How did weaknesses of the League make failure inevitable?

• United States:

  • America refused to join the League due to concerns that it would involve the country in future wars and disputes
  • This decision deprived the League of the world's most powerful, wealthy, and influential country
• Germany:

  • Germany was not allowed to join the League until it showed peaceful intentions
  • This exclusion made the League appear as a club for victors, earning less favor from defeated powers
• Britain and France:

  • They were the only two major countries that remained League members throughout its existence
  • Despite being weakened by WWI, they had to lead the League, with politicians and leaders having priorities beyond the League
• Collective security was the main method the League of Nations would use to maintain peace
• The three main steps of collective security to stop an aggressive power were:

  1. Moral Disapproval:

  • The council would meet and vote to condemn the action
  • The aggressive country, feeling the weight of world opinion against it, might drop the aggressive action

  2. Economic Sanctions:

  • If moral disapproval failed, the Council could impose economic sanctions on the aggressor
  • This involved arranging a boycott and refusing credit

  3. Military Sanctions:

  • Imposed as a last resort
  • Meant sending an army to assist the victim of aggression
• Unanimous Decisions:

  This meant that every decision being meant by the League had to be agreed upon by all the members. This meant it only took one negative vote for the motion to fail. This policy made it very difficult to take decisive decision.
• Lack of an army:

  The league lacked its own military forces. This meant that it didn't have standing forces to call upon when imposing military sanctions. If such sanctions were imposed, member states would be asked to contribute to military force. This meant military sanctions wouldn't be contemplated seriously where a major country was threatening world peace