LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Question 1

What is an obvious reason to why the League of Nations failed?

Answer 1

21 years after World War One, there was already another war breaking out which was much more deadly and destructive.

Question 2

What were the main aims for the League of Nations?

Answer 2

-discouraging aggression from any nation and promoting disarmament
-encouraging nations to co-operate in areas like business trade, gives countries less reason to be agressive
-improving general living conditions
-article 10, which mean collective security

Question 3

What was it meant by collective security?

Answer 3

This meant establishing a system that any act of aggression against a single member state meant an attack on everyone as they all believed in peace, basically a system where they all back each other up and are loyal allies.

Question 4

Which were the three crucial absences in the League of Nations?

Answer 4

-USSR due to being communist and didn’t want to join either, finally joined in 1934
-Germany not allowed until proven a peaceful country and finally joined in 1926
-USA did not join as congress voted against it joining due to their general view on isolationism

Question 5

How did the council work in the League of Nations?

Answer 5

The council consisted of meetings three times a year. The four main members would decide most of the important conflicts however any of the decisions could be vetoed by any permanent member.

Question 6

Who were the four main members?

Answer 6

Japan,Italy,France and Britain. Germany came in during 1926 and became a permanent member.

Question 7

What was the assembly in the League of Nations?

Answer 7

Consisted of representatives of all members and would meet once a year however decisions were unanimous.

Question 8

What was the permanent court of justice made up of?

Answer 8

This was set up to solve disputes between countries but both sides had to agree to take a dispute to court, if one country decided not to, it would just be dismissed and rulings would not be enforced.

Question 9

How could the league punish a country and what did they lack and could not do?

Answer 9

Economic or military sanctions could apply as a punishment if one country would break the convenant.
Since the league did not have an army or any willingness to go create an army, if an act of aggression occurred an individual country had to act and punish using their own soilders and army.

Question 10

Greece and Bulgaria, what happened.

Answer 10

In October 1925 there was an incident on the Bulgarian border and, as a result, a Greek military officer was killed. Bulgaria appealed to the League for help when it was invaded by Greece. The dispute happened due to a shoot-out between Greek and Bulgarian soldiers on the Bulgarian border, resulting in the death of a Greek soldier. The Greeks invaded in retaliation. Bulgaria did not fight back, but appealed to the League. The League ordered Greece to withdraw, which it did.

Question 11

How did the league react to the situation?

Answer 11

It reacted quickly to the invasion.
❖ It promptly called a meeting in Paris.
❖ It reached the decision that both sides should stand down, and Greek forces should leave Bulgaria immediately.
❖ After further investigation, the League decided it favoured Bulgaria’s version of events.
❖ Greece was forced to pay £45,000 in compensation and threatened with sanctions.

Question 12

How did living conditions due to league improve(based on refugees)

Answer 12

The league took charge of the returning refugees and prisoners of war to their own countries after the Great War. About 400,000 were returned safely due to creation of Nansen Passport

Question 13

How did the leagues agencies also tackle the slave trade?

Answer 13

Slaves decreased as this problem was still widespread in parts of Africa due to challenging use of forced labour to build Tanganyika railway.

Question 14

What did the ILO do?

Answer 14

The ILO set up hours of work and tried to establish trade union rights on an international basis. A 48 hour a week of work was applied and mostly followed and white lead from paint was banned.

Question 15

What did the World Health Organization do?

Answer 15

They tried to prevent world wide diseases such as cholera, typhoid and malaria through mosquito extermination campaigns.

Question 16

What date was the corfu League of Nations failure?

Answer 16

August 31, 1923

Question 17

What did Mussolini do to start the conflict?

Answer 17

As an Italian general was killed on the border of Greece, Mussolini orders occupation of the Greek islands. As Greece refused to pay reparations for what they did, Mussolini ordered, taking advantage of this excuse, for an invasion.

Question 18

What did the league do in response to this?

Answer 18

The league condemned the invasion but this matter was brought to the conference of ambassadors, where it was decided that Italy would withdraw troops of Greece were to pay the compensation. This was seen as bullying tactics and showed how the League of Nations had preference over permanent, stronger members.

Question 19

How did the depression reduce the importance of the league of nations?

Answer 19

The improvements from 1924 were completely wiped out due to many factors and all gain was lost, this was due to;
-massive unemployment and poverty, which led to desperation and despair. This also meant more extremist powers and desperation for a leader and someone who could ‘save’ Germany, violence and agressive tactics being used.
-in Japan, Italy, and Germany, militarism became more influential, meaning a higher importance and creation of an army to be used aggressively.
- major powers in the league like Britain and France no longer saw the league as a priority.

