The London Charter provided for the establishment of the International Military Tribunal, composed of one judge and one alternate judge from each of the signatory nations, to try war criminals. Under the London Charter, the crimes charged against defendants fell into three categories: crimes against peace (crimes involving the planning, initiating, and waging a war of aggression); war crimes (violations of the laws and customs of war as embodied in the Hague Conventions and generally recognized by military forces of civilized nations); and crimes against humanity, such as the extermination of racial, ethnic, and religious groups and other such atrocities against civilians.