For over 100 years now man has attempted to find ways to reduce the chances of warfare. Because he refuses to seek God's help, the Bible predicts man's efforts at arms control will eventually fail.
1864
the First Geneva Convention - Established guidelines for the treatment of battle wounded soldiers, adopted in Geneva.
1868
St. Petersburg Conference - A declaration renouncing the use of certain explosives projectiles in war.
1899
An International Peace Conference is held at The Hague which gives birth to: Regulation concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, The Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention of 1864, The Prohibition for five years of launching projectiles and explosives from balloons , Limits on the use of asphyxiating gases, and Limits on the use of expanding bullets.
1907
A Second International Peace Conference at The Hague is convened, which establishes several other conventions: relative to the Opening of Hostilities, the Laws and Customs of War on Land, the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of war on Land, the Status of enemy Merchant ships at the Outbreak of Hostilities, the Conversion of Merchant Ships into War-Ships, the Laying of Automatic Submarine Contact Mines, certain Restriction with regard to the exercise of the Right of Capture of Naval war, and the Prohibition of the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons.
1925
Protocols for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous Gases and Bacteriological Methods
1229
A major diplomatic conference is held in Geneva, which establishes the Convention relative to the treatment of Prisoners of War.
1959
The Antarctic Treaty internationalized and demilitarized the Antarctic Continent and provided for its cooperative exploration and future use.
1963
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed in Moscow by the U.S., USSR, and Great Britain, prohibited testing of nuclear weapons in space, above ground, and under water.
1963
Hot Line Agreement Bilateral agreement establishing a direct communications link between US and Soviet heads of state for use in "time of emergency." Seeks to reduce the risk of a nuclear exchange stemming from accident, miscalculation, or surprise attack. Both sides connected by transatlantic cable and radio telegraph circuits for continuous direct communications. Updated in 1971 to include two US-USSR satellite communications circuits, along with multiple terminals in each country.
1967
Outer Space Treaty Multilateral agreement signed and ratified between the US, USSR, and UK banning the placement of nuclear weapons or "weapons of mass destruction" in orbit around the Earth. It also prohibited the installation of nuclear weapons or "weapons of mass destruction" on the moon, on any other celestial body, or in outer space itself use of the moon or any celestial body for military purposes, including weapons testing of any kind.
1968
The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America obligates Latin American parties not to acquire or possess nuclear weapons, nor to permit the storage or deployment of nuclear weapons on their territories by other countries
1968
Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty, with U.S., USSR, and Great Britain as major signers, limited the spread of military nuclear technology by agreement not to assist nonnuclear nations in getting or making nuclear weapons.
1971
Sea Bed Treaty, prohibits the emplacement of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction on the seabed and the ocean floor and in the subsoil.
1972
Biological Weapons Convention, prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of bacteriological (biological) and toxin weapons,
1972
SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) agreement, in negotiation since 11/17/69, signed in Moscow by U.S. and USSR. In the area of defensive nuclear weapons, the treaty limited antiballistic missiles to 2 sites of 100 antiballistic missile launchers in each country (amended in 1974 to one site in each country). The treaty also imposed a 5-year freeze on testing and deployment of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. An interim short-term agreement putting a ceiling on numbers of offensive nuclear weapons was also signed. SALT I was in effect until 10/77.
1974
Threshold Test Ban Treaty Bilateral, unratified agreement between the US and USSR prohibiting underground nuclear weapon tests with yield above 150 kilotons. Compliance is monitored through the use of national technical means (e.g. seismic stations outside the testing country). A protocol to the agreement specified that tests take place strictly defined testing sites and that upon ratification technical information be exchanged to improve verification procedures.
1974
Protocol on antiballistic missile systems (ABM Treaty Revision) and a treaty and protocol on limiting underground testing of nuclear weapons (Threshold Test Ban Treaty) was signed by U.S. and USSR in Moscow.
