The League Of Nations Flashcards

1
Q

What were the aims of the League?

A
  • get countries to collaborate to help to prevent war (collective security)
  • encourage disarmament
  • improve living and working conditions
  • tackle deadly diseases
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2
Q

How was the League formed?

A
  • it was one of Wilson’s 14 points.
  • It written into each treaty signed at the end of the war to gain the respect it needed to be recognised.
  • Initially 42 countries joined as Germany and Russia were not allowed to join (Germany because they lost the war and Russia due to the fact they were communists).
  • over time Germany joined due to agreeing to the Locarno treaty in 1925.
  • Russia were allowed to join in 1934.
  • there were now 58 member states who each sent representatives to the assembly.
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3
Q

How the league worked?

A
  • four powerful countries were permanent members - Britain, France, Italy and japan.
  • they would deal with aggression through covenant, mitigation, moral condemnation, economic sanctions and military force.
  • these sanctions are very intimidating from power countries.
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4
Q

Did the league have a standing army?

A

No - it relied on countries in the league supplying an army, this proved to be a big problem for the league when trying to solve problems in the future.

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5
Q

Britains thoughts on the league?

A
  • they supported it
  • but thought that action would be limited
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6
Q

Frances views on the league?

A
  • thought the league would help keep them safe from a German attack.
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7
Q

The permanent Court of International Justice?

A
  • a law court that could give advice and hearings to parties in the argument, but rulings were not compulsory so could easily be ignored.
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8
Q

What was the assemble in the League of Nations?

A
  • It was an international parliament.
  • each member of state would send a representative to meet once a year.
  • they would vote on issues and decisions had to be unanimous.
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9
Q

What was the council in the League of Nations?

A
  • met more frequently than the assembly.
  • made up of four permanent member, who were Britain, japan, France and Italy. Plus four others who were elected in for three years.
  • The council could veto rulings made by the assembly.
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10
Q

What was the secretariat in the League of Nations?

A
  • someone who was in charge of administration and arranging any action that the league wanted to take.
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11
Q

What were the special commissions in the League of Nations?

A
  • special groups formed to tackle specific issues, such as the international labour organisation (ILO) and the health organisation.
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12
Q

Discuss the International Labour Organisation?

A
  • their aim was to improve working conditions.
  • positives - in 1920s, death rate of workers on Tanganyika railway reduced from over 50% to 4%.
  • negatives - in 1919, most members refused to stop children working under the age of 14 as it was deemed to expensive.
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13
Q

Discuss the Commission for Refrugees?

A
  • their aim was to help people who were homeless due to the war by improving refugee camps, helping them return to home or finding them new ones.
  • positives - helped free around 427000 of the 500000 prisoners of war still imprisoned after the first world war.
  • negatives - during the 1930s failed to help Jews flee from nazi Germany.
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14
Q

Discuss the slavery comission?

A
  • their aim was to end slavery.
  • during 1920s, the league set free 200000 slaves from sierra leonne.
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15
Q

Discuss the economic and financial committee?

A
  • their aim was to improve living conditions.
  • positives - sent financial advisers to Austria and Hungary to rebuild their economies when they went bankrupt in 1921.
  • negatives - unable to cope with global depression after 1929.
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16
Q

Discuss the organisations for communications and transport?

A
  • their aim was to improve how countries worked together.
  • positives - introduced shipping lanes and an international Highway Code.
17
Q

Discus the health organisation?

A
  • aim was to cure diseases.
  • positives - sent doctors to help in Turkish refugee camps.
18
Q

Discuss the Permanent Central Opium Board?

A
  • became Permanent Central Narcotics Board after 1925
  • their aim was to tackle the trade of illegal drugs.
  • positives - blacklisted four large companies involved in trading illegal drugs.
  • negatives - some countries in the league did not want to stop the trade of opium because it brought them so much money.
19
Q

Discuss the Åaland Islands matter?

