League of Nations

Aimed to prevent war through

Discouraging Aggression
Improving Cooperation and trade
Encouraging Disarmament
Improve living and working C\nditions

Founded as part of

Paris Peace Conference

Aimed to prevent disputes through

negotiation, arbitration and sanctions

Original Permanent members

Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan

Signed on

28th June 1919 as part of the ToV

Became effective on

10th January 1920

Did the league have an armed force?

No

Who never joined / quit?

The US never joined. Japan, Italy and Germany quit.

Secretariat

A 'civil service' for the langue responsible for preparing the agenda for the league and publishing the report.

The Assembly

Includes every single member of the league of nations meeting annually. All decisions had be unanimous.

The Council

A smaller body of permanent members meeting several times a year to make all the major decisions.

Upper Silesia

SUCESS

1921 - Poland and Germany Border dispute
Contains 21% of German coal
After a vote, the region is split in half

Aaland Islands

SUCESS

1921 - Sweden and Finland land dispute
Stayed Finnish but was demilitarised

Greece - Bulgaria

SUCESS

1925
Greeks invade Bulgaria.
Greece fined £45,000

Kellogg-Briand Pact

SUCESS

1928
Many countries signed.
Disallowed the use of war to solve disputes.

Work of the commissions

SUCESS

Created the Nansen passport (for refugees)
Helped stop leprosy

Vilna (Capital of Lithuania)

FAIL

Poland captured it
League of Nations did not step in

Corfu

FAIL

1923 - Greece and Italy
Greece had to pay £50 million even though Italy bombed the coast.

This was because LoN was scared of Italy starting a war.

The Great Depression problems

Increases aggression and likelihood of military action
Major LoN powers have fewer resources to keep peace.

The Manchuria Crisis causes

FAIL

China was weak due to being in the midst of a civil war.
Japan was rapidly-growing and needed to expand.
Japan felt ignored in the WW1 treaties and wanted recognition.
China had oil and rubber which Japan wanted.

Markden Incident

September 1931
Japan 'blew up' one of their own railways in China and blamed China using this as a reason to invade

Manchuria Invasion

September - October 1931
Japan win easily

LoN response

Lord Lytton sent to investigate.
Report not published until Spring 1932.
Conclusion was Japan was the aggressor.
The dispute however was already over.

What else happened in 1932?

FAIL

The world disarmament conference was conference coordinated by the League of Nations.

60 states attended but the League was unable to get any of them to disarm.

Sanctions were generally ineffective as

The USA never joined and did not impose sanctions

Italy-Abyssinia Causes

FAIL

Italy did not get much of Africa out of the war.
Mussolini was desperate to change this.
He wanted to recreate the Roman Empire.
Abyssinia was still independent and therefore weak.

LoN response to Italy-Abyssinia crisis

They imposes minor economic sanctions but these were ineffective and did not include vital resources such as oil.

Wal-Wal Incident

December 1934
An incident on the border between and Abyssinian and Italian-Somali troops manufactured to give a reason for invasion.

Hoare-Laval Pact

A secret pact between Britain and France to divide Italy into sections, some of which Italy could occupy.
This leaked causing public outcry.

Were sanctions effective

They were ineffective because everyone was scared of Italy starting a war.

Spanish Civil War

FAIL

1936-1939 Republicans vs Nationalists
The Nationalists went up against the Spanish republic.

Nationalists supported by

Monarchists
The Catholic Church
Parts of the Armed Forces

Nationalist's leader

General Franco

Was the rest of the world neutral?

Officially yes.
In reality no.

Who supported who?

Nationalists were supported by Italy and Germany.
Republicans were supported by the Soviet Union and the International Brigades (volunteers from countries all over the world).

League of Nations Response

NOTHING!
They cannot take any action anymore because no one takes them seriously.

Appeasement

When you give into something because the alternative is unpleasant.

What is one reason for the failure of the League of Nations regarding decisions?

Inability to make decisive, rapid decisions. Also had to be unanimous.

Did the United States join the League of Nations?

No, the US never joined.

What was a significant limitation of the League of Nations regarding military action?

The League had no armed force. It relied on its member states for military action.

What issue did many countries face regarding their participation in the League of Nations?

Many countries never joined or left. No penalty for leaving the league

What was a problem with the decision-making process in the League of Nations?

It was slow at forming decisions. Llord Lytton incident is an example. This could be due to a lack of workers in the secretariat.

How effective were the sanctions imposed by the League of Nations?

Sanctions were ineffective due to US not joining and members tending to act in self-interest.