Interwar Years

• The USA didn't join the League of Nations because didn't want to be apart of European affairs
• The League of Nations was based in Geneva, Switzerland because Switzerland was a neutral country during WW1
• Japan,Britain,France and Italy were permanent members of the League of Nation
• The League of Nations had no army or police force to enforce its decisions
• The League of Nations couldn't stop Japan from invading Manchuria in 1932
• Germany left the League of Nations in 1933 when Hitler came into power
• Russia wasn't allowed to join the League of Nations because France and Britain were suspicious of Russia since they were now a communist state
• The League of Nations was an organisation that was set up to prevent war and promote peace
• The League of Nations was established at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919
• The League of Nations was made up of countries who agreed to work together to solve international problems
• The League of Nations aims were to:stop war from breaking out,tackling deadly diseases,encourage disarmament and improve working conditions
• France liked anything that could another German invasion
• Britain issued the Fontainebleau Memorandum to show its support towards the League of Nations
• Mitigation was when countries talked through to solve their issues
• Moral condemnation was when countries were told off and humiliated
• Economic sanctions was stopping trades with a country
• Military sanctions - economic sanctions imposed by a country on another country to force it to change its behaviour
• The League of Nations planned to keep peace by collective security and setting up the Permanent Court of International Justice
• The Assembly was in charge of decing how money was going to be spent, who could join the League and decisions had to be agreed by every member in order for a law to be passed
• The Council had more power than the Assembly because it could veto any law. The Council met 4 times a year
• Veto is the power to stop any law from being passed
• Unanimous is when everyone has to agree to something
• The Secretariat was in charge of administration
• The Permanent Court of International Justice was set up to settle disputes between nations.
• The Special Commisions Groups were groups of people who the League was worried about
• The International Labour Organisations aimed to improve working conditions, for example: 77 countries agreed to a minimum wage but children under 14 still had to work
• The Slavery Commision aimed to ban slavery, for exmaple:200,000 people were let free in Sierra Leone
• The Health Committee aimed to combat deadly diseases like malaria and yellow feaver, for exmaple: it still exists today in the form of World Health Oragnisation
• The Economic and Financial Committee aimed to rebuild countries' economy, for example: codes were developed for importing so all members followed the same rules but Gretìat Depression happend
• The Permanent Opium Board aimed to stop the cultivation and distribustion of Opium, for example:4 companies were blacklisted for trading opium illegally but the permanent members of League were not really dedicated to this matter
• Upper Silesia(1921)-Both Germany and Poland wanted that area and it ended up to be split up: Poland has the industrial area and Germany had the rural area
• Aaland Island(1920)- Both Finland and Sweden wante control of this area, it ended up into Finnish control but they agreed to repsect the Swedish culture and language
• Vilna(1920)-Both Poland and Lithuania wanted control of Vilna,but Poland invaded Lithuania and Lithuania asked the League for help. Vilna remained under Polish control because they ignored the League's saying of not invading Poland but they were also a valuable ally against Germany so members like France did nothing
• Corfu(1923)-Italian general was assasinated in Corfu, Greece blamed the Albanians but Italy blamed the Greek. Mussolini demanded a pay of 50 million lira and an apology, Greece refused so Italy invaded. The League did little to stop this
• Bulgaria(1925)-Greek soldiers were killed in Bulgaria so Bulgaria ordered an investigation for this but 3 days later they were invaded by Greece. Greece withdrew their troops since the League told them to do so
• Locarnot Treaties,Switzerland(1925)-Germany made a treaty to improve relations with France.Britain,Italy, Belgium and Czechoslovakia also signed this and it showed that Germany was becoming a peaceful nation again
• Kellogg-Briand Pact, France(1928)-65 countries agreed to stop using war to solve disputes, showed the League was weak since it was outside of the League of Nations
• Rapallo Treaty,Italy(1922)-agreement between Germany and Russia so Germany would give back land and money to Russia and cooperate in the future, this showed the League wasn't always needed solve disputes
• Washington Arms Conference, USA(1921-1922)-major countries agreed to discuss how big navies should be. Not sending representatives showed these countries' attitudes towards the League was and their first priorities
• The first time Italy tried to invade Abyssinia was in 1896 but failed at doing so and were humiliated for losing against an underdeveloped country