To what extent was the LON a succes

Aims of the league

Aims of the league

Discouraging aggression from any nation and promote disarmament Encourage nations to co-operate in areas like business trade

Improve living conditions of people across the world Most important principle was Article 10 of League covenant, essentially called for collective security

Membership of the League

Membership of the League was open to all countries, providing they signed the Covenant of the League - however there were immediately three high-profile and crucial absences

1. Germany not allowed to join due to WWI and had to prove they were peace loving nation, were allowed to join in 1926

2. however USSR prevented from joining for being communist and didn't want to join cither, were only allowed to join in 1934

3. USA did not join due to opposition back home, congress votes against them joining and they NEVER join

League structure

• The council

• The Assembly

• The Permanent Court of Justice

The League could punish a country which broke the covenant using either economic sanctions or military sanctions which meant a declaration of war by each member.

However, there was no provision for a League army, so individual countries had to declare war on members that had broken the Covenant.

The council

Met three times a year. There were four permanent members. Britain, France, Italy and Japan Germany became the fifth in 1926). They took most of the important decisions, however any decision could be vetoed by permanent members.

The Assembly

Had representatives of all the members and it meant once a year, however decision had to be unanimous.

The Permanent Court of Justice

Was set up to settle disputes between countries. but both sides had to agree to take a dispute to the Court; so many issues never reached it and could not enforce rulings

Successes in the 1920s- conflicts resolution

Greece invaded Bulgaria, which did not fight back, but appealed to the League. The League ordered Greece to withdraw, which it did.

The League settled a dispute between Germany and Poland - it held a plebiscite and suggested a partition; Germany and Poland agreed.

Successes in the 1920s- Living conditions

• Took charge of the returning refugees and prisoners of war to their own countries after the Great War. About 400,000 were returned safely due to creation of Nansen Passport

• The ILO set hours of work and tried to establish trade union rights on an international basis. Created 48 hour week which some members adopted and ban white lead from paint

• The League's agencies also tackled the slave trade, which was still widespread in parts of Africa challenging use of forced labour to build Tanganyika railway

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) tried to prevent epidemic discases such as cholera, typhoid and malaria through mosquito extermination campaigns

League failure in the 1920s- Ruhr invasion

France responded to Germany refusal to continue reparations payments by invading Ruhr in 1923 and took control of production

League took no effective action against France in response Supported idea of the League being a victor's club from the war who could simply do as they pleased

League failure in the 1920s- Corfu

• Represents biggest League failure during the 1 920s Mussolini orders occupation of Greek island in 1923 after murder of Italian general on border, Ordered the invasion after Greece refused to pay compensation and could not locate culprits

• League condemned the invasion but matter instead went to Conference of Ambassadors

• They ordered Greece to pay the excessive compensation in exchange for Italy withdrawing troops - Italian bullying tactics had paid off and undermined the reputation of the League - especially compared to Bulgaria

• Role of Italy itself, as permanent member, was a problem, showed that wrong countries had too much influence

Blow to the LON by the Great Depression

• It destroyed the relative prosperity of the 1920s. In Germany it wiped out the recovery that had taken place since 1924.

• This created massive unemployment and poverty, which in turn led to desperation and despair.

• This led to increased support for extremist parties, who used violence and adopted aggressive policies.

• In Japan, Italy and Germany, militarism became more influential.

• Major powers in the League, like Br + Fr no longer saw it as a priority