This book examines how the UN Charter's prohibition of force restrains the actions of the major powers, treating the Charter as both an instrument of international peace and international order. Since the Charter came into effect in 1945, there have been numerous incidents in which one or more of the five major powers have violated the Charter's Article 2(4) prohibition of force. Given the frequency of these illegal uses of armed force, how does the Charter's prohibition of force function as a restraint upon the actions of the major powers? The recent Iraq War and other incidents have demonstrated the major powers' continued willingness to use armed force against other states, but the effects that the Charter's prohibition of force has had in such incidents have not been examined thoroughly. "International Law and the Use of Armed Force" examines five historical cases: US intervention in the Caribbean 1953-61, Franco-British intervention in Egypt in 1956, Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956, US-British intervention in Iraq 1990-98 and US-British intervention in Iraq 1999-2003. This book is for students of international relations, international law and war studies in general.