Series of international agreements signed at The Hague (1899, 1907).
The first conference was requested by Russia to discuss rules to limit warfare and attempt arms limitations. Twenty-six countries attended and approved several proposed conventions, including prohibition of the use of asphyxiating gases (not renewed in 1907) and creation of a Permanent Court of Arbitration. The 1907 meeting, called by Theodore Roosevelt , was attended by 44 countries and also had arms limitation as a goal, which again went unmet. An agreement to reconvene in eight years confirmed the principle that international conferences were the best way to handle international problems. Though World War I prevented the next meeting from taking place, the conferences influenced creation of the League of Nations and the United Nations . See also Geneva Conventions .