What were the failures of the League? Flashcards
What was Vilna?
After the Treaty of Versailles, Vilna, which contained a largely Polish population, was made the capital of the newly created state of Lithuania. In 1920 the Polish army seized the city, as a result, this Lithuania made an appeal to the League. The League asked the Polish troops to withdraw while a plebiscite was arranged but they refused. Vilna was transferred to Poland after the matter had been passed on to the Conference of Ambassadors. The League had been ignored and the Conference of Ambassadors betrayed them and did what Poland wanted.
What was the occupation in the Rhur?
In 1922 Germany had defaulted on its reparations payment, the matter should have then been referred to the League. However, instead of that being that case France, supported by Belgium ordered their troops to occupy the Ruhr in January 1923. This action was a swift and unilateral decision. For many, it also seems to confirm the impression that the League was not much more than a victor’s club for the pursuit of the victor’s interests.
What was the Corfu Incident?
The Corfu Incident of 1923 was one of the most important disputes that the League was involved in, it was between Italy and Greece. In August 1923, the Italian Prime Minister Mussolini ordered an invasion of the Greek Island Corfu, which was in response to an Italian general and some staff who had been killed on Greek land. Mussolini had demanded a compensation of 50 million Iira as well as an execution of the assassins, when Greece was unable to locate the guilty Mussolini resorted to direct action. Greece appealed to the League who wanted to condemn Italy but the matter was passed onto the Conference of Ambassadors, after Mussolini insisted, who ordered Greece to pay and Italy to withdraw troops. With Italy’s influence on the League and their so-called bullying tactics, Greece had to pay compensation without Italy being punished. This exposed the weakness and effectiveness of the League when it was dealing with a powerful country.
What were the Locarno treaties?
The Locarno Treaties were signed in 1925 and were thought at the time to mark the beginning of a new era of international harmony. For the first time since 1918 Germany was treated on a par with the other European powers. It provided guarantees for the frontiers of north-eastern Europe and confirmed the demilitarized status of the Rhineland.
What was the Kellogg-Briand pact?
In 1927 Briand, the French Foreign Minister suggested to Kellogg the Secretary of State that the countries should sign a pact renouncing war. It was then extended to include more countries and by 928 it had 65 signatures including Germany, Italy, and Japan. It was supposed to be a safety net to fall back on in case the League would not work, but it amounted to not much more than a statement of good intentions.
Did the agreements made outside of the League help or hinder it?
These agreements did not hinder it, but they did not do much help either. Locarno did not say anything about the frontiers on the eastern European frontiers. The Kellogg-Briand Pact also did not help much either, because after the League collapsed there was a Second World War.
The reason however that these agreements were created in the first place was because European powers had little faith in the League’s ability when it came to major challenges.
