Chapter 2 League of Nations

Question 1

What main countries were not allowed to join the League, and why?

Answer 1

Germany - Germany was not allowed to join the League until it had proved to have peaceful intentions after WW1.

Soviet Russia – Soviet Russia was prohibited from joining the league, the main reasons being that it was communist and committed to the overthrow of capitalism.

Question 2

What was the League of Nations assembly and its role?

Answer 2

The Assembly was the main body of the League of Nations, it was the meeting place of all members. Each country which was a member sent someone to represent them at the assembly. The Assembly couldn’t enforce actions, but could recommend them to the Council of the League of Nations. The Assembly met only once a year.

Question 3

What was the League of Nations secretariat and its role?

Answer 3

The secretariat represented the civil service of the League, and were responsible for all the administrative and financial work, such as: organising conferences, distributing agendas, monitoring budgets, publishing reports, etc.

Question 4

What is the League supposed to do if one of the members was attacked?

Answer 4

The League committee and any other members are supposed to try to protect the country that is being attacked. According to article 10 of the League the countries must protect one another from external aggression, including through military means.

Question 5

What was the League of Nations Council and its role?

Answer 5

The Council consisted of 4 permanent Members (UK, France, Japan and Italy) and 4 non-permanent members elected by the assembly. It had most of the power the League possessed, with the authority over anything to do with disputes between countries.

Question 6

What was the function of the League Special Commissions?

Answer 6

The Special Commissions were set up to look into areas with special interest to the League e.g. slavery, suppressing drugs and minority rights. They had no direct power but could do studies and attract press attention.

Question 7

What was the function of the Permanent Court of Justice?

Answer 7

The Permanent Court of Justice was panel of trained judges with the authority to decide who was following international law in cases of dispute between countries.

Question 8

What was the League supposed to do if it one of its member states attacked somebody else?

Answer 8

In the case of aggression by a League member it was to be the target of economic sanctions by the League members.

Question 9

Why did the US not join the League of nations?

Answer 9

The US didn’t join the League because the Senate voted against Wilson’s plan for it. This was because most Americans did not feel they had done anything useful in WWI and wanted to avoid being dragged into any further wars on behalf of distant countries.

Question 10

Battle of Tannenburg/Eastern Front [WW1 – 1914]

Answer 10

The Battle of Tannenburg occurred on the Eastern Front between Germany and Russia, where Russia at first invaded Germany in East Prussia. It became the first major battle in the Eastern Front and had ended with a prominently German victory. This victory proved that the Russian army was weak, and they were not able to recover from this defeat until 1915.

Question 11

Lettow-Gorlice Offensive 1915

Answer 11

It was a major success for Austria-Hungary and Germany military on the Eastern Front. Following the joint campaign of the Central Powers, the Russian army had to beat a retreat along a wide front.

Question 12

Corfu Incident

Answer 12

An international boundary delegation of Italians was assassinated on Greek soil in August 1923, prompting Benito Mussolini to order a naval invasion of Corfu.

Question 13

Vilnius Dispute 1919

Answer 13

Post World War 1, a dispute arose between Poland and Lithuania regarding the latter’s capital named as Vilnius. Poland claimed that during the time when Lithuania claimed independence and their border was decided, Vilnius should have come to them. They also said that since most of the people of Vilnius were Polish speaking, Vilnius belonged to them according to self determination. Poland held the city as it pushed back in the Russians in 1919, only to lose it again in 1920.

Question 14

Żeligowski’s Mutiny

Answer 14

A polish false flag operation which resulted in the creation of the Republic of Central Lithuania. Żeligowski pretended to mutiny in order to fool the League of Nations, which did not want Poland attacking Lithuania. The Republic of Central Lithuania voted to join Poland the next year,

Question 15

Brusilov offensive 1916

Answer 15

Russia launched a major offensive against Austria Hungary in 1916. They used innovative tactics like short artillery bombardments before an attack and only attacking where the trenches were weakest. They badly damaged the Austrian army, causing over a million casualties and distracting the Germans from Verdun and the Somme. It eventually stopped as a result of lack of supply and German reinforcements.

Question 16

Kerensky offensive

Answer 16

In 1917 The leader of the Russian provisional government, after the Czars but before Lenin, launched an attack on Germany. It failed badly, helping Lenin take power and Germany take Eastern Europe.

Question 17

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Answer 17

Lenin agreed to let Germany take most of Eastern Europe in exchange for peace. He needed to fight a civil war and thought that if the Communist revolution would soon overtake the world, borders didn’t matter much.

Question 18

Vilnius dispute 1920 before Mutiny

Answer 18

Lithuania was given Vilnius by the USSR in exchange for letting them use Lithuania to attack Poland. The League decided Lithuania could keep it

Question 19

League of Nations reaction to Żeligowski’s Mutiny

Answer 19

The League did totally believe the fiction of the ‘Mutiny’ but didn’t want to react militarily as France wanted to keep Poland as an ally and the USSR threatened war if they moved troops close to its borders. They decided on a Plebesite (election) in which the people could decide. This was ignored by both countries as Poland didn’t want to give up military control and Lithuania doubted it could win.

