League of nations Flashcards
(a) Describe the work of the Agencies of the League of Nations. [4]
– Slavery Commission: reduced slavery and forced labour -> freed 200,000 slaves
– Refugee Committee: returned POWs and refugees to their homelands -> returned 400,000 people in first few years after WWI
– Health Committee: worked to eradicate leprosy, yellow fever and malaria -> later became the World Health Organisation
– International Labour Organisation: made optional recommendations on working hours
(a) What were the main weaknesses in the structure and organisation of the League of Nations? [4]
– Unanimous decisions
– Infrequent meetings
– Power imbalance between Council and Assembly
– Available punishments were poor
(a) What methods were available to the League of Nations to settle disputes between countries? [4]
– Moral condemnation to persuade the aggressive country to stop
– Impose trade sanctions or sever financial connections to stop aggressive country
– Military force to physically prevent dispute continuing
– Use the International Court of Justice and Council to settle the dispute legally
(a) What were the peacekeeping successes of the League of Nations in the 1920s? [4]
– Aaland Islands (1921) -> Finland kept sovereignty, accepted by all
– Upper Silesia (1921) -> plebiscite split the area in half between Poland and Germany
– Bulgaria (1925) -> Greece was at fault, paid Bulgaria £45,000
(b) Why was the structure of the League a weakness? [6
- Decisions were too slow due to infrequent meetings and need for unanimous decisions
– Manchuria (1931-33) -> Lytton report took a year to complete by which point the Japanese had taken over huge areas of Manchuria
– Corfu (1923) -> inability of Britain and France to agree on how to treat Italy allowed Italy to take the dispute to a different body, the Conference of Ambassadors - Powerful countries were absent from the League
– Trade sanctions were ineffective as countries could still trade with America
– Abyssinia -> America increased oil exports to Italy making the League’s banning of loans, and metal, weaponry, rubber exports less effective
– Wilson came up with the idea, but America was not part of the League -> undermined it from the beginning
(b) Why was the League able to achieve some successes in the 1920s in dealing with international disputes?
- Disputes involved small countries who were not in the council
– Aaland Islands (1921) -> countries that were not often involved in international affairs so did not have large sway within the League
– Bulgaria (1925) -> neither Bulgaria nor Greece were in the Council and therefore had to accept the decision of the Council who were not directly involved - The League had not had as many failures yet and therefore its reputation was not too damaged
– Countries were willing to accept the League’s decision as it still maintained some authority
– Upper Silesia (1921) -> Both Poland and Germany accepted the League’s decision to have a plebiscite and agreed with the decision that the plebiscite’s results led them to
(b) Why did the Depression make the work of the League more difficult? [6]
- Countries became more aggressive
– Manchuria -> Japan needed more food and resources to feed its huge population
– Abyssinia -> Mussolini wanted to create an empire to distract the Italians from their economic problems - Trade sanctions became even less effective
– Manchuria -> due to tariffs on foreign imports worldwide, the League was less likely to impose sanctions to protect their own economies -> imposed no sanctions
– Abyssinia -> 30,000 British coal miners were about to lose their jobs due to coal bans and the League delayed the decision on oil bans for so long that it became too late to stop Mussolini
(b) Why did some major powers not join the League of Nations? [6]
- USSR and Germany not allowed in
– TOV had banned Germany from joining the League until it was deemed “peaceful enough”
– USSR’s newly Communist government was mistrusted by the rest of the world and was therefore not invited to join
– Germany later joined in 1925, following the Locarno Treaties - USA refused to join
– Wanted to maintain independence from European problems -> joining the League would mean that you lose full control over your countries and its laws
– Particularly disagreed with Article X of the League’s Covenant -> League could declare war without agreement from US Congress
– Didn’t want to fight in any more wars after WWI and disagreed with imperialism so didn’t want to become involved in colonial disputes
(c) How successful was the League of Nations in dealing with disputes in the 1920s and 1930s? Explain your answer. [10]
1. Success in early 1920s – Upper Silesia (1921) – Aaland Islands (1921) 2. Success in mid-1920s – Bulgaria (1925) 3. Failure in 1920s – Vilna (1920) – Corfu (1923) 4. Failures in 1930s – Manchuria (1931-33) – Abyssinia (Dec 1934-36)
(c) How far can the World Depression be blamed for the failure of the League? Explain your answer. [10]
- Depression: Countries became more aggressive
– Manchuria -> Japan needed more food and resources to feed its huge population
– Abyssinia -> Mussolini wanted to create an empire to cover up economic problems - Depression: Trade sanctions became even less effective
– Manchuria -> due to tariffs on foreign imports worldwide, the League was less likely to impose sanctions to protect their own economies -> imposed no sanctions
– Abyssinia -> 30,000 British coal miners were about to lose their jobs due to coal bans and the League delayed the decision on oil bans for so long that it became too late to stop Mussolini - Structural problems of the League
– No army
– Sanctions did not work
– Decisions were slow
– Power imbalance -> failures like Corfu were before World Depression hit - Self-interest of leading members
– Abyssinia -> Britain and France did not close Suez Canal as wanted to keep Mussolini as an ally
– Geneva Protocol -> Britain did not sign as feared being made to do something they would disagree with in the future
(c) ‘The lack of an army was the main reason for the League’s failure in Manchuria.’ How far do you agree
with this statement? Explain your answer. [10]
- Lack of an army -> meant that they could not stop Japan by force
– Britain and France were the only countries that with armed forces large enough to defeat Japan but they neither would contribute their forces to the League
– Britain and France did not want to put colonies in the Far East at risk
– Japan knew that there would be no repercussions for ignoring the Lytton Report as the League had no army - Lack of an army -> meant that they would not impose sanctions
– They discussed banning weaponry sales but they feared this would incite Japan to revenge and could led to war which they could not fight due to their lack of an army - Structural failures of the League
– Lytton report took 1 year to complete (finished in September 1932)
– They didn’t vote on it until Feb 1933 -> infrequent meetings meant that Japan had already taken control of huge areas of Manchuria by this point - Powerful countries were missing from the League
– No economic sanctions were imposed as America would not support them
– Without American support, sanctions would be ineffective
– The USA and USSR would have been able to force the Japanese out of Manchuria but neither were in the League
(c) How far was Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 responsible for destroying the League
as an effective peacekeeping body? Explain your answer. [10]
- Abyssinian Crisis -> League was undermined by British and French foreign ministers
– Hoare and Laval had private discussions which were eventually leaked to the French press
– Devised a plan in 1935 which aimed to give Mussolini 2/3 of Abyssinia
– Both sacked for “treason” against the League
– Britain and France implicated in their discussions, undermining the authority of the League as two council members were working outside of it - Abyssinian Crisis -> Showed other countries that the League would not stop them
– Britain and France did not close the Suez Canal which they owned
– Showed Hitler that the League would not stop aggressive powers
– Final event which showed made countries stop appealing to the League in a dispute as they knew the League would do nothing (Czechoslovakia did not appeal to the League) - Structural problems of the League
– No army
– Sanctions did not work
– Decisions were slow
– Power imbalance -> failures like Corfu were before World Depression hit - Depression
– Countries became more aggressive -> Manchuria and Abyssinia
– Trade sanctions became even less effective
– Manchuria -> due to tariffs on foreign imports worldwide, the League was less likely to impose sanctions to protect their own economies -> imposed no sanctions
– Abyssinia -> 30,000 British coal miners were about to lose their jobs due to coal bans and the League delayed the decision on oil bans for so long that it became too late to stop Mussolini
