How Effective Was the League of Nations in Maintaining Peace

7/24/2019 How Effective Was the League of Nations in Maintaining Peace

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How effective was the League of Nations inmaintaining peace?

After the First World War, Woodrow Wilsonsupported the establishment of a peace-keepingorganization. Under his inuence, the League of ationswas founded in !"#$. %owe&er, it failed to keep peacee'cientl(.

)he League of ations could onl( sol&e thedisputes amongst small nations. *n !"#$, it settled a

dispute between Finland and +weden o&er the Aaland*slands. *t also settled the boundar( problems betweenoland and erman(. *t stopped reece from attackingulgaria. ( sending a commission of representati&esfrom &arious powers to the Albanian region, the leaguesuccessfull( settled the dispute between /ugosla&iaand Albania.

*n the 0rst decade after the First World War, theLeague of ations did work well in keeping peace.%owe&er, after the reat 1epression, the League of ations did nothing to stop the aggression fromambitious powers. *n the !"2$s, it could not stoppedthe 3apanese in&asion of 4anchuria, the *taliane5pansion in Ab(ssinia 6!"278 and Albania 6!"298, theerman e5pansion in Austria, and the +udetenland

6!"298, :zechoslo&akia and oland 6!"2"8, the +o&iete5pansion in oland, altic states, and Finland 6!"2"8. )he League of ations could do nothing to pre&ent%itler;s &iolation of the <ersailles )reat(, like theremilitarization of =hineland in !"27, and the Leaguealso could not cease the inter&ention of *tal(, erman(and the +o&iet Union in the +panish :i&il War. %ence,the League of ations did &er( little to maintain peace

in this period.



)here are some reasons to e5plain wh( the Leagueof ations failed to maintain peace. )he lack of supportfrom the great powers was one of the main reasons.

)he U.+. adopted isolationism and refused to >oin theLeague after its establishment. )he +o&iet Union didnot >oin until !"2? because it was a communist statewhich was not welcomed b( non-communist states.erman( >oined it in !"#7 but withdrew in !"22 when%itler started its e5pansion. Amongst the fourpermanent members, 3apan and *tal( withdrew in the!"2$s because the( wanted to practice theire5pansionist polic(. *n other words, ritain and Francewere the onl( two powers leading the League of ations, but the( had di@erent &iews on how tomaintain peace and the( were under economicdi'culties after the war. %ence, the( could notwholeheartedl( support the League of ations.

)herefore, the aggressors could start their e5pansionwithout restriction and it led to the outbreak of the+econd World War.

*n addition, there are some weaknesses on the

internal s(stem of the League of ations. For e5ample,a unanimous agreement of e&er( issue had to be madebefore taking an( action. %owe&er, the members of theLeague were not wholehearted in maintaining peace.

)he( stri&ed for their own interests in the League andhence made a unanimous agreement impossible. )heLeague also had no militar( force and economicresources to implement the decision made. *t couldonl( condemn the aggressi&e actions of ambitiouspowers or imposed economic sanction. For e5ample,when *tal( in&aded Ab(ssinia in !"2, France continuedthe trading relations with *tal( e&en though it was aleading member in the organization. Finall(, the Leaguecould do nothing to the withdrawal of members. )heLeague of ations had no real power to maintaincollecti&e peace. 4ost of the nations used their ownwa( to settle their disputes.



*n conclusion, as the 0rst international organizationto maintain collecti&e peace, the League of ationsmade the 0rst step to achie&e the goal of building upan international organ to sol&e problems amongcountries. %owe&er, the lack of real authorit( and thelack of support from powerful nations undermined itse@ecti&eness in maintaining peace.

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How Effective Was the League of Nations in Maintaining Peace