League of Nations

• Corfu - 1923(F): Italian general (Tellini) killed, Italy invaded, Greece blamed and forced to pay 50 million lire
• Vilna - 1920 (F): Poland invaded Lithuania, Vilna, LON condemned this and told them to withdraw but nothing was done (weak)
• Kellog-Briand - 1928 (F): treaty promising never to go to war
• Young plan - 1929 (F): to reduce reparations by 8% = never happened
• Aaland islands - 1921 (S): sweden and finland wanted aaland islands, given to finland by sweden given semi-autonomy (law, culture, language), both countries happy
• Upper silesia - 1921 (S): germany and poland wanted upper silesia, plebiscite help. eastern upper silesia to poland, western to germany. both countries happy
• Washington naval conference - 1920/21 (S): naval to 5,3,3 UK, US, Japan
• Dawes plan - 1924 (S): US banks lent money to Germany, Germany pay reparations
• Locarno pact - 1925 (S) - Germany accept Alsace-Lorraine is french
• Nansen passport - 1922 (S): 400,000 refugees returned home
• Geneva protocol - 1925 (S): banned use of chemical weapons
• ILO, WHO - 1920 (S):

  • WHO helped reduce lepresy, malaria, mosquitoes and developed vaccines
  • ILO helped establish 48 hour work weeks, and no child labour
• Economic and financial organisation (S): helped stabilise Austria in 1922
• Manchuria - 1931/3 (F): japan was poor, manchuria was rich, japan staged railway incident (blamed China). China appealed and LoN called for sanctions but failed (afraid of attack). LoN commissioned Lytton, took 18 months for report to be published. Japan left in 1933
• Abyssinia - 1935/6 (F): Italy invaded Abyssinia. Ethiopia appealed, refused by Britain and France as they wanted Mussolini's support against Hitler. Sanctions were imposed on Italy but not enough to stop invasion. Suez canal stayed open (main trade river for Italy), France and Britain tried to prevent invasions with Hoare-Laval pact (areas of Abyssinia (fertile) given to Italy but leaked to public), Italy invaded oct 3, 1935. Hitler remilitarised Rhineland 1936
• Countries who didn't join League

  USA = Wilson wanted by congress wanted to stay away from Europe (isolationism), communism

  Germany = Banned because blamed for WW1

  Russia = Shunned because communist-1917 (join 1934)
• Slavery commission (S): some countries banned slavery - Afghanistan (1923), Iraq (1924)
• Aims of the League:

  TEPID

  Treaty of Versailles, Economic cooperation, Peace, Iternatiomal development, Disarmament
• Structure:

  Council: met 5 times/year, 4 permanent members (Br, Fr, Ja, It), can Veto laws, sanctions

  Assembly: every country, met 1/year, unanimous

  Commissions: Refugee, slavery, health, mandates

  ILO: working conditions, represent workers, employers, gov.

  Permanent court of international justice: ruling of law, border disputes
• Greek-bulgaria - 1925 (S): greek invade Bulgaria after soldier killed, league backed bulgaria, Greek pay $45000, Greek complained of bias and inconsistency
• Impact of Great Depression on League:

  • reluctant to use economic sanctions
  • demand for resources
  • increased protectionism
  • risk of extremisn
• TEPID

  Treaty of Versailles

  Economic cooperation

  Peace

  International development

  Disarment
• Actions League could take:

  establish procedures for arbitration, and create the mechanisms for economic and military sanctions.
• Disarmament conference:

  • 1921 - Washington naval conference
  • 1928 - Kellog-Briand pact
  • 1932-7 - Geneva conference