History of the League of Nations (1919-1946)

1. History of the League of Nations (1919-1946)
Source:
https://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(http
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%24file/Historical_overview_of_the_League_of_
Nations.pdf
• What could be the relevance to study today
League of Nations?
– Understanding the past to use it for the present
– Helps to know especially in the tumultuous period
(during crisis) of history how nations managed
their affairs
– The role of individuals vis-à-vis role of
states/community
– The nuances of diplomacyDr. VK 1

2. History of the League of Nations (1919-1946)
Overview – Slides: 3, 4
Before the League of Nations-Forerunner to the League of Nations – Slide/s: 5
Organization and establishment - The founding of the League of Nations – Slide/s: 5
The Covenant of the League of Nations – Slide/s: 6
The main bodies of the League of Nations - – Slide/s: 7
Activities – Slide/s:
The end of the League of Nations – Slide/s: 13, 14
• Political activities – Slide/s: 8, 9
– International conflicts
– International reconciliation and
disarmament
• Technical activities: – Slides: 10,11,12
1) The financial reconstruction of Austria and Hungary
2) The International Economic Conferences of 1927 and 1933
3) Transit, transport and communications
4) Social questions: the traffic in women and the protection of
children
5) The Health Organisation
6) Opium and dangerous drugs
7) Intellectual cooperation
8) The repatriation of prisoners of war and the problem of
refugees
Dr. VK 2

3. History of the League of Nations (1919-1946)
• Born with the will of the victors of the First World War to avoid a repeat of a devastating war, the
League of Nations objective was to maintain universal peace.
• President Woodrow Wilson of the United States of America was one of its most powerful
advocates. In accordance with President Wilson’s ideals, the Covenant outlined the League of
Nations’ three basic objectives: to ensure collective security, to assure functional cooperation, and
to execute the mandates of peace treaties. However, the League of Nations could only begin to
function, formally and officially, after the Peace Treaty of Versailles came into effect and was
officially inaugurated on 10 January 1920.
• The first years of existence of the League of Nations were marked by great successes. In
accordance with the provisions of the Pact, several international disagreements – between
Sweden and Finland, and between Greece and Bulgaria – were resolved peacefully
• The Locarno Agreements signed in October 1925, which marked the beginnings of a Franco-
German reconciliation, Germany became a Member in 1926.
• The unprecedented work on behalf of refugees carried out by the Norwegian F. Nansen from 1920
should also be stressed.
Dr. VK 3

4. • In spite of these early successes, the League of Nations did not manage to
prevent neither the invasion of Manchuria by Japan, nor the annexation of
Ethiopia by Italy in 1936, nor that of Austria by Hitler in 1938.
• The powerlessness of the League of Nations to prevent further world conflict,
the alienation of part of its Member States and the generation of the war itself,
added to its demise from 1940.
• The failure, politically, of the mission of collective security of the League of
Nations must nevertheless not make one overlook its success in, what was
from the beginning to be a secondary aspect of its objectives: international
technical cooperation.
• Under its auspices, in fact, considerable number of conferences,
intergovernmental committees and meetings of experts were held in
Geneva, in areas as diverse as health and social affairs, transport and
communications, economic and financial affairs and intellectual cooperation.
This fruitful work was validated by the ratification of more than one
hundred conventions by the Member States.
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5. • Before the League of Nations
– Forerunner to the League of Nations:
• The Inter-parliamentary Union : whose aim
was to promote international arbitration and world peace
• Even though the International Peace Bureau (IPB) was not an
officially recognized organization of member States, it can be
considered a forerunner of the League of Nations because of its visions,
its goals and its prominent activists.
• The Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom-furthered
two causes: suffrage, and the use of arbitration as a means of solving
international disputes
• Organization and establishment
• The founding of the League of Nations
29 April 1919, the final version of the Covenant of the League of Nations was
adopted, and it became Part I of the Treaty of Versailles and officially
inaugurated on 10 January 1920
• The League of Nations was open to all other States, providing they fulfilled
certain requirements Dr. VK 5

6. Dr. VK 6
The Covenant of the League of Nations
 consists of Preamble
Specified the nature and power of the Assembly and the
Council, the two main bodies of the Organization,
Secretary-General, the establishment of the League of
Nations’ Secretariat at Geneva, and its budget
Subject of disarmament
Political and social mandates of the League of Nations
Obligations and rights of the Member States to achieve
international peace and collective security
Extending international relations in the fields of finance,
trade, transport by
land, sea and air as well as the promotion of health and the
struggle against drugs, prostitution and slavery.
Supported the aims of the Red Cross

7. Dr. VK 7
The main bodies of the League of Nations
The League of Nations consisted of the Assembly and the Council (both assisted
by the Permanent Secretariat), and the Permanent Court of International Justice
The Council was a coalition of the four permanent members: France, Italy, Japan,
and the United Kingdom. 10 non-permanent Council members were elected by the
Assembly for a three-year period.
Geneva, headquarters of the League of Nations
Activities:
Political activities
1) International conflicts
2) International reconciliation and disarmament
Technical activities:
1) The financial reconstruction of Austria and Hungary
2) The International Economic Conferences of 1927 and 1933
3) Transit, transport and communications
4) Social questions: the traffic in women and the protection of children
5) The Health Organisation
6) Opium and dangerous drugs
7) Intellectual cooperation
8) The repatriation of prisoners of war and the problem of refugees

