CIE IGCSE History - 20th century - the League of Nations

what were the four aims of the league of nations?

• to discourage aggression from any nation and ensure collective security (article 10)

• to encourage countries to cooperate especially in business and trade

• to encourage nations to disarm

• to improve the living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world

when and how was the league of nations created?

it was created by the USA, great Britain and France after first world war (about 1920)

why did the USA not join the League of Nations (social reasons)?

• it would have to enforce the Treaty of Versailles which was unpopular among the US citizens; especially those of European descent

• it might have to use troops to resolve issues in Europe - but it had already lost 116,000 men

why did the USA not join the League of Nations (economic reasons)?

• it might have to impose economic sanctions that could damage the US economy

why did the USA not join the League of Nations (ideology of the LoN)?

• Britain and France seemed to dominate the league and the USA disliked their foundations in empires - they saw the LoN as an endorsement of empire

what was the process of the USA not joining the League of Nations?

• the republicans (opposition) saw the League of Nations as an oppurtunity to remove the democratic party from power

• congress rejected proposals to join the LoN twice

• in the 1920 election, democrats made the LoN a big part of their campaign, but the Republicans campaigned for Isolationism and won

how many members did the league of nations have?

42

why was Britain and France’s membership beneficial to them?

• they were the leading members so they could influence decisions

• their positions of power created a positive/powerful image to other countries

What were the limitations of Britain and France’s membership of the League?

• both countries had been weakened by WW1 so could not focus fully

• they didn’t have the resources that the USA had so economic sanctions would not be as effective

• both countries had other priorities - Br on rebuilding trade and empire, and Fr wanted protection from Germany - was prepared to undermine the league

When was Germany a member of the LoN?

1926-33

Why was Germany not allowed to join the LoN until 1926?

blame and trust - because Germany was blamed for the war they were not trusted anymore, and also part of accepting responsibility for starting the war was a ban from the league

Why was Germany allowed to join the LoN in 1926?

it had proved itself trustworthy - this was because they signed the treaty of Locarno promising not to extent their borders - the Chairman at the time, Reseman, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prizee

When was the USSR a member of the league of Nations?

1934-39

Why was the USSR not allowed to join the league of Nations until 1934?

The USSR was communist and had been since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. They were not asked to join because capitalist western Europe did not want this political ideology to spread

What subsections were there of the League of Nations?

The Assembly

The Council

The Conference of ambassadors

Secretariat

Court of International Justice

Health Committee

Slavery Comission

Mandate Comission

Refugees Committee

The international labour organisationwh

what was the assembly?

The assembly was an international parliament where all nations sent one representative and it met yearly. It recommended action to the Council and could vote on new members, temporary members, and ideas proposed by the Council

What were the weaknesses of the assembly?

• A once yearly meeting was not often enough and meant decision making was slow

• The vote had to be unanimous which was unrealistic as they very rarely all agreed - preoccupied with their own issues

What was the Council?

The Council was a small group that met up 5x a year and in times of crisis. It had permanent members Britain, France, Italy and Japan. Temporary members (4-9) could join for 3 years. Permanent members had a veto. Their powers included: economic sanctions, moral condemnation and military force (all countries armies combined - very rare)

What were the weaknesses of the Council?

• the veto was too all powerful - it could be one against seven and the action would still not happen

• it was elitist - i.e. only controlled by the biggest powers

• it had no official army

• the economic threat rarely stopped determined leaders

What was the conference of ambassadors?

The conference of ambassadors was not a formal part of the league - it was set up due to a weak rest of the league. This meant it could meet up whenever it wanted.

It was an informal meeting of the most important countries. It often made decisions, which, due to its composition, stood and were quick.

What were the weaknesses of the conference of ambassadors?

As it was unofficial it technically had no weight, however it was respected and did most of the work.

What was the secretariat?

It was very similar to the league of nations. It was comprised of office workers who recorded meetings, researched and prepared reports for discussion and had responsibilities for areas such as health.

What were the weaknesses of the secretariat?

There were not enough workers to oversee all activities, so there was little organisation

What was the Court of International Justice?

It was 15 judges from member states, and was based in the Hague in the Netherlands. It could give decisions on border disputes and countries had to agree in advance that they would accept their decisions. It also gave legal advice to the LoN.

Weaknesses of the Court of International Justice

It had no power to make sure that countries stuck by its rulings.

What was the international labour organisation?

