Topic 2: To what extent was the League of Nations successful?

What was the League of Nations?

The League of Nations was an @@international organisation of nations@@ mostly thought up by Wilson as an attempt to keep the peace after the war years and an attempt to prevent war. For the most part the League is considered unsuccessful.

What was the League Covenant?

Wilson’s insisted that the League Covenant should be included in each of the separate peace treaties. @@The League Covenant is the list of rules by which the League was to operate.@@ It had been drawn up by an international committee including Lord Cecil of Britain, Jan Smuts of South Africa and Leon Bourgeois of France as well as Wilson himself. This ensured that the League actually came into existence instead of merely remaining a topic for discussion. Article 16 of the League spelled out it’s powers:

* If any member of the League quarrelled with another member, they would talk about their differences instead of going to war.
* The talks would take place in the League’s Assembly in Geneva, a sort of world parliament which met once a year and in which each member country had one vote.
* If this did not work, and a member was attacked, all other members would go to its help. This was known as **collective security**.
* Help would be arranged by the Council of the League, a smaller body which could meet quickly in a crisis.
* The League could say that it disapproved of the action of the aggressor.
* It would help the victim by cutting off all links with the aggressor, especially trade and financial links, in other words, impose economic sanctions. It could use military force against an aggressor.

When was the League of Nations set up?

10th January 1920

What were the aims of the League?

* to keep the peace, make war less likely through collective security and through settling disputes
* encourage international co-operation through trade, good relations, business and improving living conditions to remove friction and again prevent war
* discourage agression
* encourage disarmament and safeguard the independence of countries and their frontiers
* secret treaties between nations were forbidden

What is collective security?

It was how the League was going to maintain peace. Article 10, by acting together collectively the members of the League could prevent war by defending the lands and the interests of all nations. If an aggressor threatens one member they all respond in support

Where were the permanent headquarters of the League?

Geneva, Switzerland

What was the function off the Assembly?

* it met annually, and each member-nation had one vote


* Its function was to decide general policy, discuss international disputes and problems
* It could, for example, propose a revision of peace treaties, and it handled the finances of the League.
* A unanimous vote was needed for any important decision.

What was the function of the Council?

* it was a much smaller body that met more often, at least three times a year and consisted of four permanent members (Britain, France, Italy and Japan) and four temporary members chosen by the assembly for a three year term.
* It was the most powerful body of the League and advised the Assembly on what action to take, they had to deal with specific political disputes and decisions had to be unanimous
* The number of temporary members was increased to six in 1922 and to nine in 1926
* All disputes threatening war would be submitted to the League and any member which resorted to war (an aggressor), therefore breaking the covenant would face action by the rest; the council would recommend what effective military, naval or air force the members should contribute to the armed forces. (military sanctions)

What was the function of The Secretariat?

* it was headed by the Secretary-General
* It consisted of various officials who recorded and administered work and decisions of the League
* It looked after paperwork, preparing agendas and writing resolutions and reports for carrying out the decisions of the League

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By 1935 how many member-nations did the league have?

62

How many countries joined at the start?

42

Which victor did not join the League of Nations, why? and did this weaken the League?

The USA did not join the League.

Despite it being Wilson’s pet idea Congress voted against American membership of the League in 1920. This decision was not reversed and they never joined in an attempt to revert back to isolationism.

A lot of Americans disliked the treaties and were anti empire so would have disagreed with Britain and France.

The USA had financially benefitted from the war, especially due to the lack of damage being on a different continent overseas. It had become the new creditor nation of the world and without it the league had no money.

Additionally it destroyed morale and trust in the League as countries felt betrayed that Wilson didn’t join in on the organisation that was firstly his idea.

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Why would Britain and France having to take on leadership of the league as founding members with permanent seats be an issue?

* Britain and France had been heavily affected by the war, especially economically
* The League needed money and they couldn’t provide it

When did the USSR join the League

The USSR did not join the League in 1920. In 1919 it set up the Comintern which attempted to spread Communist Revolution throughout Europe. The USSR joined in 1934, under Stalin.

When did the USSR leave the League?

It got expelled on December 14th 1939

When did Germany join the League?

She initially wasn’t allowed to join the League until proven to be a peaceful nation. Germany eventually joined in 1926 as part of the Locarno Treaties of 1925

When did Germany leave the League?

October 1933 (you can probably guess under who) (Hitler incase you didn’t guess)

Which of the Leading members were revisionist powers?

Japan and Italy, they were not happy with the terms of the peace settlements

How could the league deal with aggressor nations?

Sanctions!

moral sanctions

and if that doesn’t work out :(

economic sanctions

and if all else fails military sanctions

what actually are moral sanctions?

Moral sanctions are when the League would condemn the aggressive nation’s action, and tell them to stop. This wasn’t entirely effective because well it can just be ignored.

economic sanctions?

if moral sanctions won’t work then members of the league might refuse to trade with the aggressor. However, this could be an issue for the members as the trade ban affected them too :(

What were military sanctions?

The league could use the armed forces of its member countries against an aggressor but the league did not have an army so they lacked threat and intimidation. The league never actually used these sanctions and the member countries also thought using their own forces would be too big of a risk so would refuse to provide the league with an army.

What was the Conference of Ambassadors?

* it was formed in 1920
* consisted of informal meetings between the more important countries on the Lon council (GB, France, Japan and Italy)
* It was not officially part of the league but worked closely with it
* it often made decisions (such as the corfu crisis, in Italy’s favour in 1923\\)
* It was formed because the league was a bit useless. Its structure of unanimous votes and members having vetos meant they never got much done.
* It was meant to be temporary but lasted until 1931
* The fact that this organisation had to be made shows how much the League failed

What was the permanent court of justice?

The role of this organisation was to ensure that there was a place where member nations could bring their grievances and receive @@legal advice@@ on what actions could be taken, it could only give advice and suggestions.

What subsidiary bodies were created by the Covenant or established by the assembly and the council?

Organisations! and commissions for more specific things