1.2 The League of Nations in the 1920s

• The League dealt successfully with minor international disputes
• The League co-ordinated effortsin the 1920s

  1. To help 400,000 people who had been displaced at the end of the First World War

  2. To help ensure that a major influenza outbreak was not considerably worse
• The first test for the League was between the newly independent Finland and Sweden for control of the Aaland Islands in 1921
• Despite some vote manipulation by the Finnish, the rules of the League were obeyed and the Council settled the dispute quickly and effectively
• There was also the settlement of the division of Upper Silesia between Germany and Poland in 1920–29
• The Polish army seized control of Vilna, the capital of Lithuania
• Lithuania appealed to the League for help, but since Britain and France wanted Polish help in a potential future war against the Communist Soviet Union, help was not given
• Hungary and Austria received financial aid to prevent them from experiencing anarchy in 1922–23
• The League had two major tests in the 1920s: Corfu and Bulgaria
• In 1923, the new dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini, wanted a major incident to consolidate his position of power
• When an Italian general was killed in Greek territory, he used it as an excuse to capture the Greek island of Corfu
• The League condemned his actions
• However, the British and French could not agree on a course of action and finally judged that the Greeks must apologise and pay compensation to Italy
• This was a win for Mussolini and a failure for the League
• In 1925, having been the victims against Italy, the Greeks tried to create an identical incident against the Bulgarians to get compensation
• On this occasion, however, the League acted as it was supposed to and thus the Greeks were punished appropriately
• The Great Powers were in agreement over the issue in Bulgaria and so the League acted successfully
• Several international agreements were reached outside the League of Nations
• The League of Nations was meant to attempt to eliminate the large armed forces that had led to the First World War
• Only Germany had been forced to disarm as a result of the Treaty of Versailles
• The League failed in this pursuit
• At the Washington Conference of 1921, the USA, Japan, Britain and France agreed to limit the size of their navies
• This, however, was the only disarmament agreement of note in the 1920s, and many countries developed and improved their armed forces
• There were, however, several international agreements reached during the 1920s, outside the League of Nations – although the League helped to create the spirit of internationalism that they needed
• Through the Dawes Plan (1924) the USA lent money to Germany to help its industry recover and rebuild
• Through the Young Plan (1929) the overall reparations burden was reduced
• Germany and other Western powers signed the Locarno Treaties (1925)
• Germany agreed to its western borders, but said nothing about its eastern borders with Poland, implying they might change
• The Kellogg–Briand Pact (1928) was signed by 65 countries as an official agreement to never go to war
• Key point


  The League did not suffer any major failures in the 1920s, but it also did not face many major challenges
• The League of Nations was fundamentally weakened by a number of factors
• Most of the questions you will be asked about the League will focus on success or failure
• It is important to understand that the League only appears to be relatively successful in the 1920s because of the catastrophes of the 1930s
• By choosing not to join the League, the United States made it very unlikely that it would ever succeed
• Though they made some effort to be leaders, neither Britain or France was wealthy, powerful or committed enough to try to make the League a strong force in the 1920s
• The Corfu crisis was exactly the kind of event the League had been set up to deal with, but it failed to protect this small country against a large aggressor
• Above all, no major progress was made at international cooperation or disarmament
• There were a few successes in improving conditions for workers, but ultimately the League achieved little