The significance of the Second Hague Peace Conference in terms of the codification of laws and customs of warfare

Background. Domestic diplomacy and international legal science played a leading role in the formation of international humanitarian law. Russia initiated major projects in the field of international law before the world wars: two Hague Peace Conferences were held in 1899 and 1907. However, such a significant page of Russian history in the development of international law received insufficient attention from domestic and foreign researchers, the latter actively study the role of the United States, Great Britain, France and other countries in the development of international humanitarian law. In this regard, the study of the content and results of the Second Peace Conference and its historical significance seems relevant and scientifically significant. The work aims to determine the main directions and achievements of the Hague Peace Conference of 1907 in terms of developing rules for waging armed conflicts, determining the importance of the adopted documents and the results of the conference for the development of international law. Materials and methods. The objectives are achieved by analyzing the official materials of the Hague Peace Conference of 1907, official acts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, assessments of the conference's achievements given by its participants, international treaties (the Hague Conventions and Declarations of 1907), and scientific literature. Results. The work analyzes the content of the work of the Second Hague Peace Conference on the codification of the laws and customs of warfare, the role of the Russian delegation in achieving the goals, and the significance of its work for the dynamic development of international humanitarian law. Conclusions. The study of the prerequisites for holding the conference, the content of the work, and historical significance of the Hague Forum allows us to conclude that Russian diplomacy and the Russian state played a special role in terms of codifying the laws and customs of warfare and dynamic development of international humanitarian law.