It met once a year. There were two government representatives from each country - an employer and an employee. Their main aim was to improve working conditions - achieved a lot. They collected stats and persuaded members to adopt suggestions.

What were the weaknesses of the IOL?

It failed to get League members to accept the 48 hour week.

What was the Health Committee?

A committee which worked to improve public health worldwide. It educated people about health and sanitation. It was generally very successful e.g. work on killing mosquitoes

What was the refugees committee?

A committee that worked to return refugees from WW1 to their homes, and supported disaster victims e.g. Türkiye 1922

What was the Mandates commission?

It was set up to make sure that the LoN was ruling mandate countries properly. It administered league controlled areas such as the Saar and Danzig. It monitored what had been the German empire (now Br and Fr) to make sure that they acted in the interests of the people. E.g. Togoland

What was the Slavery Commission?

It worked to abolish slavery around the world. It organised attacks on Burma and Sierra Leone setting free 200,000 slaves.

How many former POW did the refugee committee return to their homes?

400,000

Turkey 1922 Refugee Committee

When crises hit e.g. Türkiye 1922 (war with Greece for Independence), the LoN houses 100,000 in camps temporarily. Within these camps the LoN worked tirelessly to eliminate Cholera, Smallpox, Dysentery.

What general improvements did the International Labour Organisation make?

• banned poisonous white lead from paint

• limited the hours that small children worked

• campaigned for general improvement of working conditions

• introduced resolution for a 48 hour work week and an 8 hour week - only some countries introduced this however

• maternity protections and for unemployement

How many resolutions were passed in the first meeting of the ILO?

Oct 1919 - 6 resolutions

How many resolutions/recommendations were passed in the next two years?

16 resolutions and 18 recommendations

What were the limitations of the ILO’s work?

• not all countries accepted resolutions about hours worked

• they didn’t fully ban the hours that small children worked

What general improvements did the Health Committee make?

• They worked hard to defeat Leprosy

• they started the global campaign to exterminate mosquitoes which reduced the number of cases of Malaria and Yellow Fever

What ‘going the extra mile’ action did the health committee take?

They worked with the USSR despite them being outside of the league and sought their advice on preventing the plague in Siberia

When was the convention of the Slavery Commission called?

1926 - all league members represented

What work did the Slavery Commission do about drugs?

they exposed 4 large Gr, Du, Fr, Swiss illegal drug companies. S

What work did the Slavery Commission do about slavery?

• freed 200 000 slaves in British Sierra Leone

• Organised raids against slave owners and traders in Burma

• Challenged the use of forced labour to build the tanganyika railway in Africe where the death rate was 50% - reduced to 4%

What happened at Vilna 1920?

• after WW1 Poland and Lithuania were two new states

• Vilna was made the capital of Lithuania but it’s population was polish

• In 1920 a Polish army took control of it

LoN action at Vilna 1920?

• Lithuania went to the LoN for help

• The LoN attempted moral condemnation of Poland but Poland did not withdraw

• They could not do economic sanctions as Poland was relatively new

• So Poland kept Vilna

Was Vilna 1920 a success or a failure?

Failure

What happened in Upper Silesia in 1921?

Upper Silesia was an industrial area between Poland and Germany - it had both groups of people

Both countries wanted it as it was rich in iron and steel

In 1920 they organised a plebiscite, overseen by Britain and France to ensure fairness

Industrial areas vote for Germany and rural Poland

LoN action regarding Upper Silesia 1921?

L of N divided the region along these lines

Built in safe guards to stop further disputes - e.g. Railway lines and supplies of water

Both countries accept

Upper Silesia: Success or Failure?

Success

What happened concerning the Aaland Islands in 1921?

Both Sweden and Finland wanted control of the Aarland Islands - they were midway between the two

They were threatening war

They wanted them because of pride and because they were a point of access.

L of N action in Aarland Islands 1921?

• Both countries went to the LoN

• After research, the LofN decided that the Islands should go to Finland

• Sweden accepted the decision

• War was avoided

Aarland Islands: Success or Failure

Success

Who was Mussolini?

• Originally a socialist

• Invented fascism - a combination of socialism and right wing - supposed to be a middle ground

• This version of fascism was changed by Hitler

• He came to power in 1922

• He thought he was above the LoN so he disregards their judgement

• Intelligent, brutish, violent

What happened in Corfu in 1923?

