Conquest, Treaties and Self-Determination

Until after World War I, conquest and the treaties that followed victory on the battlefield were widely invoked in claiming territory. It was on this basis that mandates were instituted at the 1920 League of Nations conference in San Remo, Italy. In subsequent decades, competing principles, specifically respect for the territorial integrity of existing states and for the right of self-determination, gained standing. Until that change, however, conquest was universally recognized and gave the victorious parties the right to divide the spoils.