the league of nations Flashcards
League of Nations weaknesses
USA’s rejection discouraged many other nations about the power of the LoN to take action
Great Britain’s priority was to strengthen its Empire and trade
France was still concerned about Germany and thought that the LoN was useless without an army which could apply its decisions
membership of the league
42 countries join the league at the start and in 1930 it had 59 members
Great Britain and France were the major powers that guided the LoN policy
Italy and Japan were also members of the council
The aims of the League
To discourage aggression
To encourage disarmament
To increase cooperation among nations, especially in trade and business
To improve the living conditions of people
League of Nations main bodies
The Council: Small group with permanent members Discuss problems in case of emergency The Assembly: Parliament with all the members Recommended actions to the council Met once a year Its decisions had to be unanimous The Secretariat: Record the League’s meetings Prepare reports for the agencies
border disputes in the 1920s (remember 3)
Vilna, 1920: Poland occupied Vilna, capital of Lithuania
The LoN could not solve it
Upper Silesia, 1921: Germany and Poland disputed the region
It was divided in two by the league of nations
Aaland Islands, 1921:
Sweden and Finland disputed the islands
The LoN decided that the islands would belong to Finland. Sweden accepted the decision
Corfu, 1923: Greece and Albania disputed the island. Italians supervised it.
The Italian general was killed and Mussolini, Italy prime minister, bombarded Corfu
Greece had to apologies and pay compensation to Italy
The Geneval Protocol: Great Britain and France designed the protocol to avoid the League to be undermined by one of its members as in Corfu
It stated that the members if the League would have to accept the leagues decision
The British Parliament rejected it.
Bulgaria, 1925: Greece invaded Bulgaria
The LoN forced Greece to apologize and pay compensations to Bulgaria
It showed the members that there seemed to be a different rule for the large states (Italy) and for the smaller ones (Greece)
Failure of disarmament
No major agreements were made apart from the Washington Conference (1923) in which USA, Japan, Great Britain and France accepted to reduce the size of their navies
This damaged the reputation of the League because it was a failure (particularly in Germany) because of the double standards
international agreements
The Locarno Treaties, 1925
Germany accepted the terms of the Treaty of Versailles related to its Western borders:
Borders with France and Belgium
Demilitarization of Rhineland
Disputes with other nations would be solved at the LoN
The Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928
Renounced war as a way to solve disputes but it made no provisions for sanctions if any member broke the pact
