Tag: International Agreements

After Columbus discovered America in 1492, tensions arose between Spain and Portugal over the possession of new territories. To avoid war, Pope Alexander VI mediated between the powers, leading to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. The Treaty vaguely established a meridian off the coast of the Cape Verde Islands. Territories West of the meridian belonged…

Mare Liberum: Pioneered “freedom of the seas,” arguing that oceans are international territory, a core principle of modern maritime law. Just War Theory: Defined legal and moral limits for conflict, asserting that war must have a legitimate cause and follow specific rules. Secular Natural Law: Argued that law derives from human reason rather than just…

The 1919 Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty ending the First World War between Germany and the Allied Powers of Great Britain, the US, and France. Defeated Germany had to pay reparations and limit its army to 100’000 men. Germany further lost its colonies and made territorial concessions in Europe. Advocates believed the treaty…