1974
Vladivostok Agreement announced establishing the framework for a more comprehensive agreement on offensive nuclear arms, setting the guidelines of a second SALT treaty.
1976
Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty Bilateral agreement between the US and USSR prohibiting peaceful nuclear explosions which were not covered by the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT), with yields exceeding 150 kilotons and group explosions having an aggregate yield of over 1,500 kilotons, no one of which can be more than 150 kilotons.
1977
Environmental Modification Convention, an agreement with 48 signatories prohibiting the hostile use of weather modification.
1979
SALT II, signed in Vienna by the U.S. and USSR, constrained offensive nuclear weapons, limiting each side to 2,400 missile launchers and heavy bombers with that ceiling to apply until Jan. 1, 1985. The treaty also set a combined total of 1,320 ICBMs and SLBMs with multiple warheads on each side. Although approved by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. the treaty never reached the Senate floor because Pres. Jimmy Carter withdrew his support for the treaty following the December 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops.
1981
Inhumane weapons convention restricted the use of certain conventional weapons which may be deemed to be excessively injurious or to have indiscriminate effects. It was signed by 35 nations.
1982
Ronald Reagan proposed 2-step plan for strategic arms reductions and announced that he had proposed to the USSR that START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) begin in June.
1987
I.N.F. (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty signed in Washington, D.C. by USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan dismantling all medium- and shorter-range nuclear missiles. Ratified with conditions by U.S Senate on May 27. 1988....bans all US/USSR ballistic missiles and U.S. GLCM w/ ranges b/t 500 and 5500 Kilometers and provides for the destruction of all such existing weapons (only cuts nuclear arsenals by 4%)
1988
Ballistic Missile Launch Notification Agreement - Bilateral agreement between the US and USSR requiring each nation to notify the other party, "no less than twenty-four hours in advance, of the planned date, launch area, and area of impact for any launch of a strategic ballistic missile."
1991
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed, in Moscow, by Soviet Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. Pres. George Bush to reduce strategic offensive arms by approximately 30 percent in three phases over seven years. START is the first treaty to mandate reductions by the superpowers. (The treaty entered into force in 12/94.)
1992
Open Skies Treaty, A complex agreement that allows for the exchange of observation flights over the territories of nations that are members of the pact.
1993
START II signed by Bush and Yeltsin calling for both sides to reduce long range nuclear arsenals by approximately 1/3 over the next decade and would entirely eliminate land-based multiple-warhead missiles. Action on START II must wait until START I enters into force and then START II must be approved by the US senate and the legislature of Russia.
1994
Trilateral Nuclear Agreement - Trilateral Statement by the Presidents of the US, Russia and Ukraine. Details the procedures to transfer Ukrainian nuclear warheads to Russia and associated compensation and security assurances. Sets out simultaneous actions to transfer SS-19 and SS-24 warheads from Ukraine to Russia for dismantling and to provide compensation to Ukraine in the form of fuel assemblies for nuclear power stations, as well as security assurances to Ukraine, once START I enters into force and Ukraine becomes a non-nuclear weapon state party to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). Signed in Moscow, 14 January 1994.
1996
Treaty of Pelindaba Multilateral agreement signed by 49 of the 53 members of the Organization of African Unity pledged not to conduct research on, develop, test, or stockpile nuclear explosive devices; to prohibit the stationing of nuclear devices on their territory; to maintain the highest standards of protection of nuclear materials, facilities, and equipment; and to prohibit the dumping of radioactive waste.
1999
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty - Multilateral agreement signed by the US, CIS, UK, and 90 non-nuclear-weapon states would ban any and all nuclear tests, big or small, above and below the Earth's surface. It established a worldwide monitoring system - including 170 seismic stations - to check air, water and soil for signals that someone set off a nuclear explosion.
1997
Convention on the prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.
2001
President Bush formally announced that the United States was withdrawing from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty that it signed with the Soviet Union in 1972.