• Italian general called Tellini working for the LoN ambushed when sorting out a land dispute between Greece and Albania

• Mussolini angry - demanded Greece pay compensation and execute the killers

• Greece didn’t know who the killers were

• Italy invaded Greek Island of Corfu

L of N action regarding Corfu 1923

• Greece went to the LoN for help

• Council condemned Mussolini and suggested Greece pay compensation money to the LofN

• Officially Mussolini accepted but behind the scenes got the conference of ambassadors to change the ruling to apology as well

• Mussolini withdrew from Corfu

Corfu 1923: Success or failure

Relatively successful

What happened in Bulgaria in 1925?

• Greek troops invaded Bulgaria

• This is because there had been an incident on the border in which Greek soldiers had been killed

• Bulgaria went to the LoN but also prepared its army

L of N action in Bulgaria 1925

• LofN condemned Greece and ordered them to pull out and pay compensation to Bulgaria

• The Greeks obeyed

• However they complained that it was unfair - larger states like Italy got away with things that smaller ones could not

Bulgaria 1925: Success or failure

Relatively successful

Why were the 1920’s so prosperous?

Positive economic cycle - The USA loaned money to Europe to help with financial crisis’s caused by the war → rebuild industry → increased employment → increased international trade → increased profits → rebuild industry

Wall street crash

• economy got overconfident

• shares were bought on a margin (on loans)

• one company panicked and then everybody began to sell their shares

• the share prices fell so low that they had to shut wall street to stop utter bankruptancy

Effects of the wall street crash

negative economic cycle: USA no longer able to invest in European industry → industry contracts → decreased employment → import tariffs to protect own industry → decrease in international trade (loop)

effects of the Great depression on Britain

• increased unemployement (3 million)

• unwilling to help others

effects of the great depression on Germany

• Germany was dependent on US loans

• loans called in

• unemployment increased (6 million)

• Nazis promise economic recovery letting Hitler rise to power (copies Italy)

effects of the great depression on France

• worried by Germany

• starts to build defences on borders

  • maginot line - wall of forts along border but does not go into forest

effects of the great depression on Italy

• Mussolini tries to detract public attention by building empire aggressively

• invests in failing companies and banks

• builds motorways

• least affected by great depression

effects of the great depression on Japan

• threatened by collapse of countries industry - cannot sell rice which is its main export

• invades Manchuria part of China

effects of the great depression on the league of nations as a whole

• countries much less willing to join in and help others

• economic sanctions can’t be placed as will be highly damaging on everyone

History of Manchuria

• in the 1905 Russo-Japanese war, Japan had gained control of much of Manchuria

• 1910 Japan formally annexed Korea

• Japan based troops in the South of Manchuria to guard the South Manchurian railway line which brought raw goods and materials and goods back to Japan

Reasons why Japan invaded Manchuria

• Economic crisis and depression

• Militarism

Japan’s need for raw materials

• their population had increased to 65 million and industry rapidly developed

• needed raw materials and food to sustain industry and populationI

Impact of Wall Street crash on Japan

• chief export of Japan was silk but because of WSC there was no longer demand, so price felll in 1931 to 1/5th of its original value (1922)

• industry in general suffered - employment and production fell by 30% between 1929 and 1931

benefits of having Manchuria - economics

• Manchuria had fertile farming land (rice) - rich in coal and iron ore - Japan was mountainous in comparison and limited ability to farm

• would also provide export market

Japan’s warrior tradition (militarism)

• army was a sign of prestige and status

• honour to die for Emperor and there was a strict code - never be captured, never break down, and never surrender

• ‘death before dishonour’

• Jp invented suicide pilots

1922 Washington naval agreement - Japan

• agreement limited naval development of signatories to prevent an arms race

• Japan felt treated unfairly as it only had 3 warships to every 5 of Britain and USA

• Japan felt that it could not trust its allies or own politicians

army-politician power balance in Japan - Militarism

• army exert more control than politicians - they had a reputation for assassinating politicians or anyone connected to them

• e.g. Warlord Chang Tso Lin assassinated in 1928 because army felt gov. policy of friendship towards him was wrong

• 1932 PM killed by group of soldiers

Benefits of invading Manchuria - militarism

• showed central role they played in society

• would exercise importance - felt maligned by other world powers

Trigger of Manchurian crisis

Mukden incident 1931

Mukden incident 1931

• night of 18th september 1931

• explosion on the South Manchurian Railway line - just outside Mukden

• Japan claims this was Chinese sabotage and that the Chinese then opened fire on the Kwantung army - Japan had to defend thenselves

