Pre-WWII Europe - History GCSE

• The League was a vision for bringing the world together in peace
• Aims of the League


  • Stop war from breaking out
  • Encourage disarmament
  • Improve working conditions
  • Tackle deadly diseases
• Not all countries joined the League
• The League of Nations was created in 1920
• The League of Nations was set up after World War I
• The League of Nations was set up to try to prevent another world war
• The League of Nations was based on Woodrow Wilson's 14 points
• The League of Nations was based on the idea of collective security
• The League of Nations was based in Geneva, Switzerland
• The League of Nations had an Assembly, Council and Secretariat
• The League of Nations had the power to impose economic and military sanctions on countries that started wars
• The League of Nations was weakened by the absence of the United States
• The League of Nations was unable to prevent aggression by Japan, Italy and Germany in the 1930s
• The League of Nations failed to stop the outbreak of World War II
• The League of Nations was dissolved in 1946 and replaced by the United Nations
• The German people were shocked by the severity of the Treaty
• Germany had not been allowed to negotiate and therefore it was a Diktat
• The German Government wanted to reject the Treaty but felt they had no choice but to sign it
• They were immediately hated by the people and became known as the November Criminals
• Clemenceau


  The least satisfied of the Big Three with the Treaty of Versailles
• What countries would work together to do in the League


  • Stop war from breaking out
  • Encourage disarmament
  • Improve working conditions
  • Tackle deadly diseases
• Not all countries were allowed to join the League
• Britain and France were suspicious of communism and Russia
• America adopted a policy of isolationism after WWI
• Woodrow Wilson's vision had been setting up a League of Nations
• The Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles
• This meant it could not join the League
• Wilson was devastated
• Organs of the League of Nations


  • Assembly
  • Council
  • Secretariat
  • Permanent Court of International Justice
  • Special Commissions
• The Assembly met once a year on the first Monday of September
• Every country had an equal vote but had to be unanimous in making decisions
• The Council had the power of veto and could stop a ruling with its vote
• The Permanent Court of International Justice could only advise which made it weak
• The Secretariat was the Civil Service of the League, in charge of administration and organising any action
• The League failed to resolve the Vilna dispute between Poland and Lithuania
• The League successfully resolved the Upper Silesia dispute between Germany and Poland
• The League failed to stop Mussolini's invasion of Corfu
• The League successfully resolved the dispute between Greece and Bulgaria
• The Wall Street Crash and resulting Depression undermined faith in governments and led to the rise of extremist parties like the Nazis
• The League was powerless to help people or control these new extremist party leaders