✓ The contribution of other nations to the outbreak of war - THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS (not incl notes)

Question 1

What was there a strong desire for at the end of WW1?

Answer 1

international co-operation & collective security to avoid war (agree to settle disputes/help each other if attacked)

Question 2

How was membership a weakness of the League of Nations?

Answer 2

not all nations were members (weak as worldwide org bc not every country had to work w it)

countries that lost WW1/Russia not asked to join (victors club) - G asked to join in 1925 when signed TofLocarno

US didn’t join bc congress even tho WW had been driving force behind creation

Question 3

How was bureaucracy a weakness of the League of Nations?

Answer 3

LofN was slow to make decisions & members rarely agreed to econ sanctions or military force
- needed signif majority/all in order to act

Question 4

How was enforcement a weakness of the League of Nations?

Answer 4

didn’t have its own army
- relied on member states but they were reluctant to give = weak
- failure to act quickly & use force = weak
- most nations acted in their own self-interest & negotiated independently = irrelevant

Question 5

Examples of LofN being weak/strong at enforcing?

Answer 5

success: 1921 Upper Silesia

failure: 1920 P taking Vilna by force + 1923
Fr taking the Ruhr

= Nazis saw as weak & H took out G in 1933

Br, Fr, USA disarmed BUT bc LofN too weak to protect its members most nations didn’t as didn’t feel secure enough to do so

Question 6

What were the 5 major disputes involving the LofN after 1931?

Answer 6

16 Sept 1931: Manchuria - told to leave China BUT J left LofN March 1933
= failure

3 Oct 1935: Ita invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) - told to leave & econ sanctions BUT secret meeting w Br & Fr to have 1/3 - all by 1936
= failure

1936: Sp cw - didn’t intervene bc civil + G & Ita accepted Franco as new leader - LofN did nothing
= failure

1937: China & Japan went to war - LofN condemned J’s invasion BUT neither league member so no effect
= failure

30 Nov 1939: USSR invaded Finland - LofN urged USSR to withdraw, it didn’t, so LofN expelled USSR
= failure

Question 7

What was the relationship like between the USSR & the LofN from 1919-39?

Answer 7

1919 - not invited to LofN bc comm
1934 - until now dismissive of the league BUT needed allies bc G/J so asked to join = suspicion between R & West (eastern states thought USSR wanted to take them over)
1936 - more tension bc Stalin’s purges & dictatorial behaviour + involvement in spanish civil war
1939 - nazi-soviet pact = more strain
30th Oct 1939 - invaded Finland
14th Dec 1939 - USSR asked to leave

(USSR saw LofN as weak but didn’t leave until asked to)