The League of Nations1

 

The League's Aims1. Firstly, the League of Nations aimed to stop war.   In Article 10

of the Covenant, members promised to defend other League members.   For example the League stopped the invasion of Bulgaria by Greece (1925), and it tried to stop the Italian invasion of Corfu (1923).

2. The second aim of the League was to improve the life and jobs of people around the world – for instance, it repatriated 400,000 World War One prisoners of war, it worked to prevent leprosy, it closed down four Swiss drug companies, and it attacked slave owners.   Also, the International Labour Organisation tried to bring in a 48-hour week.

3. A third aim of the League was disarmament.   It organised disarmament conferences in 1923 (which failed because Britain objected) and in 1931 (because Germany walked out).  However, in 1928, the League did arrange the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which outlawed war.

4. Finally, the fourth aim of the League was to uphold and enforce the Treaty of Versailles, although it was not very successful in this (e.g., the Poles captured Vilna in 1920, and Lithuania seized Memel in 1923).

Source AThe League of Nations has its roots in a popular support far deeper and firmer than shifting governments.   To the peasant in France, with the horror of the war seared in his memory, it represents the symbol of a new hope.   To the worker, the League's labor office, under the leadership of Albert Thomas, is the promise of a better fortune.   The League stands for disarmament, for peace, for international justice, for the protection of backward peoples, for a better standard of living, for the relief of suffering, for the fight against disease, and for all the other forward-looking policies bound

1 Source: http://www.johndclare.net/league_of_nations1.htm [accessed Monday 8th December 2014]

I can predict with absolute certainty that within another generation there will be another world war if the nations of the world do not work together to prevent it.from a statement by the American President, Woodrow Wilson, made during the peace discussions in 1919.

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up in the longings of mankind for a better world-policies which the people everywhere in Europe, as distinguished from their governments and leaders, are unwaveringly supporting.   The people understand the League; at least they know what it aims to accomplish.

Raymond Fosdick, writing in the Atlantic Monthly (Oct 1920)Fosdick was a wealthy American lawyer who was a lifelong supporter and disciple of Woodrow Wilson.   He held a number of government posts where his task was to root out corruption in the government, business and police. He also served on the Education Board of New York, and between the wars he supported Prohibition.Fosdick believed passionately in the League of Nations.     

Source BWhy did the League fail?   I can tell you in a word: Wilson.   Head in the clouds, so high-minded that he was no earthly use - it failed while it was still in his mind.   Its aims were dreams - stop wars, make the world a better place...   They were beyond God, never mind the League.Written by a modern historian (2004).  Question

Read Sources A and B, then consider the League's FOUR main aims in turn: were the League's aims too ambitious?

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How strong was the League of Nations?

Strengths and WeaknessesThe main strength of the League was that it had been set up by the Treaty of Versailles, and agreed by everybody at the conference.   When, later, many people started to criticise and attack the Treaty, this was also a major weakness.

  1. OrganisationOne of the biggest weaknesses was that the Organisation of the League was a muddle. The different parts of the League were supposed to act together; but in a crisis, no-one could agree.

2. MembershipForty-two countries joined the League at the start. In the 1930sabout 60 countries were members. Click below for a list of the countries in the League of Nations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_League_of_Nations) This made the League seem strong.

The League had no means of enforcing its decisions other than the effect of world opinion.   If a power chose to be defiant, there was nothing effective that the League could do.

S Reed Brett, European History 1900-1960 (1967).

The Organisation of the League1.    Assembly (the League's main meeting – all members met once a year.   Decisions had to be unanimous.)2.   Council (a small group of the more important nations – inc. Britain, France, Italy & Japan – met 4–5 times a year).3.   Agencies (committees of the League):•   Permanent Court of International Justice.•   Health.•   International Labour   Organisation .•   Slavery•   Mandates Commission (looked after former German colonies).4.   Secretariat (was supposed to organise the League).

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Britain and France were the main members, helped by Italy and Japan; they were quite powerful countries.

A critical weakness was that the most powerful countries in the world were not members. The USA   did not want   to join . The Russians refused to join – they were Communists and disliked Britain and France. Germany was not allowed to join. Without these three big powers, the League was weak.

3. How the League kept peaceThe League hoped that it could influence countries to 'do the right thing' by:

1. Collective Security    2. Community of Power    3. Moral Persuasion

Question

Use an internet search engine to source the definitions of the above three terms.

The 'moral power' of the League lay in the League's Covenant, especially Articles 10-17, in which members promised to keep the peace. Many writers have pointed out that this is hardly a very effective deterrent against a powerful country which was determined to disobey the League.   

If these moral influences failed, the League had three powers it could use to make countries do as it wanted.  Theoretically, the League was able to use military force, but the League did not have an army of its own – so if a country ignored it, in the end, there was nothing the League could do.

The Three Powers of the League1.   Condemnation (the League couldtell a country it was doing wrong).2.   Arbitration (the League could offerto decide between two countries).3.   Sanctions (stopping trade).

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Sources

Question

Comment on how Source A and B reflect the problems of putting ‘theory’ into ‘practice’

Source AIf any member of the League goes to war, all the other members will behave as if that member country had declared war on them.   They will stop trading with that country.   They will advise the Council of the League about any armed action that should be taken.

adapted from the Covenant of the League of Nations (1919).

