League of Nations

• KEY DATES LON

  1919 : Paris Peace Conference took place, Treaty of Versailles was signed

  1920 : League of Nations hold its first meeting

  1921 : Washington Naval Conference

  1923 : French invasion of the Ruhr Valley after Germany defaulted on its payments, Corfu Crisis between Italy and Greece

  1924 : The Dawes Plan was signed

  1925 : The Locarno Treaties were signed

  1926 : Germany joined the League of nations

  1928 : The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed

  1929 : The Young Plan was finalised
• AIMS AND STRUCTURE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

  • Resolving international disputes without going to war. This would be achieved through collective Security – an arrangement where countries agree not to attack one another and help defend each other against any attack.
  • Disarmament: The League would encourage all members to reduce the size of their armed forces to make it less likely that they would go to war.
  • Social issues: The League also aims to improve living and working conditions worldwide e.g. help deal with slavery, refugees, dealing with diseases etc. (social issues not in syllabus)
• The General Assembly:


  • Made up of all LON members
  • A parliament that meets once a year to debate on issues
  • Decisions had to have a two-thirds majority
  • In reality it was challenging for the Assembly to make decisions as they met infrequently and seldom agreed.
• The Council:

  • Made up of all 4 permanent members: Britain, France, Italy and Japan
  • And other non-permanent members elected by the assembly
  • Decisions had to be unanimous. Again, it was challenging for the Council to agree on issues, especially when it goes against their national interests
• PEACE-KEEPING MEASURES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

  Moral Persuasion

  • Publicly condemn the offending nation so that they would be persuaded to stop their actions.
  • The aggressors could ignore the condemnations by the League and continue their attacks.
• PEACE-KEEPING MEASURES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

  Economic sanctions

  • Stop trading or supplying the offending nation so they would be pressured to stop.
  • Some countries are self-sufficient. Also, economic sanctions also hurt the economy of the League members, who may be reluctant to carry them out. The offender may also still trade with non-League members.
• PEACE-KEEPING MEASURES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

  Military sanctions

  • Cut off supply of arms or carry out a military intervention to stop an attack by an offending nation.
  • League of Nations had no army of its own. Its member nations may not want to contribute its men to fight in another’s war.
• CONCERNS ABOUT THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

  Disarmament

  • If everyone disarms, there is less chance of a war breaking out.
  • Most countries still distrusted one another and were scared that they would be vulnerable if they disarmed.
  • Washington Naval Conference organised by the USA (not LON) was considered a success as Britain, USA, Japan, France and Italy agreed on limits for their navy.
  • Subsequent disarmament conferences failed - countries could not come to an agreement on how much to disarm.
• CONCERNS ABOUT THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

  Ability to stop aggressors

  • Many countries felt the LON lacked authority and power – they simply did not have the authority to enforce their decisions.
  • Economic sanctions were powerful, but member countries did not want to hurt their own economies and rarely carried them out
  • The League did not have an army of its own.
• CONCERNS ABOUT THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

  Membership

  • A few major countries did not join the League (Germany, USSR, USA)
  • Without the USA, the League was significantly weakened as it was one of the most powerful militaries and economies in the world at that time.