The League of Nations

January 10, 1920

Headquarter: Geneva (Switzerland)
Members: 42, 55 (1926), 60+ (1939)
What were the Origin of the League

Lord Robert Cecil of Britain

Jan Smuts of South Africa
Leon Bourgeois of France
W. Wilson of America
 Objectives of the LoN

To encourage intl cooperation in order to solve

economic and social problems
To prevent future wars
To settle disputes between countries through
negotiations
To work towards disarmament
To improve the quality of life of people
To maintain peace through collective security
What is Collective Security?
 Collective Security

An attack on a member nation was seen as an attack

on the League. If a member nation was attacked by
another nation it could appeal to the League which
would look into the matter. The League could ask the
two nations in dispute to discuss the matter and try to
resolve it. If this didnt work, the League could
impose sanctions.
What is sanctions?
 Sanctions

Moral Sanctions (a verbal warning) i.e. tell the nation

which had attacked to stop the attack
Economic Sanctions (hit the offending nation
financially). Member countries would stop trading
with the offending nation.
Military Sanctions (using force) Member countries
would take armed action against the offending nation.
 The Structure of the League

General Assembly
Meet Annually
Representative of all member states; each of which
had one vote
Unanimous decisions taken procedure
Functions
To handle the finance of league
To propose revision of peace treaties
 The Council
Smaller body of LoN
Meet three time a year
Four permanent members i.e. Britain, France, Italy and Japan
Four non-permanent members elected by assembly for a
period of three years later on it was increased to nine
Unanimous decision mood
Function
To deal with specific disputes
 The permanent Court of Intl Justice
(PCIJ)
Headquarter: Hague (Holland)
Fifteen Judges of different
nationalities
Functions
Legal disputes
 The Secretariat
Looking after all the paperwork
Preparing agenda
Writing resolutions and reports for
caring out the decisions of the
League
 Commission and Committees
To deal with specific problems
Main Commissions
Handled the mandates
Military affairs
Minority groups
disarmament
Committees
Intl Labour
Health
Economic and financial org
Child welfare
Drug problems
Womens rights
 Peacekeeping
Collective security against the
violator
Recommended (what effective
military, naval, or air force the
member should contribute to the
armed forces)
 How far the LoN was Successful

ILO: Under French Director Albert Thomas, to

improve the conditions of labour all over the world
by persuading govt to:
Fix a maximum working day and week;
Specific adequate minimum wages;
Introduce sickness and unemployment benefit;
Introduce old age pensions
 The Refugee Org: Fridtjof Nansen (A
Norwegian explorer)
Solved the problem of thousands of former prisoners
of war marooned in Russia at the end of the war about
half a million were returned home
After 1933 valuable help was given to thousands of
Jews fleeing from Nazi persecution in Germany
 Health Org:
worked in investigating the causes of epidemics
esp. typhus epidemic in Russia
Mandate Commission
Supervised the government of the territories taken
from Germany and Turkey
Supervised Saar (a disputed territory between
Germany and Turkey) and in 1935 through
plebiscite it was returned to Germany
 Aaland island: A disputed territory b/w Finland and
Sweden went to Finland (1920)
Over the river claims of Germany and Poland to the
important industrial area of Upper Silesia the league
decided that it should be partitioned between the two
(1921)
Greeks invasion of Bulgaria: intervention of League,
Greek troops were withdrawn and reparation were paid to
Bulgaria
Turkey claim on the province of Mousil the league
decided in favour of Iraq
 Why the League fail to Preserve Peace?

It was too closely linked with the Versailles Treaties i.e. it was for
the benefit of victorious powers and the inclusions of Germans in
Czechoslovakia and Poland
It was rejected by the US: in march 1920 the US senate rejected
both the Versailles settlement and League
Important powers were not allowed to join LoN i.e.
Britain 1919. Still member in 1939
France 1919..Still member in 1939
Japan 1919.1933 withdrew
Italy 1919...1935
Germany 1926..1933withdrew
USSR 1934 expelled in 1939
USA . Never joined
 In 1920 the League supported Lithuanian claim to Vilna,
which had been seized from Poland, but in Conference of
Ambassadors the decision were given in favor of Poland so it
was awarded to her.
Corfu Incident (1923) a boundary dispute between Greece and
Albania .
Weaknesses in the Covenant:
Difficult to take unanimous decision against the great powers
No military force of its own.
 Cont

It was much a French/British affairs: the absence of

USA and Russia and the hostility of Italy..
The World Economic Crisis (1929)
The Japan Invasion of Manchuria (1931)
The Failure of World Disarmament Conference
(1932-33)
The Italian invasion of Abyssinia (1935)