2. To what extent was the League of Nations a success? Flashcards
2.0 Aims of the League:
The aims of the League were set out in the Covenant. They were:
- to achieve international peace and security
- to promote international cooperation, especially in business and trade
- to encourage nations to disarm
- to improve living and working conditions for the people of all nations
- to uphold and enforce the Treaty of Versailles.
2.0 Organisation and structure of the League
The Assembly:
-Met annually at the League’s headquarters.
-All members of the Leaque were represented.
-Considered matters of general policy and
recommended action to the Council.
-Fixed the budget.
-Every member of the League had one vote.
-Decisions had to be unanimous.
The Council:
-Met four times a year and for emergencies.
-Had both permanent and non-permanent
members.
-In 1920 the permanent members were Britain,
France, Italy and Japan.
-The non-permanent members were elected by
the Assembly for three-year periods.
-In 1926 Germany became a permanent member.
-The number of non-permanent members
increased from four in 1920 to nine in 1926 and
eleven in 1936.
-Each member country had one vote. Decisions
had to be unanimous.
The Secretariat: -Performed all the administrative and financial work of the League. -Organised conferences and meetings. -Kept records and prepared reports.
Agencies,
committees and
commissions:
-The Mandates Commission ensured that
Britain and France acted in the interests of
the people of the former colonies of Germany
and her allies.
-The Refugees Committee assisted in the return
of refugees to their original homes following the
end of war.
-The Slavery Commission worked to abolish
slavery around the world.
-The Health Committee began to educate people
about health and sanitation and started to deal
with dangerous diseases.
2.1 How successful was the League in the 1920s?
In the 1920s, people had a high level of good will due to not wanting to repeat the events of the First World War. Disputes generally involved smaller countries. Countries were still rebuilding economically and militarily. The League was led by the victors so gave it some credibility.
Success in settling political disputes: -Sweden and Finland fought over the Aaland Islands (1921); resolved by giving them to Finland. -Dispute between Germany and Poland over Upper Silesia (1921); the area was divided between the two following a plebiscite. -Dispute between Turkey and Iraq over the province of Mosul (1924). -Greece and Bulgaria fought over their borders (1925); Greece was ordered to withdraw and pay Bulgaria £45,000 compensation.
Success in dealing with humanitarian issues:
-Refugees—After the war around 400,000
prisoners and refugees were successfully returned
to their homelands from Russia and Greece.
-Health organisation-~-Helped Soviet Russia to
prevent a typhus epidemic in Siberia; worked
hard to defeat leprosy; started an international
campaign to exterminate mosquitoes, reducing
the spread of malaria and yellow fever.
-Transport—Made recommendations for the
marking of shipping lanes; produced an
international highway code for road users.
-Economic and financial-~-Devised a plan to deal
with Austria’s economic problems by stabilising
the currency; devised similar plans for Hungary,
Greece and Bulgaria,
-Social issues- Freed 200,000 slaves in
British-owned Sierra Leone; it challenged the
use of forced labour on the Tanganyika railway
in Africa, reducing the death rate from 50% to
4%; blacklisted large international companies
involved in illegal drug selling.
-Working conditions—Banned poisonous white
lead from paint; limited the working hours for
young children.
2.1 How unsuccessful was the League in the 1920s?
Failure to deal with aggressors: -Poland and Lithuania fought over Vilna (1920). Poland was clearly the aggressor but did not withdraw. The French would not act against Poland as they saw them as a possible future ally. -Italy and Greece dispute over Corfu (1923). Here Mussolini went behind the back of the League to the Conference of Ambassadors, persuading it to change the League ruling.
Failure to implement disarmament: -All attempts at international disarmament failed, despite the efforts of the Disarmament Commission. The French regarded disarmament as a threat to their security. This encouraged Germany to argue that they had a right to rearm to protect themselves.
Agreements made outside the League: -There was limited faith in the League’s ability to deal with any major challenge in the 1920s as the resolution of disputes was in relation to minor countries. -France was the country most concerned about its security, making mutual assistance pacts with other countries including Poland and Czechoslovakia. -The Locarno Treaties of 1925 provided guarantees for the frontiers of northeastern Europe -The Kellogg-Briand Pact had 65 signatories of countries renouncing war by 1928.
2.2 How far did weaknesses in the League’s organisation make failure inevitable?
Membership:
-The United States refused to join and this meant
that the League was missing the world’s wealthiest and most powerful
country. This reduced the ability of the League to take action against
aggressive countries either militarily or by considering economic and
trade sanctions.
-Germany was only allowed to join the League in 1926 after it had
demonstrated its peaceful intentions. This had the effect of creating a view
that the League was a club created for victorious powers closely associated
with the Treaty of Versailles.
-Soviet Russia was not invited to join the League because it was communist.
Russia was the third of three significant world powers not in the League.
-Britain and France were the only major powers that were members of the
League throughout its existence but they were both greatly weakened by
the First World War.
