League of Nations Facts

Question 1

What did the League do for a better world? (1)

Answer 1

1. Refugees: helped refugees and former prisoners of war get back tot heir homelands
2. Working conditions: International Labour Organisation (ILO) helped in banning poisonous white lead from paint and limiting the hours that small children were allowed to work and campaigned strongly for employers to improve their working conditions. Influential to future change and brought this abuse to attention

Question 2

What did the League do for a better world? (2)

Answer 2

1. Health: Health committee helped to collect statistics, sponsored research into infectious diseases in London, Denmark and Singapore. (Left research to stronger countries). Worked to help reduce cases of leprosy.
2. Most significant as work carried on to World Health Organisation which still helps today. (Benefitted so many worldwide and not just League Members)
3. Transport: made recommendations on marking shipping lanes and produced an international highway code for road users
4. Social: brought about the freeing of 200,000 slaves in British owned Sierra Leone. Blacklisted large companies involved in illegal drug trade. Brought from 50% - 4% death rate of African workers in forced labour to build Tanganyika railway

Question 3

What was wrong with the structure of the LON?

Answer 3

1. European Club: non-europeans unhappy about power given to European countries
2. No America
3. Absent: 45 states were founding and all members victorious or neutral in WW1 and so without German, American and new Soviet Union (joins in 1934) they could not really claim to be the voice of world opinion. Japan leaves in 1933
4. Domination: of Britain and France and their tension. F wanted strong military LON whereas B wanted a looser and less formal League (difficult to defend their own empire
5. Inevitable and unfair hierarchy between Assembly and Council
6. Economic sanctions were difficult to enforce: member countries did not want to harm their own economy. Countries sanctioned could fine new trading partner who were not part of LON
7. Linked to ToV: regarded as “club for victors” this undermined its credibility right from the start
8. No armed forces of its own: military burden would fall on UK or France and if cost too big or not in their own interests they were unlikely to act

Question 4

What were the strengths of the LON structure?

Answer 4

1. Democratic to a point as every member state has a say
2. Disarmament brings peace
3. Colonies have help with economic development
4. Brings alight social issues
5. Brings countries closer together (no secret treaties)

Question 5

What was the Assembly?

Answer 5

1. All member states had representatives in the League Assembly (which had no real power)
2. Needed unanimous decisions and met once a year
3. Could only recommend on action to the council and their voting was limited to certain areas
4. Although democratic to a point as every member state has a say, vote would take too long and most disputes would be left to Ambassadors
5. Once a year would not be enough

Question 6

What was the Council?

Answer 6

1. Permanent members of Britain, Italy, France and Japan, and temporary members elected by assembly. (1926 Germany)
2. Met 5 times a year and in emergencies
3. Each permanent member of Council had veto, so one permanent member of Council could stop the Council acting even if other members agreed
4. Have power of moral condemnation, economic and financial sanctions and military force
5. Not representative of whole world, should meet more often but good temporary members as new voices heard

Question 7

What were the other areas of the League?

Answer 7

1. The Mandates Commission: reported to League how people in mandates were being treated and the aim of the Commission was to make sure that Britain and France acted in the interests of the people of that territory, not its own interests
2. The Refugees Committee: helped refugees and prisoners of war to return to their homeland or helped them settle and find work in new countries. Over 400,000 people were found homes.
3. The Slavery Commission: worked to abolish slavery around the world. 200,000 slaves freed in Sierra Leone.
4. The Health Committee: attempted to deal with the problem of dangerous diseases and to educate people about health and sanitation and contain epidemic outbreaks.
5. The Minorities Commission: working for better treatment of minority groups around the world.
6. The Drugs Commission: working to combat international trade in illegal substances - some successes in tightening up customs controls.

Question 8

What was the Permanent Court of Justice?

Answer 8

• Made up of judges form member countries and met at Hague in the Netherlands.
• Meant to help settle disputes between countries peacefully
• Could advise the Assembly and Council on issues such as Treaty matters
• Gave legal advice to the Assembly or Council
• The Court had no way of making sure that countries followed its rulings

Question 9

What was the ILO?

