The League of Nations Flashcards
What year was the League of nations created and who by?
The League of Nations was officially created on January 10th 1920 at the Paris Peace conference. It was founded by Woodrow Wilson and it was based in Geneva, Switzerland, a neutral country in the First World War.
What were the aims of the League?
Aims of the League:
- Maintain global peace (stop wars).
- Disarmament (reduce the chance of war).
- Increase global trade (to improve relations and prevent war).
- Increase the standard of jobs and lives (improve working conditions and tackle diseases).
What was the Structure of the League?
Assembly - The leagues parliament. They met once a year. Made decisions such as: admitting new members; electing judges; appointing temporary members; deciding how the League’s money should be spent. All members voted and decisions had to be unanimous
The secretariat - The civil service of the League. In charge of administration such as keeping records and preparing reports. The secretariat had specialist sections covering health, finance and disarmament.
The Permanent Court of International Justice - A panel of judges who gave legal advice to the council and assembly. Made decisions on disputes between countries such as borders. However it was just advice and the court found it difficult to make countries agree.
The council - A smaller group which met several times a year (usually 5). Britain, France, Italy and Japan were permanent. Temporary members joined for a 3 year period. These members could veto rulings made by the council of the assembly. Their role was to sort out internal disputes in the league. its main powers were: moral condemnation; economic sanctions; military force (using member countries armies).
The International Labour Organisation - Encouraged countries to pass laws to improve working conditions. Made up of government representatives, employers and workers.
Special Commissions - Groups that tackled certain issues which included:
- The disarmament commission (promote disarmament)
- The health committee (tackled diseases)
- The slavery commission (worked to abolish slavery)
- The refugees committee (helped WW1 refugees)
Who were the crucial members and non members
Important members:
Britain, France, Italy, Japan
Important non members:
USA (never joined despite starting it), USSR (later joined in 1934), Germany (later joined in 1926)
What were the successes of the League in the 1920s?
Upper Silesia (1921) - This area contained lots of Poles and Germans and was an important industrial area. Both countries wanted it. A plebiscite was help in March 1921 asking Silesians to vote for which country they wanted to join. British and French troops supervised it. The territory was split along the lines of the result. Both accepted but no fully satisfied.
Aaland Islands (1920-21) - A group of Islands midway between Finland and Sweden. They threatened to fight over them however the League stepped in and decided the Islands should go to Finland. Both countries accepted and war was avoided.
Bulgaria (1925) - Greek troops were killed at the Bulgarian border to Greece invaded Bulgaria. Bulgaria appealed to the League so they stepped in. It was a success because Greece obeyed the League however they did pay compensation. Additionally, Greece did complain that larger countries (such as Italy) were treated better than smaller countries (like themselves).
Locarno Treaties (1925) - It was a treaty between France, Belgium and Germany who promised not to invade each other. Germany joined the League soon after however the League had nothing to do with these treaties.
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) - 61 countries signed this pact independently of the League. It promised they wouldn’t use war to solve disputes. This kept peace however it showed a lack of faith in the League.
Dawes plan (1924) - Allowed Germany to rebuild its industry through US loans,
which resulted in increased employment, international trade, and hence profits.
Germany could afford to pay reparations to Britain and France, who could in turn
repay US war loans. Countries were trading more and so war became less likely.
Young plan (1929) - Reduced German reparations payments, however did not get
put into action due to the great depression.
What were the failures of the League in the 1920s?
Vilna (1920) - The population of Vilna (capital of Lithuania) was largely
polish, so a private Polish army simply took control of it. Lithuania appealed for
help and the League condemned Poland, but it did not withdraw. Britain and
France could have sent in troops to force the Poles out of Vilna, but they did not.
France did not want to upset Poland because they saw it as a potential ally
against Germany, and Britain was not prepared to act alone. It was a failure
because the League did nothing and Poland kept Vilna, and it damaged the
League’s credibility early on as it was the first major crisis to be tackled.
Ruhr (1923) - In 1923, the German government were unable to paly the reparation required under the terms of the TOV. France and Belgium responded by sending in troops to the Ruhr. The occupation of Ruhr led to a collapse of the German economy. There was massive inflation and a large increase in unemployment. Germany was now unable to pay any reparations.
Corfu (1923) - An Italian general was killed while he was doing some work for the League in Greece. The Italian leader Mussolini was angry and he invaded the Greek island of Corfu. Robert Cecil, a Brit working in the League wanted to take action against Italy but the British Government didn’t agree with him because they didn’t want to ruin trade relations with Italy. Also, France was supportive of Italy because Italy supported them when they invaded the Ruhr. Mussolini asked the Conference of Ambassadors (not the LON) to make a judgement and they riled that Greece should pay Italy compensation.
The Geneva protocol (1924) - After the Corfu crisis, Britain and France drew up
the Geneva protocol which meant that if two members were in dispute they would have to ask the league to sort out the disagreement and accept the
Council’s decision. However, the new Conservative government of Britain
refused to sign it, weakening the League’s credibility and reputation.
