KQ2: To what extent was League of Nations a success? Flashcards
Main aims of LoN:
- Stop War
- Improve people’s lives/jobs
- Disarmament
- Enforce Treaty of Versailles
Operation of LoN:
- All Nations join
- All Nations disarm
- Sanctions on any member who broke rules
- Problems/disputes taken to LoN
- Protect one another if invaded
Problems from the start:
- USA didn’t join
- Dominated by Britain and France
- Germany barred
- Permanent members with vetoes: Britain, France, Italy, Japan
- No standing army
- All decisions had to be unanimous
Treaties in 1920s (6 points):
- Washington Conference 1921
- Rapallo Treaty 1922
- Dawes’ Plan 1924
- Locarno Treaty 1925
- Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928
- Young Plan 1929
All done OUTSIDE LoN, against Wilson’s 14 points
Washington Conference
- 1921
- Japan, Britain, Britain, France, USA all agree to limit navies
Rapallo Treaty
1922
- Germany and USSR open diplomatic relations
Dawes’ Plan
1924
- USA lends money to Germany to stop hyperinflation
Dawes’ Plan
1924
- USA lends money to Germany to stop hyperinflation
Locarno Treaty
1926
- Germany accepts Western Borders (gives up Saarland, Alsace-Lorraine, Malmedy)
Kellogg-Briand Pact
1928
- War is condemned as a method of conflict relation by 65 countries
Young Plan
1929
- USA agrees to reduce American war reparations to help Germany back on its feet
(Never happens because of Depression)
Successful Diplomatic Incidents in 1920s:
- Upper Silesia 1921
- Aaland Islands 1921
- Mosul 1924
- Bulgaria 1925
Upper Silesia
1921:
-LoN allowed a plebiscite and stuck to it, giving industrial land to Germany and agricultural areas to Poland
Aaland Islands
1921:
- Wanted by Sweden and Finland
- LoN gives them to Finland, Sweden backs down
Mosul:
1924:
- Area disputed between Ottomans and Iraq
- LoN gives it to Iraq, no conflict, Ottomans back down
Bulgaria
1925:
- Greek soldiers killed on Greco-Bulgarian border
- Greece invades Bulgaria
- LoN fines them £45,000
Structure of LoN:
- Assembly, met once a year, all members, all decisions unanimous
- Council, met 5 times a year, 4 permanent members (Britain, France, Japan, Italy), each with a veto
- Permanent Court of International Justice gave legal advice to Council and Assembly
- Secretariat kept records, arranged interpreters etc
- International Labour Organisations worked to improve working conditions
- Conference of Ambassadors settled border disputes
Health Organisation:
- Survived LoN to become WHO
- Developed Vaccines for diptheria, tetanus, TB
- Campaign to exterminate mosquitoes
- Created research institutes in London, Copenhagen and Singapore
- Helped non-LoN states (USSR typhus epidemic)
Refugee Organisation:
- Helped repatriate WW1 PoW’s and civillians
- gave them documents, retrained them
- Helped 425,000 people
Economic and Financial Organisation:
- Controlled Interest rates, circulation of banknotes
- Gave loans
-unemployment fell and budgets were balanced in Austria, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria
International Labour Organisation:
-Workers rights
- Put in place 8 hr days, 48 hr weeks, annual holiday, trade unions
- got rid of white lead paint
Slavery Commission:
-Abolish Slavery
- Freed 200,000 slaves in Sierra Leone
- reduced death rate on Tanganyikan railway from 50% to 4%
- Abolished slavery in Iraq, Jordan, Nepal
Failures in 1920’s:
- Vilna 1920
- Occupation of the Ruhr 1923
- Corfu 1923
- Wall St. 1929
Vilna
1920
- Poland invades Lithuanian Capital (Vilna)
- LoN condemns but Poland doesn’t stop
- Noone willing to send troops or anger Poland (Communist buffer)
- LoN gives Vilna to Poland
Occupation of the Ruhr
1923
- France and Belgium invade the Ruhr (industrial area of Germany) to take reparations)
- only left in 1925 when USA stabilised German economy
- Directly led to hyperinflation
Corfu
1923
-Italian General killed in Greece
- Italians invade Greek Island of Corfu
-LoN condemns it, Italians continue
- Greece is forced to pay Italy 50 mill. Lira for them to leave
Manchurian Incident
1931-33
- Japan invades Manchuria (China) for resources, power, money after Wall St.
- LoN powerless, Japan only power in Asia
- Japan uses it’s veto to stop action
- LoN send Lord Lytton to investigate, many people die around him, he condemns Japan, but nothing happens
- 1933: Japan leaves LoN
Disarmament Conference:
1932-34
- Tried to get 54 countries to disarm, after Wall St. tensions were high and noone willing to cooperate any more
- Hitler gives speech that he is outraged that Germany has been the only major nation to disarm and that it’s not fair, then walks out of the conference.
- Germany leaves LoN in 1933, announces violations of ToV in 1934 and begins remilitarising
Abyssinia
1935-36
- Italy wanted Abyssinia (Ethiopia) for its own empire (also get back pride from 1896 defeat)
- 1934 Ethiopian soldiers meet Italian ones in Ethiopian territory, prepare to invade
- January 1935: British, French, Italian diplomats sign the Stresa Pact allying against Hitler
- October 1935: Italy invades
- LoN has chance to stop imports to Italy but Britain and France want to keep Mussolini onside
- December 1935: Britain and France propose the Hoare-Laval Pact, giving 2/3 of Abyssinia to Italy, calls off the attack
- Italy continues invasion anyway