-Britain was trying to maintain its empire while France
was primarily concerned with increasing security against Germany. The
League took second place.
-Japan and Italy were both original members but left after disputes
with the League. Japan left in 1933 following criticism for invading
Manchuria and Italy left in 1937 following the imposition of sanctions
over Abyssinia.
Collective security
-The League did not have an army of its own and so relied heavily on
collective security. If military sanctions were to be imposed, member
countries would be asked to contribute towards a fighting force. This
created uncertainty as an appropriate army would be difficult to assemble
since member states would be reluctant to send their army to participate in
a dispute in which they were not directly involved.
-In theory this appeared to be a good idea for the preservation of peace
but often nations looked to the League to take action when they were not
Willing to take action themselves.
-The absence of the United States reduced its effectiveness as the League
was deprived of a powerful army and strong financial backing in support
of sanctions.
-The League’s Covenant demanded unanimous decisions in both the
Assembly and the Council. This made it difficult to take decisive action
against any country acting in a war-like manner.
-Collective security represented an idealistic approach. It was unrealistic to
expect nations to obey it while at the same time failing to give it the power
to enforce its will.
2.3 How far did the Depression make the work of the League more difficult?
- Reluctance to impose economic sanctions, countries wanted to maintain existing trade contacts.
- Extremists came to power who were often nationalist in nature. They did not believe in democracy and ignored the authority of the League.
- Extreme nationalism brought with it militarism. Parties built up their armed forces and used aggression to achieve their aims, for example, the Nazi Party in Germany.
- People lost their jobs and turned to extreme parties like the Nazis who promised solutions to the economic crisis.
- League members lacked the means to deal with aggressors as there was no money to spend on armaments.
- Countries found themselves under pressure to find new markets and raw materials. Often this was through colonisation or annexation, for example, Japan in Manchuria.
2.4 How successful was the League in
the 1930s? -Manchuria
Japan’s invasion of Manchuria:
Japan faced a declining export market for its silk as demand decreased resulting in a growing economic crisis. Invading
Manchuria provided an answer to Japan’s need for food and raw materials.
Response of the League:
- The League instructed Japan to withdraw, but was ignored and the invasion continued.
- A commission of enquiry was set up, led by Lord Lytton. This concluded that the invasion was not justified. The commission did not present its report until 1932, a full year after the invasion. The findings were considered by the League in February 1933 and were accepted by a vote of 42 to 1.
- Japan responded by terminating its membership of the Leaque.
Failure to introduce sanctions:
- No European country wanted to cut back its trade with the Far East, especially as America would have taken over.
- Military sanctions were less appealing as it would have involved the sending of a naval task force to the other side of the world with little chance of success.
- Britain and France feared attack on their Far East colonies if sanctions were imposed.
- The League was Eurocentric in nature and did not see Asia as vital for Europe.
Result:
- Japan got away with blatant aggression as Hitler and Mussolini watched with interest.
- The League looked weak when faced with aggressive action taken by a strong country.
- To avoid taking action the League regarded Manchuria as a Japanese sphere of interest.
- As these events took place in East Asia the League was less
damaged. Some League members believed that if the action was in Europe the League would take appropriate action.
2.4 How successful was the League in the 1930s? - Abyssinia
In October 193& Italy invaded Abyssinia. Mussolini wanted to boost his popularity in Italy following a period of economic recession and unemployment. Abyssinia had quite primitive defence conoared to the Italian amry and air force.
The League and Abyssinia:
• The League immediately condemned the unprovoked aggression of
Italy and imposed economic sanctions which immediately banned
arms sales to Italy, monetary loans to Italy, imports from Italy and exports to Italy of rubber, tin and metals.
Failures of the League:
-The League failed to ban oil and coal exports to Italy as it was
thought America would not support this and that the economic
interests of League members would be affected.
-It did not close the Suez canal to Mussolini’s supply ships for fear
of reprisals against the British colonial possessions of Gibraltar
and Malta.
Result:
-Britain and France showed self-interest, if coal had been included in
the sanctions it was reported that 30,000 British coal miners would
lose their jobs.
-Also the behind-the-scenes Hoare-Laval Pact was leaked to the French press. This was disastrous for the League as its members were seen as committing an act of treachery, with the League losing all credibility.
-Furthermore, France had made secret agreements with Italy giving them economic concessions in North Africa and Mussolini may well have thought France would not object to him taking over Abyssinia.
-The League was powerless when its most important members failed
to take effective action against Italy as they were desperate to keep
Italy’s friendship.
-They feared Mussolini would ally with Hitler
On 7 March 1936 Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland. The French
would now not support sanctions as they were desperate to gain the
support of Italy.
-On 9 May 1936 Mussolini formally annexed the whole of Abyssinia.
The League watched helplessly.
-Collective security was now dead as was the existence of the League
as a peacekeeping organisation.
-In November 1936 Mussolini and Hitler signed the Rome-Berlin Axis.