Disarmament - During the Washington Conference, 1921, the USA, Japan,
Britain, and France agreed to limit the size of their navies, but that was as far as
it got. This damaged the League’s reputation in Germany as it was forced to
disarm under the Treaty of Versailles but no other country had disarmed to the
same extent. This angered German nationalists and the Nazis exploited this as a
reason to rearm and become aggressive in the late 1930s.
What was some of the Leagues humanitarian work?
Health - The league worked hard to defeat leprosy, malaria and yellow fever (global
campaign to exterminate mosquitoes), and the plague in the USSR, despite not
being a member of the League.
Refugees - About 400,000 prisoners of war were returned to their homes after
the First World War, and the League acted quickly to tackle cholera, smallpox,
and dysentery in refugee camps when a refugee crisis hit Turkey in 1922.
Working conditions - ILO successfully banned poisonous white lead from paint,
limited working hours for small children, and improved working conditions
generally in many countries. It also created a restriction of a maximum 48-hour
week and 8-hour day, but only a minority of countries adopted it because it
would raise industrial costs.
Transport - League made recommendations on marking shipping lanes and
produced an international highway code.
Social problems - freed 200,000 slaves in British-owned Sierra Leone,
blacklisted 4 large German, Swiss, Dutch, and French illegal drug companies,
challenged the use of forced labour to build the Tanganyika railway, where the
League brought African worker death rate down to 4% from 50%, and provided
information on drug trafficking, prostitution, and slavery.
Why did Japan Invade Manchuria?
Economic - Post great depression China and USA imposed tariffs on Japanese goods in an effort to protect themselves leading to an economic crisis in Japan. For example the silk trade became one fifth of what is was in the 1920s.
Manchuria was rich in natural resources (farmland, coal, iron and wood) and it was close. Furthermore they already had large industries in the area such as the South Manchurian railway they got after Russia surrendered in 1905.
What happened during the invasion?
On September 18th 1931 the Japanese exploded part of the railway at Mukden and blamed it on the Chinese. They used this as an excuse to invade Manchuria and they renamed it ‘Manchukuo’. They implemented an ex Chinese emperor as a puppet ruler. China appealed to the League
Why did the League fail over Manchuria?
The League was slow - After a year of Japanese occupation the League published the Lytton report stating Japan should withdraw.
Japan refused and simply left the League of nations without being stopped.
The league took no further action since they didn’t have an army and it was on the other side of the world. Also Britain and France wanted to keep good relations with Japan
Why did Italy Invade Abyssinia?
- Mussolini wanted to recreate the Roman Empire.
- Italy already had colonies bordering Abyssinia making the invasion easier.
- Abyssinia had lots of natural resources and agricultural land.
- They wanted revenge for when they failed in 1896.
What happened during the invasion?
The League imposed an immediate ban on sales of weapons as well as rubber, tin and some metals. Italy continued to ignore the League’s moral condemnation and by May 1936 they had control over Abyssinia. The League had completely failed and were never taken seriously again
Why did the League fail over Abyssinia?
Economic Sanctions - The league was slow to act and the sanctions didn’t include crucial war resources such as oil, steel, iron or coal. Britain didn’t ban coal in fear of unemployment in mines. Oil wasn’t banned since it was believed USA and USSR would have still supplied it to Mussolini however he later admitted he would have stopped the invasion if these were banned. The league imposed sanctions on Abyssinia leaving them defenceless.
Self interest of Britain and France - They could have closed the Suez cannel which would stop Mussolini moving troops and supplies to Abyssinia therefore stopping the invasion. They followed this policy of appeasement in fear that Mussolini would ally with Hitler. However in 1936 Mussolini allied with Hitler anyway.
The Hoare and Laval Pact - Britain and France sent Foreign ministers to come up with a settlement offer for Italy. They secretly agreed that Italy could have two thirds of Abyssinia if he called of the Invasion. This land was fertile and Abyssinia would be left with mountainous regions. This wasn’t their land to give either. Word got out and they were sacked but it showed Britain and France would undermine the League.
Why did the disarmament conference fail?
The disarmament conference from (1932-34) failed for the following reasons:
- No country wanted to be left vulnerable without their arms.
- Countries didn’t want to destroy their armies that they had spent huge amounts
of money on.
- Tensions were still left over from World War One (esp. Germany and France).
- Increasingly military-minded German authorities thought that Germany should have the same level of armaments as other major powers, especially France.
- Other countries refused to disarm so Germany left it and rearmed themselves. Many were sympathetic since they were vulnerable to other countries.
What were the League’s weaknesses from the start that made its failure inevitable?
- The USA, one of the most powerful nations and founded the League, never joined
- The League lacked a physical army and moral condemnation was not powerful enough.
- The TOV was too harsh to Germany leading to them wanting revenge.
- Decision making was slow since it had to be unanimous
- Member countries were selfish.
