The+Failure+of+the+League+of+Nations

Main Points:
 * The League of Nations lacks means of backing up its authority
 * Inability to stop aggression in Manchuria and Abyssinia
 * Member states choose self-interest over the common good

**Background**
The League of Nations came into being after the end of World War One. The League of Nation's task was simple - to ensure that war never broke out again. After the turmoil caused by the Versailles Treaty, many looked to the League to bring stability to the world.

America entered World War One in 1917. The country as a whole and the president - Woodrow Wilson in particular - was horrified by the slaughter that had taken place in what was meant to be a civilized part of the world. The only way to avoid a repetition of such a disaster, was to create an international body whose sole purpose was to maintain world peace and which would sort out international disputes as and when they occurred. This would be the task of the League of Nations.

After the devastation of the war, support for such a good idea was great (except in America where isolationism was taking root).

**The Organization of the League of Nations**
The League of Nations was to be based in Geneva, Switzerland. This choice was natural as Switzerland was a neutral country and had not fought in World War One. No one could dispute this choice especially as an international organization such as the Red Cross was already based in Switzerland.

If a dispute did occur, the League, under its Covenant, //could do three things// - these were known as its sanctions:


 * 1) It could call on the states in dispute to sit down and discuss the problem in an orderly and peaceful manner. This would be done in the League’s Assembly - which was essentially the League’s parliament which would listen to disputes and come to a decision on how to proceed. If one nation was seen to be the offender, the League could introduce **//verbal sanctions//** - warning an aggressor nation that she would need to leave another nation's territory or face the consequences.
 * 2) If the states in dispute failed to listen to the Assembly’s decision, the League could introduce **//economic sanctions//**. This would be arranged by the League’s Council. The purpose of this sanction was to financially hit the aggressor nation so that she would have to do as the League required. The logic behind it was to push an aggressor nation towards bankruptcy, so that the people in that state would take out their anger on their government forcing them to accept the League’s decision. The League could order League members not to do any trade with an aggressor nation in an effort to bring that aggressor nation to heel.
 * 3) If this failed, the League could introduce **//physical sanctions//**. This meant that military force would be used to put into place the League’s decision. However, the League did not have a military force at its disposal and no member of the League had to provide one under the terms of joining - unlike the current United Nations. Therefore, it could not carry out any threats and any country defying its authority would have been very aware of this weakness. The only two countries in the League that could have provided any military might were Britain and France and both had been severely depleted strength-wise in World War One and could not provide the League with the backing it needed. Also both Britain and France were not in a position to use their finances to pay for an expanded army as both were financially hit very hard by World War One.


 * The League also had other weaknesses : **

The country, whose president, Woodrow Wilson, had dreamt up the idea of the League - America - refused to join it. As America was the world’s most powerful nation, this was a serious blow to the prestige of the League. However, America’s refusal to join the League, fitted in with her desire to have an isolationist policy throughout the world.



Germany was not allowed to join the League in 1919. As Germany had started the war, according to the Treaty of Versailles, one of her punishments was that she was not considered to be a member of the international community and, therefore, she was not invited to join. This was a great blow to Germany but it also meant that the League could not use whatever strength Germany had to support its campaign against aggressor nations.

Russia was also not allowed to join as in 1917, she had a communist government that generated fear in western Europe, and in 1918, the Russian royal family - the Romanovs - was murdered. Such a country could not be allowed to take its place in the League.

Therefore, three of the world’s most powerful nations (potentially for Russia and Germany) played no part in supporting the League. The two most powerful members were Britain and France - both had suffered financially and militarily during the war - and neither was enthusiastic to get involved in disputes that did not affect western Europe.

The League had a fine ideal - to end war for good. However, if an aggressor nation was determined enough to ignore the League’s verbal warnings, all the League could do was enforce economic sanctions and hope that these worked as it had no chance or enforcing its decisions using military might.

Text source: []


Homework: Analysis of Document Cartoon 1

**Part 2: examine the Successes and Failures in the 1920's**
The aims of the League of Nations were:
 * 1) ====to stop wars====
 * 2) ====to enforce the Treaty of Versailles====
 * 3) ====to disarm nations, thus making it less possible to wage war====
 * 4) ====to improve the lives of people====

__Readings__:
[|The Successes and failures of the League of Nations]

Part 3: examine **the Manchurian Crisis**
Japan had failed to gain the territory she was expecting at the Treaty of Versailles and in the 1920s there was a revival of traditional Japanese ideas along with a growing rise in nationalism. With a lack of resources, and a growing population, Japan began to look to the expansion of an empire as the solution to its problems. With the onset of the Great Depression, self interest over the common good began to guide the actions of the world community. The rise of fascism as seen in the governments of Germany and Italy began to become problems that the League of Nations was unable to resolve.

In 1931 under the ruse of a railway explosion at Mukden, the Japanese invaded Manchuria. Japan set up the government of “Manchukuo” with a puppet government (under the the last emperor of China). The government of China took its grievance to the League of Nations which set up the Lytton commission to look into the matter. The commission take over a year to look into the matter.

The League of Nations found Japan to be the aggressor and recommended that China should control Manchuria. The League of Nations ordered Japan to leave Manchuria. The Japanese response was to refuse to give up control of Manchuria and to resign from the League of Nations in 1933.

This defiance of the League of Nations represents a huge blow to the authority of the league that indicated its powerlessness in the face of resolved opposition.



In July 1937 the Japanese army invaded northern China. The Japanese airforce was used to bomb Chinese cities into submission. Within a year Nanking, the capital, Tsingtao, Canton and Hankow had all been taken.

The Japanese government began to demand that Britain and the other western countries should give up supporting China and co-operate with Japan in establishing a ‘new order’ in the Far East.

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Part 4: examine **the** **Abyssinian Crisis**
Italy had previously had designs on Abyssinia (present day Ethiopia) so it was not surprising when Benito Mussolini (Italy’s fascist dictator) turn toward invasion as a way of driving his country forward during the Great Depression and distracting the italian people from problems that he had been unable to solve. Mussolini had plans for building an Empire.

The League of Nations asked Mussolini to resist engaging in aggression but Italy invaded Abyssinia in 1935. The Abbyssinian Emperor Haile Selassie asked the League for help but Britain and France merely supported Economic sanctions were placed to prevent any trading with Italy. These did not include coal, iron, steel and oil (the materials needed for war). Hitler had been breaking the Treaty of Versailles and had left the League and Britian and France did not want to push Italy into alliance with Germany.

France and Britain tried to solve the crisis with the Hoare-Laval Plan which would divide Abyssinia into two parts- the larger area should become a smaller Abyssinia. Mussolini uses poison gas in Abyssinia. In May 1936 the capital Addis Ababa was occupied and the Emperor Haile Selassie fled to Britain. Abyssinia was annexed by Italy and the King of Italy became Emperor of Abyssinia. Italy, one of the permanent members of the League of Nations leaves the League.

The League of Nations becomes a completely irrelevant institution.

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Read [|Emperor Haile Selassie’s address] to the league pointing out the League’s broken promises to the weak nations of the world

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=League of Nations Additional Resources:= http://www.johndclare.net/league_of_nations_revision.htm

[|League of Nations Timeline]