League of Nations

📜 The Foundation of the League of Nations

The League of Nations was an international diplomatic group set up after the First World War as a way to solve disputes between countries. It was a pre cursor to the United Nations and the League achieved some victories however had a mixed record of success: sometimes its own members put their own interests first and sometimes it came up against governments that didn’t recognise its authority. It ceased operations during WW2.

• President Wilson wanted the League to be a world parliament where representatives of all nations could meet regularly to discuss matters that affected them all.

• Many British leaders wanted an organisation that only met in emergencies however the Conference of Ambassadors already had this role and they feared that a permanent organisation would exert too much control and threaten their empire.

• France wanted a strong League with its own army.

The League of Nations was set up as part of the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference in June 1919. 44 countries signed the covenant of the League of Nations and the new body met for the first time in January 1920.

📜 Membership of the League

The first assembly consisted of all member nations, along with an eight-nation executive council. Britain, France, US, Italy and Japan were permanent members of the executive council. The League had 42 founding members: Germany & Russia were not allowed to join originally.

The League was reliant on the US: it was very wealthy and had a large army. In the States however, attitudes towards the league were mixed:

• Some felt the League was irrelevant and created to solve a European problem.

• Others believed it would drag American into wars that did not affect it.

• Some thought that it would create a new world order; overriding the US’ sovereignty and that it would limit US foreign policy capabilities.

Although Wilson campaigned for the League, he was unable to gain enough support from the US senate so the US never officially joined the League of Nations.

Therefore the League relied on other Allied forces such as Britain and France. Britain however was more concerned with its economic recovery and France’s main concern was Germany.

In October 1919, Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in creating the League of Nations. However suffered a stroke and died in February 1924.

📜 Aims of the League of Nations

1. Discourage aggression from any nation

2. To encourage cooperation especially in trade

3. To encourage disarmament (article 8)

4. To improve the living and working conditions (article 23)

Article 10: The members of the League undertake to respect and preserve against external aggression and territorial integrity and existing political independence of all members of the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression, the council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled.

📜 Structure of the League

Assembly:

Strengths

• Gave every country a voice to be heard

• Acted as the parliament of the league

• Inclusive and democratic

Weaknesses

• Only met once a year

• Unanimous decisions

• Could be overruled by the council

The Council:

Strengths

• Met multiple times a year - constant communication

• Had the ability to use a range of powers (eg. sanctions)

• Responsible and flexible

Weaknesses

• Veto (one negative vote could halt a whole motion)

• Could escalate situations with military power

The ILO & Commisions:

Strengths

• Attempted to tackle major world problems using specific committees

• Helped to improve working conditions

• Could agree on reachable aims and work towards them

Weaknesses

• Only met once a year

If permanent members were being aggressive, they couldn’t dodge the veto

📜 The Success of the League of Nations’ agencies?

Refugees:

• 425,000 displaced people were either able to return home or find new homes between 1920-1922

• Transport, camps, settlements and teaching trades was organised by Nansen and his team

Workers:

• Issued recommendations for eight hour work days, annual holidays with pay, minimum employment age

• Established and popularised a new series of benchmarks with regard to work and employment

Health:

• Most successful agency

• Provided information, assistance and advice on public health matters, prevented multiple epidemics

• Set-up a number of research institutions which have developed internationally accepted vaccines

Economics:

• Helped countries like Austria economically recover by helping to stabilise the currency

• This helped to revive trade and made unemployment rates fall

Slavery:

• Freed 200,000 slaves in Sierra Leone

• Reduced the death rate for African workers on the Tanganyika railway from 50% to 4%

• Unable to fully abolish slavery

Disarmament:

• Minor success at organising the Washington Naval Conference 1921 which led to an agreement on naval limitations by the USA, France, UK and Japan

• No real desire to disarm from the allies to bring a state of general disarmament

📜 The Great Depression

The recovery of trading in the late 1920s helped to reduce tension: when countries were trading with one another, they were less likely to go to war with each other.

In 1929, the Wall Street crash led many countries into an economic depression. Between 1929-1932 the volume of world trade fell by 70%. This marked the turning point in inter-war history: not only did it weaken the stability of the major powers, but it was a setback in terms of progress made since 1924 towards creating international peace and cooperation. Countries were more focused on their problems than the League of Nations.

It had a great political impact:

• In Germany it helped Adolf Hitler rise to power in January 1933

• In Japan it strengthened the hand of a group of army officers who argued in favour of invading Manchuria

• In Italy, it prompted Mussolini to have plans drawn up for the conquest of Abyssinia

The Great Powers (UK, USA and France) erected tariff barriers and attempted to make themselves economically self-sufficient. The British and French had a huge advantage due to their huge empires over Germans, Italians and the Japanese who began to carve out their own empires. They started to rearm to get industries working and giving jobs to the unemployed. This cuased an arms race.

The internationalist spirit of the 1920s was replaced by a more nationalist, self-interested approach in the 1930s.