Answer 9

• International Labour Organisation
• Aim to improve the conditions of working people throughout the world.
• Met once a year and each nation sent two government ministers one employee and one worker.
• Discussed working conditions and got countries to make improvements.
• Collected statistics and information about working conditions and it tried to persuade member countries to adopt its suggestions

Question 10

What is The Secretariat?

Answer 10

• Sort of civil service.
• Keeps records of League meetings and prepared reports for the different agencies of the League.
• Had specialist sections covering areas such as health, disarmament and economic matters.
• Carries out the decisions of the LON.

Question 11

What were the aims of the LON?

Answer 11

1. International cooperation, especially in business and trade (Unanimous decisions)
2. Peace and security (No secret treaties, disarmament, go to LON is problems, trade sanctions can be imposed) and so discourage aggression from any nation
3. Improve living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world
4. Equality
5. Encourage nations to disarm

Question 12

Why was the USA unwilling to joint the LON?

Answer 12

1. Imposing sanctions on other countries may harm American Trade
2. American isolationism (did not want to get involved with European Affairs)
3. Many Americans and German immigrants hated the ToV and the league was supposed to enforce the ToV
4. Many feared that the League would be dominated by French and British Imperial interests and many in the US were anti-empires
5. Congress was dominated by republicans
6. Some feared that joining the LON meant sending US soldiers to settle every little conflict around the world and no one wanted hat after casualties of WW1

Question 13

What was unrealistic about the LON aims?

Answer 13

• Very ambitious - idealistic and destined for failure?

- Not only trying to prevent war but limit any factors that could cause it

Question 14

What was the issue with the League Assembly?

Answer 14

• Unanimous decisions
• Too slow by only meeting once a year
• Too weak compared to council

Question 15

What was the issue with the League Council?

Answer 15

• No USA

- Dominated by permanent leaders, which undermined its credibility as an organisation for the nations.

Question 16

What was the issue with the Permanent Court of Justice?

Answer 16

-Had no way of making sure that countries followed its rulings.

Question 17

Why was collective security unlikely to work?

Answer 17

1. World Public Opinion, as different countries had different views (if three countries could not agree on ToV?)
2. Sanctions and Force: USA could just fill the gap, no army of its own and unrealistic that a ‘group’ army would work as every member country would then risk lives and money on a war that doesn’t affect them
3. Disarmament:
   - ‘Minimum level’ very vague and countries still had weapons?
   - No way of checking or forcing only ‘persuade’ Countries could manipulate by having a lot of income from arms.
   - France hypercritical (Ruhr)
4. Geneva Protocol

Question 18

Why did the LON fail?

Answer 18

1. Absence of the Germany, USA and USSR
2. Great depression (countries became more self involved)
3. Dominated by Britain and France
4. Self interest of countries (e.g. France in Ruhr).
5. Doomed from start due to poor structure
6. Unanimous decisions (slow decision making e.g. In Japan)
7. ToV relation (meant to uphold ToV).
8. Club for ‘victors’ not enough countries to represent whole world.
9. Crisis of 1930’s
10. Ineffective sanctions (USA!)
11. Ineffective/vague as need other treaties.

Question 19

Why did the USSR and Germany not join the LON?

Answer 19

• USSR: British and French did not want the Communist government and indeed were supporting the White army in the Russian Civil War
• Germany: British and French wanted Germany isolated after its defeat in WW1, and were not allowed to join LON.

Question 20

What type of sanction could the LON give?

Answer 20

1. Moral condemnation: they could decide which country was ‘the aggressor’ i.e. which country was to blame for the trouble. They could condemn the aggressors’ actions and tell it to stop what it was doing
2. Economic and Financial Sanctions: members of the LON could refuse to trade with the aggressor
3. Military Force: the armed forces of member countries could be used against an aggressor

Question 21

Describe the work of the Agencies of the LON? (4).