Source BOne basic weakness of the League was that it was tied in people's minds to the Versailles settlement, and criticism thrown at Versailles fell on the League.   The refusal of the USA to join the League and the fact that Britain and France were the only major nations of Europe who remained full members, severely handicapped its efforts.Written by PJ Larkin, European History for Certificate Classes (1965).  PJ Larkin was a teacher of secondary school pupils, and this is a revision book.

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Source C

‘Moral Persuasion'– a Punch cartoon of 1920.The rabbit is saying: "My offensive equipment being practically nil, it remains for me to fascinate him with the power of my eye."

Question

Does Source C suggest that the League of Nations was powerful when it came into existence?

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America Pulls OutPerhaps the greatest weakness of the League was that, when Wilson got back home to the United States, the American Senate refused to join the League.  Americans did not want to get dragged into other countries’ problems. 

This damaged the League a lot.  It did not have access to the prestige, influence, wealth or military power of the United States.   It was forced to rely on Britain and France, who had both been weakened by the First World War.

Source D

‘The Gap in the Bridge’ – a cartoon of 1919 by Leonard Ravenhill in the British magazine Punch.This cartoon is critical of America.   Although President Wilson had been the originator the the idea of a League (see the sign), now - although the USA is the 'keystone' (essential to stop the League collapsing) - America (represened by the sleeping figure of 'Uncle Sam') is refusing to join.

Question

Did the foundations of the League of Nations give it any chance of success?

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Was the League of Nations successful in the 1920s?

Did the League stop wars in the 1920s?   The main aim of the League of Nations was to stop wars.   In the 1920s, there were many small disputes between countries, which the League tried to solve - for example:

Corfu, 1923   The Dispute:

An Italian general was killed while he was doing some work for the League in Greece. The Italian leader Mussolini was angry with the Greeks. He invaded the Greek island of Corfu.

The Greeks asked the League to help.

 What the League did:

The Council of the League met. It condemned Mussolini, and told him to leave Corfu.

It told the Greeks to give some money to the League.

 What happened:

Mussolini refused to accept its decision. He refused to leave Corfu.

The League changed its decision. It told Greece to apologise to Mussolini, and to pay the money to Italy.

The Greeks did as the League said. Then Mussolini gave Corfu back to Greece.  

Question

Was the League of Nations successful in Corfu?

During the 1920s the League assimilated new members, helped settle minor international disputes, and experienced no serious challenges to its authority.

Encyclopaedia Britannica (1994)

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Bulgaria, 1925  The Dispute:

Some Greek soldiers were killed in a small fight on the border between Greece and Bulgaria.   The Greeks were angry. They invaded Bulgaria.

Bulgaria asked the League to help.

   What the League did:

The Council of the League met. It condemned the Greeks, and told them to leave Bulgaria.

  What happened:

The Bulgarian government told its army not to fight back.

The Greeks did as the League said. They left Bulgaria.  

Question

Determine if the League of Nations was successful in Bulgaria?

The League's other Work in the 1920s

Besides its aim to Stop Wars, the League of Nations had three other aims:

Improve people’s lives and jobs, Disarmament, Enforce the Treaty of Versailles.

As you study what the League did, you will be able to decide if you think the League was a success or a failure.

The following table includes successes and failures of the League of Nations during the 1920s. Read the information and answer the questions that follow

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League of Nations activities League of Nations activities

Commission on Armaments (1921)The League set up an independent commission, but it failed to get agreement on disarmament because Britain objected.

h.      JobsThe International Labour Organisation failed to persuade countries to adopt a 48-hour week.

b.      Poland (1920)Poland took land from Russia, breaking the Treaty of Versailles. The Poles ignored the League’s order to stop.

i.      Economic problemsThe League sent economics experts to help Austria and Hungary.

c.      SlavesThe League attacked slave traders in Africa and Burma and freed 200,000 slaves.

j.      Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)Sixty-five countries signed the treaty  to end war – but then they just ignored it.

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d.      DiseaseThe League worked to prevent malaria and leprosy.

k      Refugees (1922)The League set up camps and fed Turkish refugees.

e.      Disarmament Commission (1926)The League set up a Commission to organise a conference (but when it eventually met in 1932, it failed because Germany demanded equality of armaments with everybody else).

l.      SS Wimbledon case (1923)The Court of International Justice ruled that Germany was wrong to refuse right of passage through the Kiel Canal (given in the treaty of Versailles) to a French ship.

f.      Prisoners of WarThe League took home half a million World War One prisoners of war.

m.      DrugsThe League closed down four big Swiss companies which were selling drugs.

g.      Reparations (1921)When the Germans refused to pay, France and Britain invaded Germany and made them pay (as the Treaty of Versailes said).

n.      Invasion of the Ruhr (1923)France invaded the Ruhr in 1923 to force the Germans to pay Reparations (as the Treaty of Versailles said).

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Questions 1. Divide boxes a–n up into ‘successes’ and ‘failures'. 

Successes Failures

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2.   Divide up the 'successes' into the three kinds of 'other work' done by the League:          a.  Improving lives and jobs;          b.  Disarmament;          c.  Enforcing the Treaty of Versailles.

Successes Type of work undertaken

3.   Now divide up the 'failures' into the three kinds of work done by the League.

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a.  Improving lives and jobs;          b.  Disarmament;          c.  Enforcing the Treaty of Versailles.

Failures Type of work undertaken

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4. In your opinion, was the League of Nations a success or a failure in the 1920s?

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