📜 The Manchurian Crisis (1931-1933)

In the late 1800s, Japan started to acquire an empire to help them gain access to raw materials. In 1911, a revolution in China created a power vacuum which Japan took advantage of. By the late 1920s, they had control of Korea and Taiwan as well as an extensive influence in Manchuria.

During the Wall Street crash, Japan’s economy suffered greatly. The only way it could think to solve its problems was by expanding its empire. In 1931, Japanese officers in Manchuria initiated an incident in Mukden without the approval of the civil government of Japan.

The Mukden Incident and the Invasion of Manchuria

On September 18 1931, Japanese troops used an explosion along the South Manchurian Railway to invade Mukden; the explosives used did little damage to the railway. Nevertheless, the Japanese began artillery attacks for in retaliation for the ‘Chinese Attack’. Following the seizure of Mukden, Japanese troops began to occupy other towns & cities. Within 5 months the whole of Manchuria was under the control of the Japanese army.

The League’s Response

The initial response from the League was to follow its pre-arranged process for arbitration. They listened to both the Japanese and Chinese side and then council discussed the issue before providing a resolution. In this case, the Japanese were told to withdraw from Manchuria whilst the Lytton Commission investigated the issue. The Japanese ignored the wishes and continued to expand whilst negotiations and diplomatic efforts continued.

In October 1932, the commission produced the report that stated that Japan should leave Manchuria. In February 1933, the League voted against Japan and the delegation walked out of the League.

Although the League should have placed economic sanctions or collective military action to enforce the resolution, they didn't. Countries could not agree on what economic sanctions should be imposed and Britain and France were unwilling to risk armed conflict.

📜 World Disarmament Conference (1932- 1934)

The League of Nations was committed to disarmament - as it was the only way to avoid another world war.

The conference began in 1932 in Geneva and included the League of Nations and the USA however difficulties arose quickly and ultimately the conference failed. France and Germany were at odds over WW1; Germany argued that they should have the same level or armaments as other majors powers but the French were insistent that Germany’s military inferiority was their main concern over future conflict. The talks broke down and on 14th October 1933, Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations and the conference.

Reasons for Failure

• Rise of Nazi Germany

• Lack of trust

• Disagreements over naval limitations

• Rise in militarism

• Economic interests

📜 The Abyssinian Crisis (1934 - 1936)

In the early 1930s Mussolini was eager to increase the size of the Italian empire to:

• Gain access to raw materials needed to help Italian industry and military expansion

• Send a clear message of strength to the world

• Provide more land for the expanding population

• Give himself personal glory

Abyssinia (Ethiopia) had raw materials and was located next to Eritrea (part of the Italian empire). In 1930, the Italians built a fort at Wal Wal inside the Abyssinian border and over the years had built up their military presence in the area. Encouraged by the League’s failure in Manchuria, Italy prepared to go to war.

• On the 5/6 December 1934, the Wal Wal Incident occurred: a skirmish between Abyssinian and Italian forces.

• On 3rd January 1935, the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, appealed to the League for help however they were unwilling to act and gave no penalties at that time.

• On 7th January 1935, Britain and France ambassadors met with Mussolini in Rome - they couldn’t risk alienating him. The Franco-Italian agreement was signed: Mussolini gained land in French Somaliland and was given a free hand in Ethiopia in support against German aggression (Stresa Pact). As the League was too focused on Hitler’s actions, Mussolini agreed to work with them to stop Hitler from challenging the Treaty of Versailles.

• On 25th January 1935, Five Italian soldiers were killed by Ethiopian forces. Italian military pressure increased and Selassie asked the League to intervene however it couldn’t dispute a resolution.

• In September 1935, the League determined that neither side was responsible and Mussolini was granted some of Abyssinia (in an attempt to please Italy and keep them in the League) however he rejected it.

• In October 1935, 100,000 Italian soldiers invaded Abyssinia using modern material eg. tanks, planes and poison gas against the soldiers and civilians of Abyssinia. The League was placed to act this time and a committee met immediately to impose sanctions.

League Sanctions

• Banned the sale of arms (weapons), coal, rubber and metals to Italy

• Banned Italian exports

• Prevented loans to Italy

• Did not ban the sale of oil (used for tanks so Italy could still fight in Abyssinia)

• Italy could also still access the Suez canal

However, 30,000 British coalminers almost lost their jobs due to the ban on exports. The USA also started selling oil to Italy.

The Hoare Laval Pact

Outside of the League, French and British foreign minsters tried to strike a deal with Mussolini giving him 2/3 of Abyssinia in return for the end of the conflict. However details were leaked to the press and both Hoare and Laval were dismissed - seen as a treachery to the League.

Outcome

• 7 March 1936, Hilter marched into the Rhineland. France withdrew support for the sanctions and by May 1939, Mussolini had conquered Ethiopia.

Implications

• The League’s collective security was an empty promise and countries were putting themselves first

• In October 1936, Italy and Germany signed the Rome-Berlin Axis

• In December 1937, Italy left the League of Nations