Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments

Geneva Conference
Arthur Henderson speaking at the conference on 2 February 1932
Begins	1 February 1932
Ends	November 1934
Location(s)	Geneva
Coordinates	46.2044° N, 6.1432° E
Country	Switzerland
Participants	31 nations
Organised by	League of Nations

The Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments, generally known as the Geneva Conference or World Disarmament Conference, was an international conference of states held in Geneva, Switzerland, between February 1932 and November 1934 to accomplish disarmament in accordance with the Covenant of the League of Nations. It was attended by 61 states, most of which were members of the League of Nations, but the USSR and the United States also attended.^[1]

The conference was a response to the militarisation of global powers during and after the First World War. Aimed towards a global reduction in arms, the conference was organised and campaigned for by the League of Nations with the main objective to avoid another world war.

The conference symbolised global co-operation to a combined goal of limiting arms, but it is generally perceived as a failure because of the onset of the Second World War five years later and the withdrawal of Nazi Germany from both the conference and the League.

The conference's main objectives included defining aggressively-offensive weapons, reasonably-defensive weapons, abolishing submarines, aviation and heavy-duty tanks and limiting land forces.