KT2 - The League of Nations Flashcards
How successful was the League of Nations with the Vilna dispute and why?
- Quite unsuccessful
- In 1920, Poland took control of the Lithuanian capital so Lithuania appealed to the League of Nations for help
- The League of Nations only condemned Poland but France and Britain were not prepared to take action
What did Wilson want the League of Nations to be like?
- A world parliament
- That guaranteed territorial integrity
- And safeguarded peace
What did David Lloyd George want the League of Nations to be like?
- Simple organisation
- Only got together in emergencies
How did the Great Depression make the work of the League more difficult?
- Economic and trade sanctions were harder to impose because it could cripple an economy
- Countries would not disarm
- Countries would be worried about materials and money so will want to expand and possible invade other countries
How successful was the League in the Disarmament Conference and why?
- Fairly unsuccessful
- Rules were created and agreed on but could not be actioned because there was no way to plausibly ban bombs/planes etc…
- Germany felt they should be allowed to rearm to the same level as other countries
How unsuccessful was the League of Nations in terms of dealing with the Manchurian crisis and why?
- Unsuccessful
- The League of Nations could not stop Japan because only the USA could impose trade sanctions due to the USA being Japan’s trade partner
- The League of Nations was afraid that Japan would retaliate if the sale of arms was banned
- Lytton report took 1 year to be published
How successful was the League of Nations with the dispute regarding Upper Silesia and why?
- Successful
- In 1921 Germany and Poland had a dispute over ownership of Upper Silesia
- The League of Nations oversaw a peaceful plebiscite
- Upper Silesia given to Poland
- Both countries agreed with the League of Nations’s judgement
How did weaknesses in the structure of the League of Nations make failure inevitable?
- Lack of military power weakened the League of Nations’s ability to enforce its decisions
- USA not being in the League of Nations diminished it’s global authority because the USA was a major power
- Limited economic sanctions due to countries being unwilling to risk their economies
- All decisions were subject to veto
What did Clemenceau want the League of Nations to be like?
- To have an army to sustain power and enforce sanctions
- He proposed to supplement it with France’s own army
How successful was the League of Nations Aaland Island dispute and why?
- Very successful
- After Finland and Sweden threatened to go to war over the islands in 1921, the League of Nations stepped in and peacefully got Sweden to accept that the islands belonged to Finland
What happened to the Rhineland?
It was de-militarized
How successful was the League of Nations in the Abyssinian crisis and why?
- Unsuccessful
- It was a dispute between Italian and Abyssinian soldiers at the Walwal Oasis
- Mussolini declared it Italian land
- Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations for help
- Whilst Mussolini was supposed to be negotiating with the League of Nations, he was sending troops to Abyssinia
- Britain and France could have stopped Mussolini by closing the Suez Canal but didn’t, to keep him as an ally against Hitler
- The League of Nations essentially just turned a blind eye
Who was Alsace Lorraine given to?
France
How much did Germany have to pay in reparations?
£6.6 billion
How successful was the League of Nations with regard to Welfare and Workers’ Rights and why?
- Quite successful
- The International Labour Organisation (ILO) was created
- ILO set the 48 hour week which reduced people being unfairly overworked
- The ILO also banned white lead from paint for the Welfare of the workers who came into contact with it.