Summary about the League:

• What: An international organization

• Where: Founded in Geneva, Switzerland

• When: Established on January 10, 1920 and ended in April 20, 1946

• Why: To promote peace, prevent conflicts, and ensure collective security after World War I. However, it faced challenges and ultimately dissolved in 1946.

• Aims:

  • to discourage aggression from any nation

  • to encourage countries to co-operate, 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

Structure of the League of Nations:

• The members:

  • Permanent:

    • Who? Britain, France, Italy, Japan

    • Each permanent member had the power of veto.

  • Temporary:

    • The non-permanent members were elected by the Assembly for a three-year term.

• The Council:

  • Met five times a year and in cases of emergency.

  • Included permanent members and temporary members. If any disputes arose between members, brought problem to Council and sorted out through discussion.

  • How could the Council punish the country at fault?

    • Moral condemnation

    • Economic and financial sanctions

    • Military force

• The Assembly:

  • The League's Parliament.

  • How it works? Every country in League sent representative to Assembly and they would recommend actions to the Council. They only met once a year. Everything had to be done unanimously.

  • What did the Assembly do?

    • admitting new members to the League

    • appointing temporary members of the Council

    • budget of the League

    • other ideas put forward by the Council

• The Permanent Court of International Justice

  • Role: To settle disputes between countries peacefully.

  • Disadvantages: The court couldn’t be sure the country in the wrong will follow its consequences.

• The Secretariat:

  • It’s purpose?

    • A civil service helping the other bodies of the League

  • What did they do?

    • Keep records of the meetings and prepared records

    • It was bringing together experts trying to solve key issues such as health, disarment, etc.

• The International Labour Organization:

  • It’s aim was to improve working conditions around the world

  • How did they try to achieve their goal? By trying to persuade member countries to adopt its suggestions

• The League of Nations Commissions:

  1. The Mandates Commissions

     • What are the Mandates Commissions? They are Germany’s old colonies and old allies under the control of the League, but mainly under the control of France and Britain

     • What was their aim? To be sure that France and Britain did not act in their own interest, but in the interest of the people.

  2. The Refugees Committee

     • What are the Refugees Committee? After WW1 a lot of people fled areas of conflict.

     • What was their aim? To help the refugees get home or to help them find a new home.

  3. The Slavery Commission

     • What are the Slavery Commission? There were a lot of slaves at that time and mistreated workers.

     • What was their aim? The League wanted to abolish slavery around the world and to try to help mistreated workers.

  4. The Health Committee

     • What are the Health Committee? During WW1 medicine has evolved a lot.

     • What was their aim? To bring experts around the world to work on public health and disease prevention.

Conflicts that arose during the 1920’s:

1. Vilna 1920

   • What happened? Poland invaded the capital of Lithuania because they claimed it had Polish people living there.

   • What did the League do? The League asked Poland to retrieve its troops.

   • Was it successful? No because Poland refused to withdraw its troops

   • Sidenote: France was okay with this because it wanted Poland to get stronger in case Germany invaded France

2. Upper Silesia 1921

   • What happened? Upper Silesia was given to Poland. Both German and Poland wanted this area.

   • What did the League do? The League divided Upper Silesia between Poland and Germany by organizing a plebiscite that was policed by British and French troops

   • Was it successful? Yes because it gave self-determination to its people.

3. Corfu 1923

   • What happened? Mussolini accused the Greeks of attacking their army so they invaded Corfu in hopes that the Greeks would comply. Mussolini was also killing innocent civilians.

   • What did the League do? The League condemned Mussolini’s actions. However, Mussolini put pressure on the League members and eventually the Greeks were forced to apologies and pay compensation.

   • Was it successful? No, Mussolini took advantage of the fact that he was a permanent member of the LoN.

4. Bulgaria 1925

   • What happened? Fighting erupted between Bulgaria and Greece. Bulgaria claimed that Greece was to blame.

   • What did the League do? The League decided that Greece was at fault. They were ordered to withdraw and pay compensation. The Greeks complied, but complained that Italy had not been treated this way in Corfu

   • Was it successful? Yes but Greece criticizing it because of the Corfu incident.

Manchuria conflict

• What happened: an invasion that destroyed a section of a railway.

• Where: in Manchuria, China

• When: Sep 1931-1933

• Why: The Japanese, who owned the railway, blamed Chinese nationalists for the incident and used the opportunity to retaliate and invade Manchuria

• What did the League do?

  • Dec 1931: the League appointed a commission led by Lord Lytton to investigate.

  • He did not get to Manchuria until April 1932 and did not report until September!

  • Sept 1932: Lytton's report stated that Japan was the aggressor and should leave Manchuria.

• What was Japan’s response?

  • February 1933 – Japan does not withdraw from Manchuria and announces it intends to invade more of China!

  • 24 Feb 1933: The Assembly voted 42:1 to approve the Lytton Report that stated Japan should leave Manchuria.

  • 27 March 1933 – Japan resigned from the League.

Abyssinia crisis:

• Background: Mussolini establishes fascists, after strikes, protests, and land seizures. King asks him to form government, popular with public works programs, corruption, and armed forces.

• What? a dispute, which then turned into a conflict between Italy and the Ethiopian Empire

• Where? over the town of Walwal, modern Ethiopia

• When? 1935-1936

• Why?

  1. Revenge for the Adowa war in 1896

  2. To rebuild the Roman Empire

  3. Mussolini wanted the mineral resources available in this part of the world.

• What did the League do?

  • Imposed sanctions – took 6 weeks to implement.

  • 3 of Italy’s allies refused to participate.

  • Sanctions on gold, steel and grain caused difficulties for Italy

  • Britain and France feared war with Italy if an oil ban was used.

  • Britain did not close the Suez Canal which allowed Italy to continue to supply its army.

  • The British foreign secretary and French FM drew up the Hoare-Laval plan which would give Italy large parts of Abyssinia. Due to public outrage this was dropped

Reasons for USA Rejection

• German immigrants didn't want USA to be part of League

• Isolationism, wanted USA to stay out of European affairs, didn't want to send troops and settle disputes

• Economic costs of joining

• Anti-British and Anti-French Americans against idea of colonies and empires.

Key terms and names:

• Unanimous- In complete agreement

• Veto- The power to forbid or reject

• Collective security- Thee agreements between countries for mutual defence and to discourage aggression

• Covenant- A set of 26 Articles or rules which all members of the League agreed to follow

• Idealism- A theory of international relations that focuses on the hope the nations will act together to solve international problems and promote peace

• Haile Selassie: Emperor of Ethiopia