Following the Great War, members of the international community came together to draft a formal contract of peace. The result was the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. In effect in 1929, the document forbade signatories from building their foreign policies on the basis of war. It also encouraged member nations to pursue diplomatic strategies to resolve international disputes. There was also a third clause which stated that member nations would be obligated to have the document ratified by their respective government. Individual ratifications would be reported and the document would go into effect when the the United States had offically approved it. This pact, whose clauses were heavily influenced by the altruisms reminiscent of President Wilson's administration, essentially did little to prevent future world wars. It did not stipulate actions that would be taken if the pact was broken nor did it expand on the international definition of an act of war. This would allow the League of Nations to pursue a policy of appeasement towards Adolf Hitler in later years.
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