Answer 21

• The Refugee commission, focussed on returning prisoners of war and refugees t their homeland or helped them to find jobs in other areas.
• The Health committee, worked together with different countries to help produce vaccinations to limit diseases such as leprosy, and help to educate people about sanitation.
• The Mandates commission, reported how the mandates were being treated around the world.
• The Slavery commission, worked to abolish slavery in different areas of the world. 200,000 slaves were freed in Sierra Leone.

Question 22

Why was the structure of the League a weakness? (6)

Answer 22

• There was no USA. This limited the LON authority to claim that they were a representative body of the world (as this superpower was not apart) and this lessened their power, as their economic sanctions of banning trade could just be replaced by the USA. Therefore this caused the League to lose significant power.
• The Assembly also needed to have an unanimous vote. Although this made the process more fair, decisions would take longer to reach, and this would make the LON ineffective.

Question 23

Describe the Humanitarian work of the LON in the 1920’s (4)

Answer 23

• The Refugee commission helped over 400,000 refugees and prisoners of war to find homes.
• The ILO (International Labour Organisation) helped in banning poisonous white lead from paint and limiting the hours that small children were allowed to work.
• The Slavery commission, worked to abolish slavery in different areas of the world. 200,000 slaves were freed in Sierra Leone.
• The Minorities commission worked for better treatment of minority groups around the world.

Question 24

Why was the LON able to achieve some successes in 1920’s in dealing with international disputes? (6)

Answer 24

• They allowed the people to decide in Upper Silesia by holding a plebiscite. The polling booths were also guarded by British and French troops to avoid corruption. They also split the territory according to the vote.
• In 1922 they sent a team of experts to rescue the collapsing Austrian economy. They then restructured Austria’s finances and currency, therefore averting an Austrian economic crash.

Question 25

What were the major weaknesses in the structure and organisation in the LON? (4)

Answer 25

• They had no armed forces. (UK and France amy not act).
• Economic sanctions were difficult to enforce (members did not want to harm their own trade and since not all countries were apart of LON, ‘sanctioned’ countries could easily find new trading partners.
• Linked to ToV: “club for victors” which undermined it’s credibility from the start.
• Absence of USSR, USA and Germany (for the majority).

Question 26

Why did the depression make the work of the League more difficult? (6)

Answer 26

• Britain and France became more self involved. This meant that countries were concerned with their own nations rather than the League. Therefore major powers such as Japan and Italy were able to invade more successfully.
• Widespread poverty meant that people were more likely to support radical groups, this undermined the LON power.

Question 27

What methods were available for the LON to settle disputes between countries? (4)

Answer 27

• Impose trade sanctions.
• Disarm
• Use force.

Question 28

Why did some major powers not join the LON? (6)

Answer 28

• The USA did not join, because they feared that the trade sanctions would effect their international trade. Much of the USA was also against joining European Affairs and believed in Isolationism and therefore they did not join the LON.
• The USSR did not join initially as the LON did not recognise as they were communist.

Question 29

What were the peacekeeping successes of the LON in 1920’s? (4)

Answer 29

• In 1921, both Finland and Sweden wanted the Aaland Islands. After careful consideration the League allocated it to Finland. Since both were prepared to fight for it, war was avoided.
• In 1922 the League sent a team of experts to rescue the collapsing Austrian economy. They restructured Austria’s finances and currency and averted an Austrian economic crash.

Question 30

What was the Geneva Protocol?

Answer 30

• Geneva Protocol:
  1. Set out clear rules for the peaceful arbitration of disputes and if two members were in dispute they would have to ask the League to sort out the disagreement and they would have to accept the Council’s decisions and if not followed League could use force and trade sanctions 2. They had hoped that this would strengthen the League
  3. But before plan put into place, general election in Britain and the new Conservative government refused to sign the Protocol, worried that Britain would be forced to agree to something that was not in its own interests
  4. So although supposed to strengthen League only weakened it