8. Dr. VK 8
International conflicts
• The settlement of disputes
Depended on the willingness of the sovereign States
Some peaceful settlements happened like the Aaland
Islands
China: the Manchurian crisis of 1932
On 19 September 1931, the League of Nations was made aware of an incident
provoked by anti-Japanese activists at the Japanese-owned South Manchurian
railway line in China. Consequently, the Japanese army invaded the Chinese
province of Manchuria. Under the chairmanship of Aristide Briand, and with the
active participation of the United States of America (which had thus far
refrained from recognizing the League of Nations as a global mediator), the
Council attempted to negotiate a peaceful solution. League of Nations’
recommendations for restoring peace in the area, Japan did not accept and, as a
result, withdrew from the League of Nations in 1935
Ethiopia (Abyssinia)
Council was unable to protect a small Member State from the interests of a larger
and more influential one…oil sanctions that would have halted Mussolini’s military
endeavours were not imposed…Italy was able to launch an attack on Ethiopia
Political activities

9. Dr. VK 9
International reconciliation and disarmament
The 1925 Locarno Pact
Reconciliation between Germany and her neighbours Belgium and France,
and for Germany’s eventual entry into the League of Nations in 1926
Briand’s plan for a European Union
Progressed to an extent within the framework of the League of Nations
The Geneva Protocol and the Disarmament Conference of 1932
Issue was discussed in each Assembly and in many sessions of the Council
and other special meetings, but all these efforts failed in the end. One of the main
obstacles faced was the belief of the main Powers that their security depended on
maintaining a level of armaments equal or even superior to those of their neighbours.
The protection of minorities
After the war, the new Eastern European States like Yugoslavia were forced to sign
agreements granting religious, social and political equality to their minorities. In order to
supervise these agreements, the League of Nations set up the Minority Section.
However, Council very reluctantly condemned the accused State of improper
treatment.
The Mandate system
The Allied and associated Powers acquired the territories that were previously under
the sovereignty of Germany and the Ottoman Empire…inhabitants were at this time
considered incapable of ruling themselves…Belgium, the British Empire, and France
were entrusted with the governance of the mandated territories

10. Dr. VK 10
The International Economic Conferences of 1927 and 1933
First, Soviet Union and the United States of America
also attended. To reinforce international trade laws, and to halt the
widespread practice of tariff increases. However, rise of economic
nationalism all over the world
Second, to stabilize international monetary standards,
and to have prices rise at a steady and reasonable rate. This Conference
was a complete failure, as no State was prepared to voluntarily give up
any of its own financial and economic strengths.
Thereafter, the Economic and Financial Section of the League of Nations
decided to focus more on the cooperation of individuals rather than of
States, and thus began to work more closely with the Health Organization,
the International Labour Office, and the International Institute of
Agriculture in Rome.
Technical activities

11. Dr. VK 11
Transit, transport and communications
Subcommittees were set up to deal with such matters as rail transport, inland navigation,
ports and maritime navigation, road traffic and power transmission
Social questions: the traffic in women and the protection of children
In 1904 and 1910, several agreements intended to protect the rights of women and
children were put in place by a number of States. The Covenant entrusted the League of
Nations with supervising the execution of these agreements. Improved some conditions.
The Health Organisation
League of Nations had Health Committee and Health Section… A link between national
health administrations in many ways…To control the spread of epidemic diseases
Opium and dangerous drugs
In order to prevent the illicit smuggling of drugs, drug manufacture and production had to
be controlled at the source… League of Nations organized two Opium Conferences.
That time focus was on Regulation of narcotic drugs to be used by the world’s medical and
scientific communities…not indicated the need to limit and control the cultivation of the
opium-producing poppy flower

12. Dr. VK 12
Intellectual cooperation
The Council set up… Intellectual Cooperation Committee (ICC). Its purpose was to
improve the working conditions of the educated workforce. ..it was made up of some of
the foremost intellectual personalities of the time, including Marie Curie, Albert Einstein,
Béla Bartók and Thomas Mann.
The repatriation of prisoners of war and the problem of refugees
500,000 prisoners of war… Nansen (The Council of the League of Nations appointed,)
took initiative and organized the repatriation of the prisoners on
his own. In less than two years, and despite a very limited budget.
As a result of the 1917 Revolution, there were more than 1.5 million Russian refugees
scattered all over Europe. In 1921, the League of Nations set up a Refugee Organization
in order to deal with this problem. After the situation of the Russian refugees had been
settled, many requesting help from the League of Nations… the outcomes were small

13. Dr. VK 13
The end of the League of Nations
Although the League of Nations did enjoy some remarkable political success
in the 1920s, the increasing economic strife and militant nationalism which
characterized the 1930s led not only to the breakup of cooperation between
States but also to several conflicts which could not be easily resolved.
League of Nations unfulfilled promise of collective security, and states had
returned to the traditional system of defensive alliances and power blocs.
At the end of the 2nd World War, 43 States were still Members of the League
of Nations, though for all intents and purposes it had ceased to exist. A final
and official disposition had to be taken concerning the transfer of the League
of Nations’ properties to the United Nations. In 1945, the San Francisco
Conference set up a Preparatory Commission to do this. At the initiative of the
British Foreign Office, the last Assembly (the twenty-first) was held in Geneva
on 8 April 1946. In his final speech, Lord Robert Cecil, one of the League of
Nations’ founders, proclaimed to closed the Assembly with the words: “The
League is dead, long live the United Nations!”

14. Dr. VK 14
In many ways to the League of Nations, the United Nations sought to continue
many of the operations already in place. For example, economic activities were
transferred to the new Economic and Social Council; the Health Organization
evolved into the World Health Organization (WHO); the Nutrition Committee
became the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); the Committee of
Intellectual Cooperation became the Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO); the Permanent Mandates Commission was replaced
by the Trusteeship Council; and the work of the Nansen Office was continued by
the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
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