2. A new beginning?
• The League of Nations, the
predecessor of the United
Nations, was the first
permanent international
forum for cooperation and
the resolution of conflict
• Founded in 1919, after the
disastrous world war, it
aimed to ensure that another
world war would not be
possible
3. The lessons of World War I
• The outbreak of war in
1914 was a failure of
diplomacy and
communication
• Competing European
alliances drifted into a
war that lasted four
years and left 10 million
dead
4. Applying the lessons
• World War I made it clear that the previous
system of power blocks and alliances had
failed
• The League sought to establish “collective
security” as an alternative
• According to its Preamble, its aim was “to
promote international co-operation and to
achieve international peace and security”
5. Origins of the League
• Several proposals for such a
body were expressed during
the war, mostly in Britain or
the United States
• The main input came from
US President Woodrow
Wilson and his advisors,
during the final period of the
war and the subsequent
Peace Conference
6. The structure of the League
• The Council – the highest authority
• The Assembly – containing representatives
of every member state
• Specialist agencies and other bodies
8. The Council
• The Council, which met
several times each year,
was the League’s supreme
decision-making body
• It had 4 permanent
members and 4 (later 6,
and finally 9) rotating
members chosen by the
Assembly
9. The permanent members
• The permanent seats on the Council
were reserved for the “Principal Allied
and Associated Powers” – the United
States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan
• The assumption was that the countries
that had made the biggest contribution
to winning the war would also work
hardest to preserve the peace
10. The permanent members
• Britain
• France
• Italy (left 1937)
• Japan (left 1933)
• United States (never joined)
• Germany from 1926 (left 1933)
11. The Assembly
• The Assembly
provided a forum for all
member countries, but
lacked real power
• It met every year in the
autumn in Geneva
12. Weapons of the League
• Moral sanctions – condemnation of
aggression
• Economic sanctions – halting of trade,
blockades
• Military sanctions – armed intervention
13. Successful interventions
Compromises in minor conflicts:
• Åland Islands and Upper Silesia (1921)
• Memel (1923)
• Greece and Bulgaria (1925)
• Humanitarian aid after Greek-Turkish war
(1923)
14. Successful agencies of the
League
• International Labour Organisation (campaign
for a shorter working week)
• Health Organisation (leprosy campaign)
• Slavery Commission
• Commission for Refugees (Nansen
passports)
• These all enjoyed greater success and
cooperation than the League’s Council
15. Problems
• The League was seen as a “victors’ club”
associated with the Versailles Treaty
• Countries that had lost territory (Germany,
Austria, Hungary) – or felt they had not
gained enough (Italy, Japan) – were not
enthusiastic about the new world order
• The League needed to be particularly strong
to deal with the aftermath of the war
17. The empty seats
• The United States, the world’s major
economic power, did not want to commit
itself to foreign affairs
• The defeated countries were not asked
to join - Germany joined in 1926 after
many changes of government
• The Soviet Union did not join until 1934
19. Consequences
• Over-reliance on Britain and France – the
countries most interested in preserving the
status quo
• Both had been weakened by the war
• With powerful countries outside the League,
economic sanctions were easier to avoid and
therefore much less of a deterrent
• Military sanctions even less likely to be
applied
20. Further problems - inflexibility
• Any agreement required unanimous
approval of the Council – extremely
difficult
• The Council was not in permanent
session, and thus could not respond
quickly
21. The ultimate deterrent
• The British Prime Minister Stanley
Baldwin warned that collective security
required a willingness to go to war to
ensure peace
• In Britain and France, there was little
appetite for war, and a genuine belief
that matters could be resolved
peacefully
22. An early view of the
dilemma
Cartoon title: "Moral Suasion"
Caption: "The Rabbit. 'My
offensive equipment being
practically nil, it remains
for me to fascinate him
with the power of my eye.'"
Punch, July 28th, 1920.
24. Earlier failures
• Failure to resolve Fiume crisis (1919-
20)
• Failure to intervene in Polish Soviet War
(1919-20)
• Failure to punish Italian action against
Greece (1923)
25. Terminal failures: Manchuria
• Japan – a member of
the Council – seized
the province of
Manchuria from China
in 1931
• The League criticised
Japan, but took no
concrete measures
• Japan withdrew from
the League in protest
26. Terminal failures: Abyssinia
• In 1935 Italy – another
member of the Council
– invaded Abyssinia
• Britain and France
protested, but took no
serious action
• Italy withdrew from the
League after its actions
were criticised
27. Terminal failures: World War II
• The League was also
unable to stop the Spanish
Civil War (1936-39) and
German expansion in
Europe from 1938
• The outbreak of World War
II in September 1939,
following the German
invasion of Poland,
showed the League had
become completely
irrelevant
