Editing Arms control (section)

== History ==

===Pre-19th century===
One of the first recorded attempts in arms control was a set of rules laid down in ancient Greece by the [[Amphictyonic League]]s. Rulings specified how war could be waged, and breaches of this could be punished by fines or by war.

In the 8th and 9th centuries AD, [[sword]]s and [[chain mail]] armor manufactured in the [[Frankish empire]] were highly sought after for their quality, and [[Charlemagne]] (r. 768–814), made their sale or export to foreigners illegal, punishable by forfeiture of property or even death.  This was an attempt to limit the possession and use of this equipment by the Franks' enemies, including the [[Moors]], the [[Vikings]] and the [[Slavs]].

The church used its position as a trans-national organization to limit the means of warfare. The 989 [[Peace and Truce of God|Peace of God]] (extended in 1033) ruling protected noncombatants, agrarian and economic facilities, and the property of the church from war. The 1027 [[Truce of God]] also tried to prevent violence between Christians. The [[Second Lateran Council]] in 1139 prohibited the use of [[crossbow]]s against other Christians, although it did not prevent its use against non-Christians.

The development of [[firearms]] led to an increase in the devastation of war.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Mortality associated with use of weapons in armed conflicts, wartime atrocities, and civilian mass shootings |year=1999 |pmc=28193 |last1=Coupland |first1=R. M. |last2=Meddings |first2=D. R. |journal=BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.) |volume=319 |issue=7207 |pages=407–410 |doi=10.1136/bmj.319.7207.407 |pmid=10445920 }}</ref> The brutality of wars during this period led to efforts to formalize the rules of war, with humane treatment for [[prisoners of war]] or wounded, as well as rules to protect non-combatants and the [[Pillage|pillaging]] of their property. However, during the period until the beginning of the 19th century few formal arms control agreements were recorded, except theoretical proposals and those imposed on defeated armies.

One treaty which was concluded was the [[Strasbourg Agreement (1675)|Strasbourg Agreement of 1675]]. This is the first international agreement limiting the use of [[chemical weapon]]s, in this case, poison bullets. The treaty was signed between France and [[The Holy Roman Empire]]

===19th century===
The 1817 [[Rush–Bagot Treaty]] between the United States and the United Kingdom was the first arms control treaty of what can be considered the modern industrial era, leading to the demilitarization of the [[Great Lakes]] and [[Lake Champlain]] region of North America.<ref>{{cite web |title=British-American Diplomacy Exchange of Notes Relative to Naval Forces on the American Lakes |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/br1817m.asp |work=The Avalon Project |publisher=Lillian Goldman Law Library |access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref>  This was followed by the [[Treaty of Washington (1871)|1871 Treaty of Washington]] which led to total demilitarization.

The industrial revolution led to the increasing mechanization of warfare, as well as rapid advances in the development of firearms; the increased potential of devastation (which was later seen in the battlefields of World War I) led to [[Nicholas II of Russia|Tsar Nicholas II of Russia]] calling together the leaders of 26 nations for the [[First Hague Conference]] in 1899. The Conference led to the signing of the [[Hague Convention of 1899]] that led to rules of declaring and conducting warfare as well as the use of modern weaponry, and also led to the setting up of the [[Permanent Court of Arbitration]].

===1900 to 1945===
A [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Second Hague Conference]] was called in 1907 leading to additions and amendments to the original 1899 agreement.<ref>{{cite web |title=Declaration (XIV) Prohibiting the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons. The Hague, 18 October 1907. |url=http://www.icrc.org/IHL.NSF/INTRO/245?OpenDocument |work=Humainitarian Law |publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross |access-date=13 May 2012}}</ref>  A Third Hague Conference was called for 1915, but this was abandoned due to the [[First World War]].

