Editing League of Nations (section)

===Background===
[[File:Original Geneva Conventions.jpg|thumb|right|The [[First Geneva Convention|1864 Geneva Convention]], one of the earliest formulations of written [[international law]]]]

The concept of a peaceful community of nations had been proposed as early as 1795, when [[Immanuel Kant]]'s ''[[Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kant/kant1.htm|last=Kant|first=Immanuel|publisher=Mount Holyoke College|title=Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch|access-date=16 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514211750/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kant/kant1.htm|archive-date=14 May 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> outlined the idea of a league of nations to control conflict and promote peace between states.{{sfn|Skirbekk|Gilje|2001|p=288}} Kant argued for the establishment of a peaceful world community, not in a sense of a global government, but in the hope that each state would declare itself a free state that respects its citizens and welcomes foreign visitors as fellow rational beings, thus promoting peaceful society worldwide.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.constitution.org/kant/perpeace.htm|title=Perpetual Peace|author=Kant, Immanuel|year=1795|publisher=Constitution Society|access-date=30 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007175416/http://www.constitution.org/kant/perpeace.htm|archive-date=7 October 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> International co-operation to promote collective security originated in the [[Concert of Europe]] that developed after the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in the 19th century in an attempt to maintain the ''status quo'' between European states and so avoid war.{{sfn|Reichard|2006|p=9}}{{sfn|Rapoport|1995|pp=498–500}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2506&context=mlr|title=International Organization and World Peace--A Critique of the League of Nations Covenant|website=University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository}}</ref>

By 1910, international law developed, with the first [[Geneva Conventions]] establishing laws dealing with humanitarian relief during wartime, and the international [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907]] governing rules of war and the peaceful settlement of international disputes.{{sfn|Bouchet-Saulnier|Brav|Olivier|2007|pp=14–134}}<ref>{{cite book|last = Northedge|first = F. S.|title = The League of Nations: Its life and times, 1920–1946| publisher = [[Leicester University]] Press|year = 1986|isbn=978-0-7185-1194-4|ref=none|page=10}}</ref> [[Theodore Roosevelt]] at the acceptance for his Nobel Prize in 1910, said: "it would be a masterstroke if those great powers honestly bent on peace would form a League of Peace."<ref>{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Charles|title=The Marvelous Career of Theodore Roosevelt: Including what He Has Done and Stands For; His Early Life and Public Services; the Story of His African Trip; His Memorable Journey Through Europe; and His Enthusiastic Welcome Home|publisher=John C. Winston Company|year=1910|page=[https://archive.org/details/marvelouscareero01morr/page/370 370]|url=https://archive.org/details/marvelouscareero01morr}}</ref>

One small forerunner of the League of Nations, the [[Inter-Parliamentary Union]] (IPU), was formed by the peace activists [[William Randal Cremer]] and [[Frédéric Passy]] in 1889 (and still exists as an international body focused on the world's various elected legislative bodies). The IPU was founded with an international scope, with a third of the members of parliaments (in the 24 countries that had parliaments) serving as members of the IPU by 1914. Its foundational aims were to encourage governments to solve international disputes by peaceful means. Annual conferences were established to help governments refine the process of international arbitration. Its structure was designed as a council headed by a president, which would later be reflected in the structure of the League.<ref>{{cite web | title =Before the League of Nations | publisher =The United Nations Office at Geneva | url =http://www.unog.ch/80256EE60057D930/(httpPages)/B5B92952225993B0C1256F2D00393560?OpenDocument | access-date =14 June 2008 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20081209120513/http://www.unog.ch/80256EE60057D930/(httpPages)/B5B92952225993B0C1256F2D00393560?OpenDocument | archive-date =9 December 2008 | url-status =dead | df =dmy-all }}</ref>