success of the league of nations

Question 1

What was the League of Nations supposed to be

Answer 1

A world parliament where representatives of all nations could meet together regularly to decide on any matters that affected them all

Question 2

Og plans for the league of nations (the covenant)

Answer 2

• all countries joining would disarm
• all the major nations would join the league
• if they had a dispute with another country they would have to take it to the League and accept the League’s final decision
• They would have to protect one another if they were invaded
• if one of the countries broke the covenant rules and went to war, the other countries would stop trading with it and possibly send troops to stop the fighting

Question 3

Aims of the league

Answer 3

• to discourage aggression from any nation
• to encourage countries to cooperate, especially in business and trade
• to encourage disarmament
• to improve the living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world

Question 4

Parts of the League

Answer 4

• the council
• the secretariat
• the assembly
• international labour organisation
• permanent court of international justice
• commissions

Question 5

Failure of league

Answer 5

F-french and british self interest
A-Absent powers
I-Ineffective sanctions
L-lack of armed forces
U-unfair treaties that some members did not agree with
R-reaching decisions too slowly
E-economic depression lead to the rise of dictaotors and countrys more involved in self interest

Question 6

French and british self interest

Answer 6

• British politicians more interested in trade and maintaining/growing the empire
• France still preoccupied with Germany, was more worried about the threat if they could not defend themselves against germany again and was ready to bypass the covenant if neccessary

Question 7

Absent powers

Answer 7

the USA was not in the league as americans did not support the league (were anti-imperialism and therefore against Britan and France/did not want to impose tariffs against countries because american trade would suffer/did not want to send american soldiers to deal with other countries problems), the american congress voted against the league and Woodrow Wilson voted out of office

Question 8

Successes of the league 1920s

Answer 8

• aaland islands finland and sweden dispute 1921
• Upper silesan settlement 1921
• Greece and Bulgari 1925
• economic recovery in austria and hungary
• dawes plan
• Prisoners of war repatriated from Serbia 1920-1922
• Rights of german settlers in Poland protected in 1923
• Successful Bulgarian refugee settlement 1926
• Banning poisonous white lead from paint
• Limiting hours small children work
• freeing 200,000 slaves from Sierra Leonne 1926

Question 9

Failures of the League 1920s

Answer 9

• Vilna Poland Lithuania dispute 1920-1929
• Corfu 1923
• campaign to reduce working hours and improve condtions rejected in fear it would affect industry
• only germany disarmed and it was due to force

Question 10

What was corfu

Answer 10

Corfu incident, (1923) brief occupation of the Greek island of Corfu by Italian forces. In August 1923 Italians forming part of an international boundary delegation were murdered on Greek soil, leading Benito Mussolini to order a naval bombardment of Corfu. After the Greeks appealed to the League of Nations, the Italians were ordered to evacuate but Greece was forced to pay Italy an indemnity. However, many in the league were unhappy with the decision

Question 11

Major failures of the League 1930s

Answer 11

• economic depression/great depression
• Manchurian crisis
• Disarmament

Question 12

what was the economic depression/great depression

Answer 12

in 1929 the wall street crash in the USA started a long economic depression throughout the world, including the USA, Japan, Britain, Italy and Germany

Question 13

effect of the economic depression

Answer 13

• As US loans dried up, businesses in many countries also went bankrupt, leading to unemployment
• Some countries tried to protect their own industries by putting tariffs (import tax) but it lead to their trading partners doing the same, worsening the situation
• many countries (Germany, Japan, Britain, Italy) started to rearm as a way of giving jobs to unemployed but it just caused alarm
• the internationalist spirit of the 1920s was replaced with a more nationalist “beggar thy neighbor” approach in the 1930s

Question 14

what was the manchurian crisis

Answer 14

• Japan hit hard by depression, most of trade comes from china but trade tariffs
• in 1931 an incident in Manchuria gave them an ideal opportunity. The japanese army controlled the south manchurian railway.
• chinese troops alledgedly attacked the railway the Japanese armed forces used this as an excuse to invade and set up a government in Manchuko (Manchuria).
• Japan’s civillian government protested but the military was in charge
• China appealed to the league.
• japans excuse was self defence
• complicated since japan was one of the leading members
• long delay of infrmation, report only reached 1932, a year after the attack, clear japan acted unlawfully
• japan refused to comply, resigned from the league in 1933 and invaded more of manchuria
• league was powerless to act as Britain more interested in japan trade

Question 15

effect of the manchurian crisis

Answer 15

showed that the league was powerless if a strong nation decided to pursue an aggressive policy. Japan had committed a blatant aggression and got away with it. Back in Europe, both Hitler and Mussolini looked on in interest and would follow Japan’ s example in later years

Question 16

what was disarmament

Answer 16

After the machurian crisis, memebers of the LON realised the urgency of the problem and held a disarmament conference in 1932 but there was very little in the resolutions to show how the limits would be achieved. Futhermore Germans were angered by the other countries hypocrisy and left the conference as hitler started to secretly rearm in 1933. Britain and france were also divided on the issue and britain secrelty signed a deal with germany that they could rearm as long as their navy remained 35% the size of the BRitish navy

Question 17

what was abyssinian crisis

Answer 17

• Dec 1934 dispute between italian and abyssinian soldiers led mussolini to claim that abyssinian soldiers were occupying italian territory. He demanded an apology and began preparing for an invasion of abyssinia
• he was uspposed to be negotiating with the league in 1935 but instead was preparing for war
• britain and france didnt take it seriously and wanted to keep a good relationship with mussolini
• october mussolini invaded and sanctions were placed, werent serious enough as france and britain were scared of a war
• early 1936 hitler timed his attack during the crisis to rearm the rhinelands and sign a pact with mussolini
• seen as the death of the league

Question 18

what was the washington naval conference

Answer 18

‘The Washington Naval Conference took place in 1921.’
‘The US, Britain, Japan and France agreed to limit the size of their navies.’
‘A Disarmament Commission was established.’
‘The Disarmament Conference was held between 1932 and 1934.’
‘It produced resolutions to stop the bombing of civilians and prohibit chemical warfare.’
‘It was agreed not to bomb civilians but no action was taken to abolish the planes capable of bombing.’
‘The attempts met little success