◽

World War ◽

The First World War ◽

American Policy ◽

First World

Before our entry into the First World War American policy was labeled as one of neutrality, which implied that the proper measure of relations with the belligerents was to be found in international law and, more particularly, in the rules of maritimewarfare. The content of that policy failed to correspond with its label, for actually it was sharply inclined to the side of Great Britain. However, the Administration refrained from acknowledging the fact that British naval actions were not being scrupulouslysubjected to the test of the rules of maritime warfare. Freedom of the seas and support of Great Britainwere quite different points from which to proceed.Each might have been used as the basis of separate phases of a changing policy. In fact, however, they were employed simultaneously. Since they not only failed to complement each other but were actually contradictory, the result was to subject American policy toa terrific internal tension.

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