Which international agreement, signed in the 1920s, renounced war as a tool of national policy?

• A. Treaty of Versailles
• B. Geneva Protocol
• C. Kellogg-Briand Pact
• D. Washington Naval Treaty

Answer: (C)

The idea being tested is the international effort after World War I to outlaw war as a tool of national policy and to rely on peaceful dispute resolution. The Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed in 1928, fits this goal exactly by promising that member nations would renounce war as an instrument of national policy and would settle their disputes by peaceful means. This made it a powerful normative statement in the interwar period, signaling a shared belief that war should not be used to resolve conflicts, even though it lacked strong enforcement mechanisms and did not bars all forms of aggression or self-defense.

By comparison, the Treaty of Versailles ended World War I but did not renounce war itself; it imposed punitive terms on Germany and laid groundwork for disputes that contributed to later conflict. The Geneva Protocol prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons, not war in general. The Washington Naval Treaty aimed to limit naval armaments but did not renounce war as policy.