League of Nations

Question 1

What is the League of Nations?

Answer 1

The first international supra-national cross-regional organization to facilitate international cooperation was promoted during the First World War by US President Woodrow Wilson.

Question 2

countries were willing to pursue this idea of the League of Nations in the hope that

Answer 2

it would prevent another catastrophic conflict after the devastation of the First World War,

Question 3

When was The League of Nations set up?

Answer 3

1920

Question 4

At its peak, there were how many members?

Answer 4

60 member states

Question 5

What was its purpose?

Answer 5

Its purpose was to avoid war through discussion, negotiation, and diplomacy. Wilson also hoped that it would be possible through the League to move towards universal disarmament.

Question 6

What The League offered its member states and what did it mean?

Answer 6

offered its member states ‘collective security’, in other words, nations would stand together to protect each other. If a country attacked a member state, the League collectively could impose sanctions-stop trading with the aggressor state.

Question 7

What was the alternative if these economic sanctions failed to deter the aggressor

Answer 7

The League could ask its member states to send in soldiers to resist the attack.

Question 8

Why did the League also undertake humanitarian work?

Answer 8

to improve the health and living standards of people throughout the world.

Question 9

How did it carry out humanitarian work

Answer 9

It had special commissions to work against slavery, to share medicines, and to help refugees.

Question 10

The special commission on disarmament was set up in

Answer 10

in 1926 to prepare for the 1932- 34 World Disarmament Conference.

Question 11

The Court of International Justice was set up in?

Answer 11

1921 at The Hague in Netherlands and included 15 judges from across the world.

Question 12

What was The Court of International Justice for?

Answer 12

Countries could bring disputes to the court and the judges would decide who was in the right, and how the dispute could be resolved., from disagreements over borders to fishing righ1i;

Question 13

The League also paid for The International Labour Organization (ILO) what was it for?

Answer 13

Each member ent two government ministers, one employer, and one worker. It discussed and got countries to improve working conditions

Question 14

What was the impact of the ILO?

Answer 14

This did have some notable successes, improving working conditions, encouraging better health and sanitation practices, giving economic assistance to countries that were in difficulty, and supporting refugees. It raised money to help Austria, whose economy was facing collapse after the First World War.

Question 15

However, the key function of the League was

Answer 15

o maintain peace and prevent war. It did have some successes in preventing conflict in the 1920s but it also had many limitations

Question 16

Why was the League of Nations less effective as an international peacekeeping body? (7 points)

Answer 16

Although the League was an American idea, the USA did not join it.
• The USSR and Germany were not initially allowed to be members.
• The most powerful body was ‘The Council’ - initially this was made up of the permanent members Britain, France, Italy, and Japan. This made it seem too European rather than genuinely a ‘world’ organization. (Japan was the only non-European member.)
• It could also be seen as an ‘imperialists’ club’ or ‘victors’ club’, as all Council members were imperial powers and all had been on the winning side in the First World War.
• ItdidnothaveitsownstandingLeaguearmy.
• It took a long time for decisions to be made and action
t taken.
• It relied on economic sanctions to get states to comply
with its decisions.

Question 17

What was The Council

Answer 17

the key committee as it took the major decisions

Question 18

What was the Secretariat

Answer 18

This body carried out the decisions taken by the council

Question 19

The weaknesses of the League itself were exposed when?

Answer 19

in the 1930s, new aggressor states challenged peace. The failure of the League to successfully challenge the actions of these states ultimately destroyed its credibility.

Question 20

The Japanese army invaded Manchuria in China in 1931., What reason or excuse did it give the League for this?

Answer 20

It claimed that the Chinese had blown

up a section of the railway at Mukden where the Japanese had stationed troops to protect it

Question 21

Why The Japanese army invade Manchuria

Answer 21

The Japanese army used theexcuse to expand and occupy Manchuria to gain resources and living space for Japan.

Question 22

What did China do and how did the League fail?

Answer 22

As a member state, China appealed to the League for help. It took the League almost a year to report that Japan was to blame and that the occupation should end. The League imposed limited economic sanctions.

Question 23

What did Japan do in response to the League?

Answer 23

The Japanese ignored the League and, in protest, left the League in 1933. The League had been powerless to stop the occupation and Japan, through the use of force, had been successful.

Question 24

Unchecked, the Japanese launched a full-scale war against China in 1937. What did China do and why did the League fail to help.

Answer 24

again China appealed to the League for help. But the League’s leading European powers, worried about the impact of the Great Depression on their own countries, did not want sanctions that could also damage their own economies.

Question 25

Italy, led by the dictator Benito Mussolini, was a member

of the League’s Council. What did it want and still do?

Answer 25

Mussolini wanted to expand the Italian empire and saw that aggression would go unopposed by the League and so Italy attacked Abyssinia in 1935.

Question 26

What was the status of Abyssinia as Italy invaded?

Answer 26

Abyssinia had limited weapons and resources and the Italian assault was ferocious, using aircraft and poison-gas attacks.

Question 27

What did Abyssinia do as Italy invaded and what was the response

Answer 27

Abyssinia was a member of the League, and its leader, Emperor Haile Selassie, appealed to it for help. The brutality of the attack meant there was much international sympathy for Abyssinia, but the other European states would not take strong action.

Question 28

When did the League impose economic sanctions on Italy

Answer 28

October 1935

Question 29

What was the impact of economic sanctions on Italy

Answer 29

did not restrict the supply of key war materials such as oil, steel or copper. The League’s weak response meant that Italy was able to secure the conquest of Abyssinia in 1936.

Question 30

What did Mussolini do after the conquest and seeing League weakness/

Answer 30

Mussolini then took Italy out of the League. The League’s reputation was in ruins. It was completely incapable of dealing with the aggressor states.

Question 31

Why was Hitler able to He could breach the Treaty of Versailles with relative impunity?

Answer 31

Britain and France had shown themselves as weak leaders of the international community through the League.