Question 20

What was the Manchuria incident caused by?

Answer 20

The population of Japan began to increase and more raw materials and land were needed. Manchuria, a province of china, consisted of all the materials Japan lacked, like coal and iron. The price of rice fell and exports of silk were affected and reduced due to the depression. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, a province of china, and claimed that this was self defense. Japan claimed that a railway had been blown up Mukden on the 18th of September. This is the reason they have to the public.

Question 21

When did Japan invade Manchuria?

Answer 21

September 18, 1931

Question 22

What did Japan do in Manchuria and china?

Answer 22

Japan set up a puppet government who used to be the last emperor of china as a leader.

Question 23

What did the league do in response to this situation?

Answer 23

In October, a commission called the Lytton commission reported that there was no evidence that the Japanese had acted in self defense and recommended that Manchuria should be part of the Chinese region.

Question 24

What did japan do in response?

Answer 24

The Japanese ignored the report and the condemnation from the league and resigned in 1933.

Question 25

What were the before causes of the invasion of Abyssinia?

Answer 25

Firstly, Mussolini became prime minister in 1922 and from 1952 ruled as a dictator. By the mid 1930s, Italy was suffering badly from the effects of the Great Depression and Mussolini became very unpopular. Mussolini decided to take aggressive action.

Question 26

What did Mussolini want to expand?

Answer 26

Italian Empire in East Africa.

Question 27

What date was the invasion of Abyssinia?

Answer 27

On 3 October 1935

Question 28

What were the events that happened throughout the invasion?

Answer 28

After Italian armed forces invaded the African state of Abyssinia, considerable opposition was represented by the Abyssinians as they avoided a battle and managed to retreat. In early 1936, Italians began to step up their game and use poisonous gas, which led to a collapse of the Abyssinian forces.

Question 29

What ended up happening to the Abyssinians?

Answer 29

In may 1936, the capital Addis Ababa was occupied and the Emperor Haile Selassie fled to Britain.

Question 30

Why was the invasion of Abyssinia a failure?

Answer 30

League was undermined in 1935 when Britain and France tried to arrange a compromise solution to the crisis, the Hoare-Laval Pact. This would have allowed Mussolini to retain control of most of Abyssinia.
• Both Britain and France were alarmed at events in Germany and wanted to keep Mussolini on their side against Hitler:
• The three nations had already formed the Stresa Front in
1934. Britain and France did not want Mussolini to resign from the League of Nations.

Question 31

What was the leagues reaction to the invasion of Abyssinia?

Answer 31

Sanctions were applied to Italy, including an arms embargo, banning Italian imports and all financial dealings, but oil was not included.
• Mussolini later admitted that that was the one thing that would have forced him to withdraw.
• In June 1936 Haile Selassie addressed the Assembly of the League of Nations.
• Throughout he was heckled by Italian journalists, who whistled to try to stop him being heard. His speech had no effect.

Question 32

What were the Abyssinian and Manchurian reasons for failure?

Answer 32

• Both countries were invaded by major powers who were Permanent Members of the Council; there was very little appetite for military action against either:
• In the case of Abyssinia, Britain and France tried to do a deal with Mussolini in the Hoare-Laval pact; when this became public, the moral authority of the League disappeared.
• Britain and France attempted to keep Mussolini ‘onside’ by preventing oil being added to the economic sanctions.
• Britain also refused to close the Suez Canal; that would have paralyzed Mussolini

Question 33

Explain the Alaand island dispute

Answer 33

In June 1921, a Finland territory, the aaland islands created a conflict between Sweden and Finland, this was taken to the League of Nations and the League of Nations gave self determination to the islands, allowing them to vote for who they wanted to be apart of, they voted sweeden and this was solved.

Question 34

Explain upper Silesia

Answer 34

the League resolved the issue of Upper Silesia in 1921, deciding to split the territory between both Germany and Poland, and bringing an end to the riots. Upper Silesia was an industrial area on the border between Germany and Poland.

Question 35

What were some successes in the League of Nations during the 1920s?

Answer 35

-upper Silesia 1921
- Aaland islands 1921(June)
-the leagues set up camps and fed Turkish refugees
-in Austria 1923, the league sent economic experts to help Austria when its government went bankrupt.
-in 1925, Greece accepted retreating from Bulgaria
-The league approved the slavery convention and about 200,000 slaves were freed.
-ILO campaigns for extermination towards mosquitos, malaria cholera and typhoid. White lead paint banned.