• Chinese claim their army was in the barracks asleep

• Kwantung army take over and rename area as Manchuko and install Pu Yi (ex-chinese emperor as puppet ruler)

aftermath/results of Mukden crisis

• Manchuko officially Japanese colony by 1932

• 1932 Japanese planes and gunships bombed Shanghai

• Civilian governemnt in Japan told army to withdraw but this was ignored

• China appealed to the League

League of nations reaction to Manchurian crisis (pre-lytton)

• League cannot ignore China

• they instruct Japan to withdraw

• Japan ignores and invades further (government oppose but are powerless)

• LoN send Lord Lytton and Commission to investigate by sea

Lord lytton report

• published in september 1932 (12 months later) - condemned Japan and told them to withdraw and return Manchuria

• report took too long - 6 months journeying time and 6 months to collate information - during this time Japan begins to invade rest of China

League reaction to Lord Lytton report

• March 1933 Assembly vote on report 42 votes to 1 in agreement

• Japan resigns from LoN same month

Aftermath of Lord Lytton report

• April 1933 Japan invade Jehol Province

• September 1933 Japan invade Shanghai

• 1937 full scale invasion of Chinese mainland

• 1938 - most Chinese cities under Japanese control

Why did Britain and France not want to get involved with the Manchurian crisis?

• suffering with Great depression - Br had 3 mil unemployed and national debt of £100 million

• also not prepared to anger Japan as they were scared that they would invade their colonies

• self interest ^

English and French colonies surrounding China

Laos, Burma, Tonkin, Cambodia , Siam etc.

Similarities between Italy and Japan

• Leading members of League of Nations

• Military dictatorships

• Both want empire and resources

Differences between Italy and Japan

• Italy was a European country

• France bordered Italy

• Abyssinia bordered Br and Fr empire in Africa

• Suez canal was British

Why did Italy invade Abyssinia?

• avenge the past

• would be useful for the future

  • economy

  • militarism

Italy invasion of Abyssinia: the past

in 1896 Italian troops had tried to invade Abyssinia in the battle of Adowa and failed

Italy was embarrassed, especially as they had the advantage, and Mussolini wanted to avenge this

Italy invasion of Abyssinia: the future: economic reasons

• Abyssinia had fertile lands and mineral wealth

• this was useful to a rapidly industrialising society like Italy and one that was trying to recover from the Great depression

Italy invasion of Abyssinia: the future: militarism

Italian society under Mussolini was militaristic and had been since the Roman Empire

Mussolini wanted to remind people of this nature and therefore needed military victories that proved it

How many phases of the Abyssinian crisis were there?

3

Stages of phase 1

• December 1934 (Wal Wal)

• January 1935-October 1935

• April 1935 - Stresa Front Pact

• Summer 1935

• September 1935

Phase 1: December 1934 - Wal Wal

• Dispute between Italian soldiers and Abyssinia at Wal Wal - inside Abyssinian territory but near Italian Somaliland - Italy allowed to go there for water?

• Mussolini demands apology and prepares to invade

• Abyssinian emperor Haile Selassie went to LoN for help

January 1935-October 1935

• Mussolini supposed to be negotiating - but at them same time he sends Army to Abyssinia and encourages war at home

• Britain and France did not take this seriously - they wanted to keep Mussolini onside because he seemed a good ally against Hitler

Phase 1: April 35 - Stresa Front Pact

• Britain and France formally voice concern over Hitler rearming and stand united

• Italy is there and the rumours are that Mussolini believes Britain and France will turn a ‘blind eye’ if he invades Abyssinia in return for joining the Stresa front - Br and Fr wanted protection

Phase 1: Summer 1935

• Italy prepares to invade Abyssinia

• Both Br and Fr start to hear about Abyssinia - public outcry

• LoN union in Br vote for military action in Abyssinia if Mussolini continues

• Britain is facing autumn election - could not risk upsetting voters - so politicians get tough and talk of upholding collective security

Phase 1: September 1935

• after 8 months of discussions a committee report says neither side are responsible for Wal Wal incident (too slow)

• they suggest that Mussolini is given some of Abyssinia

• Mussolini objects

Stages of Phase 2

• 3rd October 1935

• 7th October 1935

• 11th October 1935

• December 1935

Phase 2: 3rd October 1935

• Italian invastion

• Modern Italian army with tanks, aeroplanes and poison gas (chemical weapons)

• Abyssinia does not stand a chance