How Nicholas II initiated the creation of the Hague Court, and the Palace of Peace was built with donations from the Russians

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Everyone knows that the Peace Palace in The Hague is the official seat of the International Court of Justice and the seat of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. However, few people are informed that the idea of creating this palace belongs to the Russian tsar. Meanwhile, it was Nicholas II who initiated both the convocation of the First Peace Conference and the construction of a special building for official meetings on peace and disarmament.

How the political situation developed in Europe at the end of the 19th century

Throughout the 19th century, local conflicts erupted between European countries over the division of power or territorial claims. Nothing has changed by the end of the century - in the period 1860-1899 alone, about 11 armed conflicts occurred in Europe. Among them: the Polish uprising of 1863, the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, the Serbo-Turkish war of 1876-77, the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, the Serbo-Bulgarian war of 1885-1886.

Thanks to the mass media, the victims of the war and violence against the civilian population became known to the general public in all countries of the world. In order to prevent armed conflicts, organizations began to be created in Europe and America, which called for peace between peoples and conducted propaganda against war. However, at the same time, there was no unified system of international mediation to prevent war. The first to realize the need for its creation was the Russian monarch Nicholas II.

How Nicholas II initiated the first international peace conference in 1899

On August 24, 1898, through his ambassadors, the Russian tsar sent letters to the leaders of world states. In them, he called for organizing an international conference to resolve complex issues peacefully. Initially, the proposal did not find a response. Only after the American President William McKinley became interested in him, did other countries listen to the initiative of the Emperor of Russia.

The first peace conference opened on May 18 and ended at the end of July 1899. The Netherlands, a traditionally neutral country and homeland of the founder of international law, Hugo Grotius, was chosen as the venue. Representatives of 26 countries gathered in The Hague, including not only European countries - Germany, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, Bulgaria, etc., but also Asian and American states: China, Japan, Mexico, the United States, etc.

At the conference, in addition to the development of relevant documents, it was decided to organize a Permanent Court of Arbitration, as well as to build a Peace Palace to house it.

How the Peace Palace was built, and what gift did Nicholas II send to the Hague

To implement the ideas about the construction of the Palace, considerable financial resources were required, which appeared only four years after the Hague conference. In 1903, the American multimillionaire and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie - who donated, by the way, 90% of his fortune to charity - donated $ 1.5 million to the construction needs (in terms of the modern rate - $ 40 million). The only condition for the entrepreneur was the placement in the Palace, in addition to the arbitration court, of the Library of International Law.

After a competition for the design of the building, the winner was announced by the French architect Louis Cordonier, who presented the future palace in the neo-Renaissance style. After the completion of the construction, which lasted six years, each of the countries participating in the arbitration court contributed its own gift that adorned the interior halls of the premises. Italy allocated marble for decoration, Japan and Iran - floor and wall carpets, Switzerland - tower clocks, Belgium - graceful doors, Denmark - a fountain.

Russia, like Hungary and China, presented a vase in 1908. The work of the craftsmen of the Imperial Kolyvan Grinding Factory weighed more than three tons and was made of a semi-precious stone - green-wavy jasper. The vase was decorated with gilded lion masks, a double-headed eagle and the coat of arms of the Romanov family; the base was a gray-violet porphyry pedestal with an inscription in French, translated as “a gift from His Majesty the Emperor of Russia Nicholas II”.

Externally, the building was a stately structure of red brick, granite and sandstone, which combined the Romanesque, Byzantine and Gothic styles. The interior decoration consisted of stained glass windows, mosaics, sculptures, tapestries and art objects, reflecting the diversity of world cultures. The official opening of the Peace Palace took place on August 28, 1913.

What significance did the Hague conferences convened by Nicholas II have for world history?

During the three months of the first meeting in The Hague, the participating countries adopted three conventions concerning the use of the principles of the 1864 Geneva Convention in war at sea; the possibility of a peaceful solution to international conflicts; execution of the laws and customs of land war.

In addition, three declarations were developed and approved, in which it was prohibited to use projectiles and explosives from the air for five years. And also to use shells with asphyxiant and harmful gases in war; use firearms with bullets “easily deployed or flattened in the human body”.

The second peace conference took place on June 2 in 1907 and ended in early October. The number of state representatives increased in this case to 45 countries: in addition to those present at the first meeting, the Hague was visited by officials from almost all of Latin America (Chile, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, etc.), as well as from a number of European powers that did not participate in meeting in 1899

This time, 13 conventions were approved, the declaration on the prohibition of throwing projectiles and explosives from balloons was improved, and amendments were made to the work of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The 1907 Conventions became the first major codification of rules for the conduct of war and the peaceful resolution of interethnic conflicts in the history of international law. Some of these rules are still valid in the modern world.

In general, the Netherlands of that era looked mesmerizing. Can see the modest charm of the Netherlands in colorful retro photographs taken at the end of the 19th century.