A
  • in 1921.
  • Sweden and Finland both wanted the islands.
  • the league made a compromise and said that Finland could have the islands but couldn’t build forts on them.
  • both countries accepted the decision.
20
Q

Discuss the corfu crisis?

A
  • in 1923.
  • An Italian general and his team were murdered while surveying land in Greece.
  • Mussolini, demanded for compensations and that the murderers be executed but Greece could not do this as they did not know who the murderers were.
  • Mussolini invaded corfu.
  • the league condemned Mussolini.
  • but he undermined the league and complained to the ambassadors.
  • Greece was forced to apologise and pay compensation to Mussolini.
  • this proved that the league could not in force justice when a country involved was a larger, stronger country.
  • also that the league could be ignored or bullied by larger countries like Italy in this case.
  • it was a failure.
21
Q

Discuss the Upper Silesia crisis?

A
  • was 1921-25
  • a plebiscite was held to decide whether Upper Silesia (on the German Poland border) should be polish or German. Germany won 60% of vote but Poland claimed it had been fixed.
  • the league split it into the areas according to how they voted.
  • germany complained that Poland got most of the industrial areas.
  • Poland complained they got half the populations but only 1 third of the land.
  • however both countries grudgingly accepted the leagues decision.
  • could be seen as a success.
22
Q

Discuss the vilna crisis?

A
  • happened 1920-21
  • vilna was the capital of Lithuania, a new country, but there was many polish people living there.
  • The polish army invaded Lithuania.
  • Lithuania asked the league for help but they did nothing as Poland was a strong ally against Germany.
  • this was a failure.
23
Q

Discuss the Bulgarian crisis?

A
  • happened in 1925
  • after Greek soldiers were killed on the border Greece invaded Bulgaria.
  • the league forced Greece to withdraw and pay compensation.
  • however, this seemed hypocritical since the league had allowed Mussolini, as much more powerful, to get away with something very similar to corfu.
  • this was a failure as it portrayed the league as inconsistent.
  • it was a success as they stopped an invasion.
24
Q

Who was part of the Locarno treaty?

A
  • France (Briand)
  • Germany (Stresemann)
  • represented by their foreign ministers
25
Q

When and where was the Locarno Treaty?

A
  • 1925
  • Locarno, Switzerland
26
Q

What was the Locarno treaty?

A
  • they two enemies agreed to work peacefully together.
  • Germany accepted Versailles treaty terms.
  • other countries like Britain and Italy also signed and each country agreed not to go to war with each other if one country invaded another the others would support the invaded country.
27
Q

Why was the league not involved?

A
  • Germany suggested the treaty and they were not in the league.
28
Q

Why were the treaties significant?

A
  • it seemed Germany was trying to be a more peaceful nation, and especially the treaty o Versailles terms like territory terms.
  • better relationships between countries especially france and Germany.
  • paved the way for Germany being allowed to join the League of Nations.
  • however the league should be leading the way on such an important agreement. Especially because it involved their most powerful members; France and Britain.
29
Q

Who was in the Kellogg-Briand pact?

A
  • 65 countries, including Germany, France and the USA.
30
Q

When and where was the Kellogg-Briand pact?

A
  • 1928
  • Paris, France
31
Q

What was the Kellogg-briand pact?

A
  • the countries agreed that war would not be the way to solve disputes.
32
Q

Why wasn’t the league involved in the Kellogg-braind pact?

A
  • Germany and USA were not members of the league.
33
Q

Why was the Kellogg-briand pact significant?

A
  • the fact the league wasn’t involved gave it the reputation that it was just a place to talk not to work out actual solutions.
  • this damaged its reputation.
34
Q

Rapallo treaty - 1922

A
  • Germany and Russia agreed to work together
  • the league was not involved as neither Germany nor Russia were in the league
35
Q

Washington arms conference 1921-22

A
  • also known as the Washington naval conference.
  • major countries like japan, Britain, the USA and France agreed to maximise their naval size.
  • the league was not the one pushing for disarmament and countries like Britain and France attended independently from the league.