Held at the request of
Queen Wilhelmina of the
Netherlands and
Czar Nicholas II of
Russia to discuss worldwide reduction in
arms and standardization of the
rules of
war. The ten
week conference, held at the Huis ten Bosch palace in
Den Haag, ended in late
July and adopted
conventions of
civilized warfare.
Among the agreements made was a five year moratorium on the use of aerial bombardment from balloons; a permanent ban on "the use of projectiles the object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases;" and a permanent ban on the use of bullets designed to mushroom upon impact with the human body (much like the dum-dum bullets of the time did).
The convention also allowed for the creation of a Permanent Court of Arbitration, or a War Crimes Tribunal, to settle disputes in this and future conventions.