Crime against peace

A crime against peace is the planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of a war of aggression. The Nuremberg Charter made it an individual criminal offense after World War II.

Nuremberg Charter: The 1945 agreement establishing the International Military Tribunal and defining its jurisdiction and crimes. Article 6(a) supplied the tribunal's definition of crimes against peace.
Treaty of Versailles: The 1919 peace treaty that formally ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied powers. Its unimplemented proposal to prosecute Kaiser Wilhelm II foreshadowed postwar accountability.
Crimes against humanity: International crimes involving widespread or systematic attacks against civilian populations. Unlike this charge, crimes against humanity target attacks on civilians rather than aggressive war-making.
Nuremberg principles: Principles of international law formulated after the Nuremberg Tribunal concerning individual responsibility for international crimes. The offense helped establish that leaders could face international prosecution for state policy.
War of aggression: The use of armed force by a state against another state's sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence. The offense centers on starting or waging this kind of unlawful war.
Kellogg–Briand Pact: The 1928 treaty in which its parties renounced war as an instrument of national policy. Nuremberg prosecutors relied on the pact as evidence that aggressive war was unlawful.
War crimes: Serious violations of the laws and customs governing armed conflict. War crimes concern conduct during conflict; this charge concerns the decision to wage aggressive war.
Tokyo Trials: The postwar International Military Tribunal for the Far East proceedings against leading Japanese officials. The tribunal also prosecuted leaders for planning and waging aggressive war.
Common plan or conspiracy: A shared design among multiple people to commit an unlawful act or pursue a criminal objective. Nuremberg treated participation in a common plan to wage aggressive war as criminal.
International Military Tribunal: The court created by the Allied powers to prosecute major German leaders after World War II. The tribunal first applied the charge in a major international criminal trial.

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