league of nations

aims of the league of nations

• discouraging aggression from manitoba and promote disarmament

• encourage nations to cooperate in areas like business trade

• improve living conditions of people across the world

• article 10 of the league covenant called for collective security

league membership

• 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

• occurrences

  • Germany was not allowed to join due to WWI and had to prove they were peace loving nation

    • however, they were allowed to join in 1926

  • USSR prevented from joining for being communist and didn’t want to join either

    • they were allowed to join in 1934

  • USA did not join due to opposition back home and congress votes against they joining

    • they NEVER join

the structure

• 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 cropped by permanent members

• the assembly

  • had representatives of all the members and it met 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

• the league could punish a country which broke the covenant using either economic sanctions or military sanctions

  • this 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 broke the covenant

league successes in the 1920s (conflict resolution)

• Breeze 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

league successes (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 the 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 diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and malaria through mosquito extermination campaigns

league failure in 1920s (Ruhr occupation)

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

• League took no effective action against France in response

• Supported the idea of the League being a victors club from the war who could simply do as they please

league failure in 1920s (Corfu)

• represents biggest league failure during the 1920s

• Mussolini orders occupation of Greek island in 1923 after murder of italian general on border

  • ordered the invasion after Greece realised to pay compensation and could not locate culprits

• league condemned the invasion but the 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 league by the 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 Britain and France no longer saw it as a priority

Manchuria incident (causes)

• The population began to grow rapidly and Japan needed more land and raw materials

• Manchuria had vast resources of coal and iron that Japan lacked

• The price of rice fell and exports of silk were affected by the Depression

• In 1931, Japan invade Manchuria, which was a province of China, claiming that they were acting in self defence

  • it claimed that a railway had been blown up at Mukden on 18th September

  • this was their public reason for invading

Manchuria incident (events)

• Japan set up a puppet government with the last emperor of China as its head

• the league of nations set up a commission of inquiry under the earl of Lytton to investigate

• in October, the Lytton commission reported that there was no evidence that the Japanese had acted in self-defence and recommended that Manchuria should be an autonomous region under Chinese control

• The Japanese ignored the report and the condemnation from the league and resigned in 1933

Manchuria incident (reasons for failure)

• the lack of an army meant that countries had to be persuaded to declare war on Japan

• Manchuria was remote and military action would be very difficult

• the league discussed economic sanctions but it was powerless without USA, main trading partner

  • league failed to even agree on arms sanction on Japan

invasion of Abyssinia (causes)

• in October 1922, Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy

  • From 1925, he ruled as a virtual dictator

• By the mid 1930s, Italy was suffering very badly from the effects of the Depression and Mussolini was becoming very unpopular

  • His solution was to begin an aggressive foreign policy

• Italy had been denied territory in the Balkans in 1919

  • Mussolini’s solution was to extend Italian Empire in East Africa

invasion of Abyssinia (events)

• on 3 October 1935, the Italian armed forces invaded the African state of Abyssinia (now called Ethiopia)

• At first, the Italians faced considerate opposition, as the Abyssinians avoided a pitched battle and retreated slowly

• In early 1936, however, the Italians began to use poison gas and, along with their air power, this led to the collapse of the Abyssinian forces

• In May 1936, the capital, Addis Ababa, was occupied and the emperor Haile Selassie fled to Britain

invasion of Abyssinia (league reaction)

• Sanctions were applied to Italy, including an arms embargo, banning Italian imports and all financial dealings, but oil was not included

• Mussolini later admitted that that was the one thing that would have forced him to withdraw

• In June 1936, Haile Selassie addressed the Assembly of the League of Nations

• Throughout, he was heckled by the Italian journalists, who whistled to try to stop him being heard

  • His speech had no effect

invasion of Abyssinia (reasons for failure)

• League was undermined in 1935 when Britain and France tried to arrange a compromise solution to the crisis, the Hoare-Laval pact

  • This would have allowed Mussolini to retain control of most of Abyssinia

• both Britain and France were alarmed at events in Germany and wanted to keep Mussolini on their side against Hitler

• the three nations had already formed the Stresa Front in 1934

  • Britain and France did not want Mussolini to resign from the League of Nations

Abyssinia and Manchuria (reasons for failure)

• both countries were invaded by major powers who were permanent members of the council

  • there was very little appetite for military action against either

• in the case of Abyssinia, Britain and France tried to do a deal with Mussolini in the Hoare-Laval pact

  • when this became public, the moral authority of the League disappeared

• Britain and France attempted to keep Mussolini ‘onside’ by preventing oil being added to the economic sanctions

• Britain also refused to close the Suez Canal

  • that would have Mussolini

reasons for the failure of the league

• topic often has a range of potential questions about reasons for the failure of the league

• they may have no factor in the question, state one or factor or specifically ask you to compare factors

• some factors might be specific events, Manchuria/Depression etc., others could be more abstract, membership/structure etc., could be blaming specific countries, Britain and France to blame etc.