Successes of the League in 1920s
Cards (5)
- Aaland Islands, 1921:
- This was the first success of the League in the 1920s.
- The dispute over the islands was between Finland and Sweden.
- Most of the islanders wanted to be ruled by Sweden.
- The League investigated and awarded the League to Finland, with safeguards for the islanders, including demilitarisation.
- Sweden accepted the judgement.
- Upper Silesia, 1921:
- It was the second success of the League in the 1920s.
- Upper Silesia contained valuable industrial area.
- It was located on the border between Poland and Germany.
- Originally, it was given to Poland by the draft TOV.
- However, the Germans protested and a plebiscite was held.
- The overall results of the vote suggested that it should be awarded to Germany but in some parts of Silesian territory, there was a majority in favour of Poland.
- After riots and protests, the League suggested a partition: Western Upper Silesia went to Germany and Eastern Upper Silesia went to Poland.
- Mosul, 1924:
- It was the third success of the League in the 1920s.
- At first, the Kurdish-populated province of Mosul was claimed by Turkey which was a part of the British-mandated territory of Iraq.
- The League investigated the problem and awarded Mosul to Iraq.
- Turkey accepted the judgement.
- Bulgaria, 1925:
- It was the final success of the League in the 1920s.
- Greece was ordered to pay 45k pounds in compensation for the invasion of Bulgarian territory.
- This was judged as an inappropriate response to the shooting incident on the shared border in which a Greek sentry was killed in an exchange of fire.
- Greece accepted the ruling but it felt that it was treated unfairly and that Italy was treated more generously and differently in similar circumstances.
- The League wasn't just concerned with the resolution of disputes. It also wanted to identify issues that affected the peace and wellbeing of the world- directly or indirectly. This led to formation of agencies, commissions and committees.