After the World War I, the [[League of Nations]] was set up which attempted to limit and reduce arms.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Arms Control and Disarmament – Between the world wars, 1919–1939 |url=http://www.americanforeignrelations.com/A-D/Arms-Control-and-Disarmament-Between-the-world-wars-1919-1939.html |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the New American Nation |publisher=Advameg, Inc. |access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref>  However the enforcement of this policy was not effective. Various naval conferences, such as the [[Washington Naval Conference]], were held during the period between the First and Second World Wars to limit the number and size of major warships of the five great naval powers.

The 1925 [[Geneva Naval Conference|Geneva Conference]] led to the banning of [[chemical weapon]]s being deployed against enemy nationals in international armed conflict as part of the [[Geneva Protocol]]. The 1928 [[Kellogg-Briand Pact]], whilst ineffective, attempted for "providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy".<ref>{{cite web|title=Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928 |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/kbpact.htm |publisher=The Avalon Project |access-date=13 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509201753/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/kbpact.htm |archive-date=9 May 2012 }}</ref>

===Since 1945===
[[File:Reagan and Gorbachev signing.jpg|thumb|right|Soviet General Secretary [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]] and U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] signing the [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty|INF Treaty]] in 1987]]
After [[World War II]], the United Nations was set up as a body to promote and to maintain international peace and security.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the UN |url=https://www.un.org/en/aboutun/history/ |publisher=United Nations |work=un.org |access-date=13 May 2012}}</ref> The United States proposed the [[Baruch Plan]] in 1946 as a way to impose stringent international control over the nuclear fuel cycle and thereby avert a global nuclear arms race, but the Soviet Union rejected the proposal and negotiations failed. Following President Eisenhower's 1953 [[Atoms for Peace]] speech to the UN General Assembly, the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]] was set up in 1957 to promote peaceful uses of nuclear technology and apply safeguards against the diversion of nuclear material from peaceful uses to [[nuclear weapons]].

Under the auspices of the United Nations, the [[Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty|Partial Test Ban Treaty]], which aimed to end nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, underwater and in outer-space, was established in 1963.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Magnarella|first=Paul J|title="Attempts to Reduce and Eliminate Nuclear Weapons through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Creation of Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones."|publisher=PEACE & CHANGE|year=2008|pages=514|language=English}}</ref> The 1968 [[Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]] (NPT) was signed to prevent further spread of nuclear weapons technology to countries outside the five that already possessed them: the United States, the [[Soviet Union]], the United Kingdom, France and China.<ref>Council on Foreign Relations: Global Governance Monitor on Nonproliferation, available at http://www.cfr.org/publication/18985/</ref> With the three main goals of establishing nonproliferation with inspections, nuclear arms reduction, and the right to use nuclear energy peacefully, this treaty initially met some reluctance from countries developing their own nuclear programs such as Brazil, Argentina and South Africa.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Magnarella|first=Paul J|title="Attempts to Reduce and Eliminate Nuclear Weapons through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Creation of Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones."|publisher=PEACE & CHANGE|year=2008|pages=509|language=English}}</ref> Still, all countries with the exception of India, Israel, Pakistan and South Sudan decided to sign or ratify the document.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gillis|first=Melissa|title="Disarmament: a Basic Guide, Fourth Edition."|publisher=United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs|year=2017|location=New York|pages=|language=English}}</ref><ref>[https://treaties.unoda.org/t/npt Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons] United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs.</ref>

The [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks]] (SALT) between the United States and Soviet Union in the late 1960s/early 1970s led to further weapons control agreements. The SALT I talks led to the [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]] and an ''Interim Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement'' (see [[SALT I]]), both in 1972. The [[SALT II]] talks started in 1972 leading to agreement in 1979. Due to the Soviet Union's invasion of [[Afghanistan]] the United States never ratified the treaty, but the agreement was honoured by both sides.

