The League of Nations and International Peace

Question 1

What was the LON?

Answer 1

• vision for bringing the world together in peace

- group of countries that would work together and solve problems

Question 2

What were the four aims of the LON?

Answer 2

• to stop wars from happening
• to encourage disarmament
• to improve working conditions
• to tackle deadly diseases

Question 3

Why was USA not part of the LON?

Answer 3

-wanted isolationism

Question 4

Where was the League based?

Answer 4

-Geneva, Switzerland

Question 5

Who joined the LON?

Answer 5

• at the start there were 42 member and it later rose to 58 by 1934
• four permanent member: GB, Fr, Japan,Italy

Question 6

Did all the powerful countries join?

Answer 6

• Russia wasn’t allowed to due to the communist government
• the countries who lost in the war weren’t allowed to
• Germany joined in 1926 due to the Locarno treaty and left because of Hitler
• Japan and Italy left in the 1930s after they invaded countries

Question 7

How did the League plan to keep peace?

Answer 7

• collective security

- Permanent Court of International Justice - so countries follow the same laws

Question 8

What did the League do, if it couldn’t prevent disputes?

Answer 8

• mitigation
• moral condemnation
• economic sanction
• didn’t have an army so expected members to lend theirs

Question 9

What was the structure of the League?

Answer 9

• Assembly
• Council
• Permanent Court of International Justice
• Secretariat
• Other commissions

Question 10

What was the assembly?

Answer 10

• representatives were sent from the member they would discuss laws that need passing
• votes had to be unanimous - if not it would passed to the council
• they were in charge of: deciding if new members could join or how the money of the League should be spent

Question 11

What was the council?

Answer 11

• four permanent members: GB, Fr,Japan, Italy
• four non-permanent members rose to nine and they were rotated
• had a veto

Question 12

What was the Permanent Court of International Justice?

Answer 12

• settle disputes and disagreement; hear both sides and come to decision
• they would advise them what to do but could not force it on them, as they had no army

Question 13

What was the secretariat?

Answer 13

-civil service of the League - adminstration

Question 14

What were the strengths of the League?

Answer 14

• all nations recognised this organisation, as it was on every peace treaty
• vast membership
• punishment seemed daunting to the countries

Question 15

What were the weakness of the league?

Answer 15

• important countries didn’t join - USA undermined the idea of ‘global’ organisation; if economic sanctions were placed they could always trade with the most powerful and richest country
• structure was complex, so people were confused making actions slow
• votes were unanimous - made the making of decisions slow
• league had no army

Question 16

What were the seven commissions of the League?

Answer 16

• ILO
• Refugee Commission
• Health Committee
• Slavery Commissions
• Organisation for Communications and Transport
• Permanent Central Opium board
• Economic and Financial Commitee

Question 17

Explain two commissions

Answer 17

• Slavery Commission - organised a raid of camps of slave traders in Sierra Leone and freed 200,000 people
• in 1927, slave trade was abolished in Sierra Leone

Health Committee - started an international campaign to kill mosquitoes in order to prevent malaria and yellow fever from spreading

• organised doctors to go to a refugee camp in Turkey and sent them to improve the living conditions in the 1920s
• it still exists today but is renamed as WHO

Question 18

What were the successes in 1920?

Answer 18

• 1921: Aaland Islands - Sweden and Finland both claimed this land and threatened to go to war with each other. League listened and said that Finland could have it but weren’t allowed to build forts. Sweden agreed to the terms
• 1925:Bulgaria - Greece were told to leave and they left

Question 19

What were the failures of the League in 1920?

Answer 19

• 1920: Vilna - France saw Poland as an ally, so they refused to help and Britain wouldn’t send a troop without support
• 1921-25: Upper Silesia - a plebiscite was held
• 1927: Corfu - Mussolini managed to persuade the powerful countries, which undermined the League. Greece were forced to apologise and compensations were paid directly to Italy
• 1929: Wall Street Crash - league was powerless and could do nothing about it

Question 20

What was the Locarno Treaty (1925)?

Answer 20

• signed between France and Germany
• Germany accepted its borders defined by the TofV
• gave up any claims they had on Alsace Lorraine
• work together to settle any disputes peacefully

Question 21

Who else signed it?

Answer 21

• Belgium, Britain, Italy, Czechoslovakia

- agreed not to go to war with each other; if it was broken, they would support the invaded country

Question 22

What was the Kellogg Briand Pact (1928)?

