The League of Nations
The League of Nations
The League of Nations was an international organisation established in January 1920 as part of the Treaty of Versailles. Its purpose was to maintain world peace through collective security — the idea that member nations would act together to prevent aggression. The League was the brainchild of US President Woodrow Wilson, yet ironically the United States never joined.
Structure of the League
| Body | Role |
|---|---|
| The Assembly | Met once a year; every member nation had one vote; decisions had to be unanimous |
| The Council | Met several times a year; had permanent members (Britain, France, Italy, Japan) and temporary elected members; could impose sanctions |
| The Secretariat | The League's civil service; carried out administrative work |
| The Permanent Court of International Justice | Based in The Hague; settled legal disputes between nations |
| Special Commissions | Dealt with specific issues: refugees, health, slavery, labour conditions |
The League's headquarters were in Geneva, Switzerland (a neutral country).
Strengths of the League
The League had some notable successes in the 1920s:
- Aaland Islands (1921) — Settled a dispute between Sweden and Finland over these islands; awarded them to Finland.
- Upper Silesia (1921) — Organised a plebiscite to divide the region between Germany and Poland.
- Greek-Bulgarian dispute (1925) — When Greece invaded Bulgaria, the League ordered Greece to withdraw and pay compensation. Greece obeyed.
- Health and humanitarian work — The League's commissions did valuable work: combating diseases (malaria, leprosy), freeing 200,000 slaves in Sierra Leone, repatriating 400,000 prisoners of war, and helping refugees.
Weaknesses of the League
The League suffered from fundamental structural problems:
- The USA never joined — The US Senate voted against joining in November 1919 and again in March 1920. Without the world's richest and most powerful nation, the League lacked authority and economic leverage. Wilson himself suffered a stroke while campaigning for the League.
- No army — The League had no military force of its own. It relied on member nations to provide troops, but no country was willing to risk its own soldiers to enforce League decisions.
- Sanctions were slow and ineffective — Economic sanctions (trade bans) required all members to agree and cooperate, which rarely happened. Countries were reluctant to damage their own trade.
- Decisions had to be unanimous — Any single member could veto a decision in the Assembly or Council, making agreement very difficult.
- Key powers were absent or left — Germany was not allowed to join until 1926 (and left in 1933); the USSR did not join until 1934; Japan left in 1933; Italy left in 1937.
- Britain and France — As the League's leading members, they were expected to take the lead, but both were weakened by WWI and focused on their own recovery. They often pursued their own interests rather than the League's principles.
Failures of the 1920s
Even in its supposedly successful decade, the League had notable failures:
- Vilna (1920) — Poland seized the Lithuanian capital. The League protested but could not force Poland to withdraw. France, an ally of Poland, blocked action.
- Corfu (1923) — Italy's leader Mussolini bombarded and occupied the Greek island of Corfu after an Italian general was murdered on the Greek-Albanian border. The League told Greece to pay compensation to Italy and Italy withdrew — but Italy, not Greece, was the aggressor.
- Disarmament — The League failed to achieve any significant disarmament. The World Disarmament Conference (1932-34) collapsed when Germany demanded equal arms and France refused.
Key Exam Points
- Understand both the aims and the structural weaknesses of the League.
- Be able to explain why the USA did not join and what difference this made.
- The League's successes were mostly minor disputes between small nations; it failed whenever a major power was involved.