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WAS 

THE LEAGUE 

SUCCESSFUL ? 

http://www.herebeanswers.com/2015/05/what-is-difference-between-united-nations-and-league-of-nations.html

LON'S AIMS

  • To promote internation cooperation , peace and security by accepting the obligation not to go to war 

  • To promote global disarmament so as to reduce countries' abilities to start a war 

  • To promote open and honorable relations between nations ( No secret treaties allowed )

  • To lay out a system of international law

  • To maintain or help to modify treaties between nations 

  • Formed with the primary purpose of promoting peace and security and to ensure strict adherence to a system of international law 

 

 

WEAKNESS OF LON

Attitudes to the League 

  • Signing peace treaties after WWI meant accepting the League 

  • However those that agreed to the League did not take it seriously . 

  • Countries like Britain and France conducted business between themselves outside of the League 

Lack of political leadership 

  • USA , the strongest country at that time was not a member 

  • Britain and France also devastated by the war and adopted a pacifist policy . 

  • LON was a weak body incapable of asserting authority without the support of US

  • The league lacked the authority to function effectively and was therefore weak . 

Structural Weakness

  • The need for an unanimous vote led to slow-decision making 

  • The league did not have the strength to force major powers (eg.Britain and France )to accept its rulings and they had the power to veto . 

  • With so many countries , it was virtually impossible to come to an unanimous decision . 

Membership 

  • Absence of the USA deprived the league of a powerful member whose presence would have been great psychological and financial benefit .

  • Germany was not allowed to join until 1926

  • Communist USSR not allowed to join until 1934 

  • Lack of strong powers affected its ability to enforce sanctions.

  • It was never an organisation as it was biased and selective

  • The league was seen as an organisation for the victorious powers .

  • There was a constant shift of members as it was easy for members to join and leave .This was especialy so when the league objected to their actions or it felt that the league was not helping .

Post War attitudes of Nations 

  • Britain and France were war weary and adopted a pacifist policy .

  • France continued to view Germany as a threat and was determined to  keep Germany weak . 

  • Italy was dissatisfied with its share of the spoils after WWI

  • USA adopted a isolationist policy 

  • Hence , major powers were more interested in their own national interests than to cooperate to achieve stability and long term peace in Europe through the League .

Failure of Disarmament 

  • Due to the post war attitudes of nations , and the weakness of the League to enforce its will on member nations , the area of disarmament failed and this further destroyed the  credibility of the League . 

LON'S SUCCESSES

Most successful when dealing with social issues such as improving living and working conditions worldwide .

 

  • Working conditions - International Labour Organisation 

  • Health issues - Set up commissions that improved living conditions in poorer countries and also targetted the treatment of specific diseases , eg reduce outbreak of leprosy and malaria .

  • It reduced the smuggling of cheap labour , opium and dangerous chemicals across internation borders . 

  • Sent economic experts to Austria and Hungary

  • Attacked slave traders in Africa and Burma and freed 200,000 slaves 

 

In political issues , the League were only more successful when smaller countries are involved

 

  • Aaland Islands : 1921 

Finland and Sweden both wanted these islands , the league investigated and gave the islands to Finland . Sweden accepted the decision

  • Albania : 1920 

Yugoslavia tried to take over Albania and the League made Yugoslavia redraw its troops from Albania

  • Upper Silesia :1921

Both Germany and Poland wanted Upper Silesia ,the League conducted a plebiscite and a huge majority wanted to join Germany . The League split it into two instead but its decision was accepted 

  • Greek-Bulgarian border : 1925 

Following a dispute , Greece invaded Bulgaria and  the League successfully made Greece withdraw its troops.

 

LON'S FAILURES

The League was not successful when larger countries were involved in conflicts . 

 

Political Failures 

  • Memel : 1923

Lithuania invaded Memel , although a peaceful resolution was reached, the league could not make Lithuania withdraw.

  • Vilna : 1923

Both Poland and Lithuania wanted Vilna . It was given to Lithuania however Poland aggressively seized Vilna and the League failed to make Poland withdraw. 

  • The Ruhr : 1923

France invaded the Ruhr when Germany defaulted in its reparations payment . The League could not make France withdraw. ​The league credibility was gone as France , a member nation was breaking the league rules . The invasion of the Ruhr showed that Britain and France were hypocrites as on one hand they were trying to resolve matters through peaceful means such as neogtiation but they acted in the opposite way .This severely damaged the reputation of the League as they were supposed to be the leading nations .  

  • Corfu : 1923 

Italy took over the Greek Island of Corfu and the league could not make Italy withdraw until Greece gave in on the dispute 

  • Manchuria : 1931

Japan invaded chinese territory of Manchuria and made it a puppet regime called " Manchuko " . The league condemned Japanese agression but no tough actions were taken .

  • Abyssinia : 1935

Italy invaded Abyssinia , the League imposed trade sanctions which failed as the League neither had the will nor the means to ensure that all member countries did so . Italy left the League and the League failed to solve the dispute . 

 

FAILURE OF DISARMAMENT

Disarmament failed mainly because 

 

ABSENCE OF THE USA

  • Due to its policy of isolationsim , the USA did not join the league and this made the league to be deprived of the strongest country as a member at that time .

  • Therefore , the league was seen as weak and although LON advocated collective security , most nations did not put their national security under the league . 

  • The league did not have its own army , and this proved to be a potential roadblock in controlling agressive nations.

nATION security FIRST 

  • Nations placed greater priority on their national security , and did not disarm as they would be vulnerable to foreign threats , this was especially so as there was a lack of faith and trust in the ability of the LON to effectively carry out collective security .

  • In addition , the repeated failure of the LON to solve conflicts between nations convinced other nations that LON did not have the military clout to stop agressors and neither did their economic sanctions work . 

SELF INTEREST of nations

  • In fact Britain and France saw LON as a platform to discuss things and did not take it seriously . 

  • Some agressive nations also refused to disarm in order of their desire to expand their territory .

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