Answer 22

-65 Countries met in Paris and agreed that they would not use war as a way to solve disputes

Question 23

What other Treaties were signed?

Answer 23

• The Rapallo Treaty (1922)

- Washington Arms Conference (1921-1922)

Question 24

Was the League part of any of these treaties?

Answer 24

-No - undermines the whole purpose of the league, achieving peace collectively rather than individuals

Question 25

What happened in the Wall Street Crash (1929)

Answer 25

• American economy collapsed
• American industries went bankrupt and people couldn’t afford to buy luxuries
• Industries all over the world lost a valuable market for trade and the profits dropped
• People lost faith in the government and turned to extreme leaders
• Political parties with extreme ideas came to power - they found people to blame - e.g Jews
• Countries were busy dealing with their own problems rather than help the LON

Question 26

How did the Great Depression affect the LON?

Answer 26

• needed an army, as Hitler and Mussolini weren’t afraid to use violence
• LON didn’t have its own army, so they relied on members of the League to give their but they didn’t want to add extra expenditure during the depression
• only thing they could do was economic sanctions but countries weren’t willing to give up trade

Question 27

Why did Japan want Manchuria?

Answer 27

• much of the economy was based on exporting silk to countries like the USA
• caused the industry to decline and many were unemployed
• Manchuria was fertile and had farmland industry

Question 28

Describe the Mukden incident?

Answer 28

• 18th September 1931, an explosion on the South Manchurian Railway - Japanese army claimed that the train was attacked by the Chinese soldiers who also shot the railway guards
• the Chinese denied this, as they said all the soldiers have been asleep
• The Kwantung army used these events as an excuse to take over Manchuria
• People of Japan were happy but the Government wasn’t pleased but they went along with it anyway
• 1932, they renamed Manchuria as Manchukuo and put an ex-Chinese emperor as a puppet ruler, so this meant Japan could control him

Question 29

Why was the League reluctant to act?

Answer 29

• Many people felt that Japan owned Manchuria and was entitled to take control - the Chinese had even agreed in the treaties that Japan had economic rights in the region
• Britain and France simply felt that the incident was too far away to be a real concern

Question 30

What happened in 1932?

Answer 30

• Jan: Japan invaded Shanghai in China
• Feb: Most of Manchuria under Japanese control
• Mar: Chinese turn to the LON for help
• Apr: Lord Lytton arrives in Manchuria to start his report, due to the LON
• Oct: Lytton report published, condemning Japan
• Feb 1933:in a special meeting of the LON, Japan is ordered to withdraw from Manchuria; Japan leaves the LON and invades Jehol
• Jul 1937: Japan starts a full scale invasion of China

Question 31

Why did Mussolini want Abyssinia?

Answer 31

• promised people that he would rebuild the Ancient Roman Empire
• thought the invasion would be easy as Italy already owned small colonies bordering Abyssinia
• could benefit the Italian economy as they were rich in natural resources and had good land for grazing animals

Question 32

How did Mussolini invade Abyssinia?

Answer 32

• December 1934, Italian soldiers clashed with the Abyssinians at Wal Wal, on the border between Abyssinia and Somaliland
• Jan 1935: French foreign minister met with Mussolini and made secret agreement and said deal with Abyssinia as you see fit
• 30th June 1935: Haile Selassie warned the LON the effect of Mussolini invading
• 3rd Oct 1935: invaded Abyssinia
• 5th May 1936: Italian troop took the Abyssinia capital

Question 33

How did the League fail Abyssinia?

Answer 33

• Failure to close the Suez Canal - owned by the French and the British could have closed it to prevent equipment being sent to the troop but didn’t as they didn’t want to upset Mussolini
• Trade sanctions against Italy - it took two months to decide what else to ban
• The Hoare-Laval Pact - came up with a settlement that Mussolini could have parts of Abyssinia, showed that they were willing to undermine the League in their self-interest
• Trade sanctions against Abyssinia - arms weren’t allowed to be sold to Abyssinia, so they were unable to defend themselves

Question 34

Why was the League destined to fail?

Answer 34

• no army
• met only once a year and it had to be unanimous
• America refused to join and other powerful countries weren’t allowed to
• Trade sanctions didn’t work because they could still trade with USA
• powerful countries weren’t scared of moral condemnation
• Depression meant they were concerned with their own problems