After the end of the First World War the accountability committee, which was established by the preliminary peace conference on 25th January 1919, proposed that these war criminals be tried before an independent international court, but the American and Japanese delegations strongly opposed that proposal and amended the proposal in the Treaty of Versailles to the establishment of a tribunal of the allies for the trial of Guillaume II, the former Emperor of Germany, as well as war criminals whose crimes were acted upon the citizens of several countries, but the court was not established and none was tried before it. This is explained by the fact that the international circumstances in early 1914 were alarming with danger, as Europe was divided into two camps: the first included Germany, Austria, and Italy, and the second consisted of France and Tsarist Russia, but England was not bound to a specific camp, rather it was monitoring the situation closely and taking the decisions that achieve its interests and ambitions, and concerning the rest of the European countries, some of them were in a situation of an acknowledged neutrality; they included Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and the other countries were inclined to one of the camps without being bound by a treaty.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the United States exchanged views with England on the establishment of an international organization, they agreed upon forming a “joint committee” to study the issue and develop a draft when the Commission had finished its work, it called on States to a general conference in April 1919 to discuss and express opinion.

 

So, the nations represented at the conference confirmed the proposed project through the establishment of the international organization that was called the (League of Nations) and its covenant or charter became effective in 1920.

It was agreed to consider the official headquarters in Geneva, as Switzerland is a neutral country, and the aim behind its establishment was to keep peace and develop international cooperation.

The Charter of the League of Nations included several provisions that limit the freedom of resorting to fighting and calls for questioning anyone who initiates it without resorting to peaceful means as exposing the subject to the international courts, also it included several sanctions that the League imposes on the country, which disturbs the prescribed rules, to sign. These sanctions were restricted to expulsion from the league, economic boycott, and criminal penalty.

 

Sources:

It was used as a set of international laws and research.