Question 20

Locarno Treaty

Answer 20

The UK, France, Germany and Italy signed a treaty saying they would not attack each other and the current borders were final. They agreed Germany’s eastern border would be settled by the League, which made Poland unhappy.

Question 21

Cordon Sanitaire

Answer 21

A military alliance between France, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. It aimed to contain both Germany and the USSR.

Question 22

League Reaction (Corfu)

Answer 22

The League decided to side with Italy, making Greece pay reparations. France was unwilling to go to war with Italy and did not want to establish that the League could decide such things as the Ruhr was occupied by their troops. The powers decided it was better to side with Mussolini than the look weak by giving orders they could not enforce.

Question 23

Japanese role in Manchuria post-Russo Japanese war.

Answer 23

The Japanese and Russian governments signed the Treaty of Portsmouth, which formally ended the Russo-Japanese war. It essentially recognized Japan’s control of Korea and the South Manchuria Railway, as well as the southern half of Sakhalin Island. Russian in return agreed to evacuate Southern Manchuria, depriving their power of the region, but was not required to pay Japan’s war costs.

Question 24

May 15 incident

Answer 24

The May 15 incident took place on May 15, 1932. It was an attempt to overthrow the government of the Japanese Empire by its military forces and ended with an assassination of Japanese prime minister. The assassins were caught, however, because of the strong support from the population the sentence of the assassins was not as significant as it could have been. As a result, military influence increased significantly, and the government’s positions drastically decreased because it failed to show power and control over the country.

Question 25

Sanctions towards Mussolini by the league

Answer 25

The league did not like that Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and then as a form of protest they declared limitations on import and export from and to Italy which are called sanctions. Sanctions were supposed to put pressure on the Italian government and make them not able to support the war because wars are pricey. So, by giving Mussolini more headaches they were hoping to decrease his military activity. It did hurt Mussolini and slow down the military movement however not to a point where he would stop the invasion of Ethiopia. So, the main goal of the sanctions was not achieved fully but to a certain extent it was a successful move.

Question 26

How did the League react to Haile Selassie’s speech at the League of Nations?

Answer 26

The League’s response was not the best. Emperor Haile Selassie had complained many times to the League. They gave verbal support to his cause and initially voted for sanctions but ended them a year later as Selassie gave his speech

Question 27

Why did France offer Mussolini a ‘free hand’ at the Stresa conference?

Answer 27

The Stresa Front was a coalition formed between Britain, France and Italy to oppose the foreign policy actions of Hitler. It was an agreement to resist any further attempts by Germany to change the Treaty of Versailles. The “Free hand” comment was taken by Mussolini as French agreement to let him take Ethiopia in exchange for support against Hitler.

Question 28

Reasons for Japanese expansion in 1930’s

Answer 28

Japan felt it needed to get stronger to survive in a European imperialism dominated world. It did not trust outside powers to provide it with recourses and wanted to take recourses under its own control

Question 29

What was the Horae-Laval pact and how successful was it?

Answer 29

Horae and Laval were the British and French Foreign ministers attempting to negotiate a compromise with Italy over Abyssinia. It would have allowed Italy to take 2/3 of the country but kept it independent. It was rejected because of popular outrage after it was told to the public.

Question 30

What happened at the Stresa Conference?

Answer 30

The Allies signed an agreement with Mussolini reinforcing the Locarno Pact at Stresa. Mussolini tells the British and French about his plan to invade Ethiopia. France agrees but Britain does not. Mussolini doubts that UK will fight for anything.

Question 31

Why did Mussolini want to invade Abyssinia?

Answer 31

Mussolini wanted to make Italy into a Great Power, which meant having colonies as the UK and France did. Abyssinia was the only major African country left to conquer.

Question 32

What was the Geneva Protocol?

Answer 32

The Geneva Protocol tried to turn the League into a military alliance by obligating the League to oppose with war or sanctions any country that invaded another. This was done in 1924 the Corfu incident made people realize the weakness of the League. It was defeated as the UK was concerned about getting into pulled into wars it did not want to.

Question 33

How did Hitler react to Mussolini’s mobilization on his borders after Dollfuss’ death?

Answer 33

Hitler backed down, expelling the Austrian wing of the Nazi party from the German group. He formally denied any knowledge of the assassination of Dollfuss and ended all attempts to exert power in Austria for the time.

Question 34

Main areas of disagreement at the World Disarmament conference

Answer 34

Nobody really agreed on what country should be allowed how many weapons. They also did not agree on the nature of ‘defensive’ vs, ‘offensive’ weapons. Germany under Hitler believed the Allies were planning on using it to keep Germany weak like after the Treaty of Versailles, though the Allies denied this.

Question 35

Mukden Incident

Answer 35

Japanese officers sabotaged the Japanese owned railroad in Manchuria, claiming it was done by China. They used this to seize full control of Manchuria, whereas previously they had only controlled the railroads, mines and major businesses.

Question 36

Why was Italy able to invade Ethiopia successfully?

Answer 36

Italy was a modern industrial state with access to tanks, machine guns and other modern weapons. Mussolini also freely used chemical weapons to crush the opposition.