PCS History Department

The League of Nations

1919 - 1939

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The Birth of the LeagueIn 1918 nobody wanted

to repeat the mass slaugther of the war.

The First World War should be “the war that ended all wars”

Countries needed to find a place to meet and collaborate to find peaceful solutions

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But leaders disagreed about the type of organisation that was needed

The LoN should be like a world parliament in which representatives of all nations would met regularly to reach agreements

The LoN should only meet when an emergency arose

The LoN should be a strong organisation with its own army

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Mainly followed president Wilson’s ideas

All major nations would be members.

Nations would disarmDisputes among nations

would be solved on the LoNThey would protect each

other whenever an invasion may occur

Any nation breaking the Convenant would suffer an economic blockade

The LoN Covenant

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Although the LoN was president Wilson’s idea the USA’s Senate rejected it:

Some Americans did not like the terms of the Treaty of Versailles in which the

LoN Covenant

was included

Some Americans

did not want to be

involved again in

European’s disputes or

wars

American businessmen

were worried

about the costs of

mantaining the League

and its decissions

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Some thought that the USA would be controlled by other nations throught the LoN

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The LoN’s Weaknesses

USA’s rejection discouraged many other nations about the power of the LoN to take action

Great Britain’s priority was to strengthen its Empire and trade

France was still concerned about Germany and thought that the L0N was useless without an army which could apply its decissions

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Membership of the League

42 countries joined the League at the start and in 1930 it had 59 members.

Great Britain and France were the major powers that guided the LoN policy.

Italy and Japan were also members of the Council.

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To discourage agressionTo encourage disarmamentTo increase cooperation among nations, specially

in trade an businessTo improve the living conditions of people

The Aims of the League

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How did the League of Nations work?

THE ASSEMBLY

THE PERMANETCOURT OF

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

THE INTERNATIONAL

LABOUR ORGANISATION

(ILO) THE HEALTH COMMITTEE

THE SLAVERYCOMMISSION

THE REFUGEESCOMMITTEE

THE MANDATES COMMISION

THE COUNCIL

THE SECRETARIAT

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The LoN’s main bodies

The Council

•Small group with permanent members that had a veto plus temporary members •Discuss problems in case of emergency and establish moral condemnation, economic sanctions and/or military actions if needed

The Assembly

•Parliament with all the members.•Recomended actions to the Council•Met once a year •Its decissions had to be unanimous

The Secretariat

•Record the League’s meetings •Prepare reports for the agencies

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Border Disputes in the 1920’s

• Poland occupied Vilna, capital of Lithuania

• The LoN could not solve it

Vilna, 1920

• Germany and Poland disputed the region• It was divided in two by the LoN

Upper Silesia, 1921

• Sweeden and Finland disputed the islands

• The LoN decided that the islands would belong to Finland. Sweeden accepted the decision.

Aaland Islands, 1921

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Border Disputes in the 1920’s• Greece and Albania disputed the island.

Italians supervised it. • The Italian general was killed and

Mussolini, Italy prime minister, bombarded Corfu.

• Greece had to apologise and pay compensation to Italy.

Corfu, 1923

• Great Britain and France designed the Protocol to avoid the League to be undermined by one of its members as in Corfu.

• It stated that the members of the League would have to acept the League’s decission.

• The British Parliament rejected it.

The Geneval Protocol

• Greece invaded Bulgaria.• The LoN forced Greece to apologize and

pay compensations to Bulgaria.• It showed the members that there seemed

to be a different rule for the large states (Italy) and for the smaller ones (Greece)

Bulgaria, 1925

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Failure of disarmament

No major agreements were made apart from the Washington Conference (1923) in which USA, Japan, Great Britain and France accepted to reduce the size of their navies.

This damaged the reputation of the League (particularly in Germany)

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The Locarno Treaties, 1925

The Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928

Germany accepted the terms of the Treaty of Versailles related to its Western borders: Borders with France and Belgium Demilitarisation of Rhineland Disputes with other nations

would be solved at the LoN

In exchange, Germany was accepted as a member of the LoN in 1926

Renounced war as a way to solve disputes but it made no provisions for sanctions if any member broke the pact.

International Agreements

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The mood by the end of the 1920’s

The LoN has not been succesful in some territorial disputes or in disarmament but international relations were at its high point with all nations willing to collaborate and avoid war.

At the same time the economies of European nations were recovering.

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Economy Recovers- The Dawes Plan established a way to collect war reparations from Germany, thus getting British and French economies moving again.

- Trading relationships among nations reduced tensions.

- But USA’s loans would be a burden to Europe’s economy in the 1930’s

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During the 1920’s the League of Nations tried to increase international cooperation to avoid war. Nevertheless, in the 1930’s the LoN failed.