The [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]] was signed between the United States and Soviet Union in 1987 and ratified in 1988, leading to an agreement to destroy all [[missile]]s with ranges from 500 to 5,500 kilometers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Seiitsu Tachibana, "Much ado about something : The factors that induced Reagan and Gorbachev to conclude the INF Treaty" |url=http://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/metadb/up/kiyo/hps/11/hps_11_151.pdf |work=Hiroshima Peace Science, Vol.11 |publisher=Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science |access-date=17 May 2012 |author=Seiitsu Tachibana |page=Hirospage.151–182 |year=1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305100459/http://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/metadb/up/kiyo/hps/11/hps_11_151.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}</ref>  This came in the context of a revitalised peace movement during the previous decade which included huge demonstrations around the world for nuclear disarmament.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kearns |first=Barbara |date=2021-05-05 |title=Stepping Out For Peace: A History of CANE and PND (WA) |url=https://commonslibrary.org/stepping-out-for-peace-a-history-of-cane-and-pnd-wa/ |access-date=2023-03-03 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>

The 1993 [[Chemical Weapons Convention]] was signed banning the manufacture and use of [[chemical weapons]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Articles of the Chemical Weapons Convention |url=http://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/articles/ |work=Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons |publisher=OPCW |access-date=17 May 2012}}</ref>

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties were signed, as [[START I]] and [[START II]], by the US and Soviet Union, further restricting weapons.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nuclear Treaty: A Guide to Disarmament |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/start-nuclear-weapons-treaty-guide-disarmament/story?id=12469644 |work=ABC News |publisher=ABC News Internet Ventures. Yahoo! – ABC News Network |access-date=17 May 2012 |author=KIRIT RADIA |format=News article |date=24 December 2010}}</ref>  This was further moved on by the [[SORT|Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions]], which was in turn superseded by [[New START|the New START Treaty]].

[[File:Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.svg|thumb|UN vote on adoption of the [[Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons]] on 7 July 2017<br />{{Leftlegend|#008cff|Yes}}]]
The [[Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty]] was signed in 1996 banning all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes, but it has not entered into force due to the non-ratification of eight specific states.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nuclear Testing Is an Acceptable Risk for Arms Control |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nuclear-testing-is-an-acceptable-risk |work=Scientific American |access-date=13 May 2012 |format=Article |date=2 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=What is the CTBT? |url=http://www.ctbto.org/specials/who-we-are/?Fsize=xhczayqbmdyc |work=Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Organization (CTBTO) |publisher=Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Organization (CTBTO) |access-date=13 May 2012}}</ref>

In 1998 the United Nations founded the [[United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs]] (UNODA). Its goal is to promote [[nuclear disarmament]] and non-proliferation and the strengthening of the disarmament regimes in respect to other weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons. It also promotes disarmament efforts in the area of conventional weapons, especially landmines and small arms, which are often the weapons of choice in contemporary conflicts.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

In addition to treaties focused primarily on stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons, there has been a recent movement to regulate the sale and trading of conventional weapons. As of December 2014, the United Nations is preparing for entry into force of the [[Arms Trade Treaty]], which has been ratified by 89 nations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-8&chapter=26&clang=_en|title=Arms Trade Treaty|website=United Nations Treaty Collection|access-date=7 October 2016}}</ref> However, it is currently missing ratification by key arms producers such as Russia and China, and while the United States has signed the treaty it has not yet ratified it.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Arms Trade Treaty|url=http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/att|website=UNODA|publisher=the United Nations|access-date=10 December 2014}}</ref> The Treaty regulates the international trade in almost all categories of conventional weapons – from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships. Ammunition, as well as parts and components, are also covered.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gillis|first=Melissa|title="Disarmament: a Basic Guide, Fourth Edition."|publisher=United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs|year=2017|location=New York|language=English}}</ref>

More recently, the United Nations announced the adoption of the [[Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons]] in 2020, following the 50th ratification or accession by member states.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gillis|first=Melissa|title="Disarmament: a Basic Guide, Fourth Edition."|publisher=United Nations Office for Disarmament Affair|year=2017|location=New York|language=English}}</ref>