The League of Nations Formation - Conflict and Tension Flashcards
what are the aims of the LON?
- to uphold and enforce the Treaty of Versailles
- to stop war by encouraging negotiation rather than aggression
- disarmament - to encourage countries to have smaller militaries to prevent wars
- to improve the life and jobs of people around the world - by improving health and welfare, and also by encouraging trade and business
how many laws did the covenant have?
26 articles - all league members should follow
did the LON have an army?
no - as it was a peaceful organisation
what is article 10 (collective security) of the covenant?
any member threatened with war was to be protected by the other members
what are some powers that the league had?
- mitigation - get disagreeing countries to talk about their problems
- moral condemnation - a public telling off for offending countries to shame them
- economic sanctions - members of the LON wouldn’t trade with countries not keeping peace
- military peace - countries in the League would to contribute an armed force
why did these powers not work sometimes?
- countries could just ignore the league
- some countries of the LON were unwilling to stop trade as they would lose money
- also aggressor countries could just trade with the USA instead
- due to the absence of other nations, countries relied on Britain and France to supply troops and they didn’t want to because of WW1
how many members did the LON have when it was first founded?
42 (this increased after the 1920s then fell after the 1930s)
why was the LON weakened at the start?
key countries such as Germany, the Soviet Union and Russia were not members
why was the USA not a member of the LON?
- they did not want American soldiers to die sorting out European problems
- the USA believed in freedom for individual countries and did not want to support imperialistic countries like Britain and France
- they were worried American money would be used to solve other countries problems
- in 1920, Woodrow Wilson was defeated in the Presidential election, and his successor Warren Harding introduced the idea of isolationism, which took the USA out of European affairs (the USA would not sign the TofV or join the LON)
why was Russia/Soviet Union not a member at the start of the LON?
- not allowed to join as it was communist
- did not want to join as they thought of it as a club for capitalist countries that had won WW1
why was Germany not a member at the start of the LON?
- the nations that had lost WW1 were not allowed to join
positive changes to membership of the LON?
- Germany join in 1926 after the Locarno Treaties
- Soviet Union joined in 1934
negative changes to membership of the LON?
- Germany left in 1933
- Japan left in 1933
- Italy left in 1937
- Soviet Union were expelled in 1939
what were some problems with the League since the start?
- Britain and France were the most important countries in the LON, but both were willing to use other mechanisms to do with foreign policy
- countries that lost land in the peace treaties did not feel the post-war settlement was fair and they saw the LON as a victors club
- the world was facing a range of huge problems cause by war (e.g. refugees, war damage, political instability) and it was not an ideal time to create a new organisation
how often did the assembly of the LON meet?
once a year (the first Monday of September) to agree the budget, discuss any problems and elect temporary council members - this made it hard to deal with issues as meetings were so infrequent
