To What Extent was The League of Nations a Success?
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This document is a summarisation of History/Humanities/Global Politics subjects concerning the League of Nations. It also encapsulates the structure of the League of Nations as well as it's flaws and the backbone as to how the United Nations was later formed. This provides insight into a few causes...
To what extent was the League of Nations a success?
HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS THE LEAGUE IN THE 1920s?
THE BIRTH OF THE LEAGUE:
After the First World War everyone wanted to avoid repeating the mass slaughter of the war. They agreed that a LEAGUE
OF NATIONS – an organisation that could solve international disputes without resorting to war – would help achieve this.
However, there was disagreement about the kind of organisation it should be.
President Wilson wanted the League of Nations to be like a world parliament where representatives of all nations
could meet together regularly to decide on any matters that affected them all.
Many British leaders thought the best the League would be a simple organisation that would just get together in
emergencies. An organisation like this already existed. It was called the CONFERENCE OF AMBASSADORS.
France proposed a strong League with its own army.
It was President Wilson who won. He insisted that discussions about a League should be a major part of the peace treaties
and in 1919 he took personal charge of drawing plans for the League. By February he had drafted a very ambitious plan.
All the major nations would join the League. They would disarm. If they had a dispute with another country, they would
take it to the League. They promised to accept the decision made by the League and to protect one another. If a member did
break the COVENANT and go to war, other members promised to stop trading with it and to send troops if necessary to
force it to stop fighting. Wilson’s hope was that citizens of all countries would be so against another conflict that this would
prevent their leaders from going to war.
SOURCE 1 SOURCE 2
Merely to win war was not enough. It must be won in If they had dared to discuss their problems for a single
such a way as to ensure the future peace of the world. fortnight in 1914 then WW1 would never have happened.
President Woodrow Wilson, 1918 President Wilson speaking in 1918
The plan was prepared in great hurry and critics suggested there was some ‘woolly’ thinking. Some people were angered by
Wilson’s arrogant style. He acted as if only he knew the solutions to Europe’s problems. Others were worried by his
idealism. He never explicitly expressed what would happen to any members that didn’t abide to the League rules. Even so,
in 1919 hopes were high that the League, with the United States in the driving seat, could be a powerful peacemaker.
A BODY BLOW TO THE LEAGUE
Back in the USA Woodrow Wilson had problems. Before the USA could join the League he needed the approval of
Congress. And in the USA the idea of a League was not popular as shown below.
The League was supposed to enforce the TREATY OF VERSAILLES yet some Americans, particularly the
millions who had German ancestors hated the Treaty itself.
Some feared joining the League meant sending US soldiers to settle every little conflict around the world. No one
wanted that after the casualties of the war.
If the League imposed SANCTIONS (e.g. stopping trade with a country that was behaving aggressively) it might
be American trade and business that suffered most.
Some feared that the League would be dominated by Britain or France – and would be called to help defend their
empires. Many in the US were anti-empires.
Wilson’s Democratic Party had run the USA for eight troubled years. Its opponents saw the League as an ideal opportunity
to defeat him. Wilson toured the USA to put his arguments to the people, but when congress voted in 1919 he was defeated.
So when the league opened for business in January 1920, the American chair was empty.
, WILSON DEFEATED:
In 1920 Wilson became seriously ill after a stroke. Despite that, he continued to press for the USA to join the League. He
took the proposal back to Congress again in March 1920, but they defeated it by 49 votes to 35.
The DEMOCRATS still did not give up. They were convinced that if the USA did not get involved in international affairs,
another world war might follow. In the 1920 election Wilson could not run for president – he was too ill – but his successor
made membership of the League a major part of the Democrat campaign.
The REPUBLICAN candidate, Warren Harding, on the other hand, campaigned for America to be ISOLATIONIST. His
slogan was ‘return to NORMALCY’, by which he meant life as it was before the war, with the USA isolating itself from
European affairs. Harding and the Republicans won a landslide victory. The USA never joined the League.
THE AIMS OF THE LEAGUE:
A Covenant set out the aims of the League of Nations. These were...
To discourage aggression from any nations
To encourage countries to co-operate, especially in business and trade
To encourage nations to disarm
To improve the living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world
ARTICLE 10 = COLLECTIVE SECURITY
The Covenant set out 26 Articles or rules, which all members of the League agreed to follow. The most important Article
was ARTICLE 10. It said...
‘The members of the League undertake to preserve against external aggression the territory and existing independence of
all members of the League. In case of threat of danger the Council [of the League] shall advice upon the means by which
this obligation shall be fulfilled.’
This article really meant COLLECTIVE SECURITY. By acting together the members of the League could prevent war by
defending the lands and interests of all nations, large or small.
MEMBERSHIP OF THE LEAGUE:
Britain and France were the most powerful countries in the League. Italy and Japan were also permanent members of the
Council. Any action by the League needed their support.
However, both countries were poorly placed for this role in their weakened states. Neither country was the major power it
had used to be nor neither of them had the resources to fill the gap left by USA. Indeed, some British politicians said that
they wouldn’t have joined the League if they had foreseen the American decision; they felt it would not function without
their influence or resources. They felt that TRADE SANCTIONS would only work if the Americans applied them. For the
leaders of Britain and France the League posed a real problem. They had to make it work, yet from the start they doubted
how effective it could be.
SOURCE 7
The League of Nations is not set up to deal with a world in chaos, or with any part of the world which is in chaos. The
League of Nations may give assistance but it is not, and cannot be, a complete instrument for bringing order out of chaos.
Arthur Balfour, chief British representative at the League of Nations, speaking in 1920
Both countries had other priorities:
British politicians, for example, were more interested in rebuilding British trade and looking after the British
Empire than being an international police force.
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