Lesson Aim To find out what the successes and failures of the League of Nations were

Success 1: Solving Small Disputes Between Countries Aaland both Finland and Sweden claimed these islands as their own These islands were traditionally part of Finland but most islanders wanted to be with Sweden The League of Nations stepped in and awarded the islands to Finland which both countries agreed to

Silesia (1921) Both Germany and Poland claimed this area and a referendum in 1921 was very close but was won by the German side The Poles were unhappy and went to the League The League divided Silesia between Germany and Poland which was accepted by both

Bulgaria 1925 Greece invaded Bulgaria in 1925 over a border dispute Bulgaria appealed to the League and Greece was forced to withdraw

Success 2: Humanitarian Work After a war in Turkey in 1922 there were 1.4 million refugees The League sent doctors through the Health Organisation to stop the spread of disease More than £10 million was spent on rebuilding the country Work and homes were found for 600,000 people

Humanitarian Work (cont) The League took home half a million First World War prisoners of war (1920) The League approved the Slavery convention; altogether, the League freed 200,000 slaves. (1926) The League worked to prevent malaria and leprosy.

Success (Partial) 3: Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928 The League was committed to ending wars and disarming countries In 1928, 23 countries signed an agreement to no longer go to war. The agreement was supported by a further 65 countries The agreement wasn’t a long term success as countries ignored it later

Failure 1: Major Countries not Members Even though the League was President Wilson’s idea, the USA never joined the League The President lost control of congress of Congress and it voted not to join This was a return to the US policy of ISOLATIONISM from before WW1

Other countries not included Germany was excluded from the League until 1926 due to bad feeling over WW1 and left in 1933 when Hitler came to power The USSR (Russia) was excluded until 1934 as it was a Communist country

Membership of the League

Failure 2: Lack of Military Power The League had no standing army which meant it had no way of enforcing its decisions militarily On many occasions countries simply ignored the League and did what they wanted including important members such as France

Lack of Power Sanctions were the main method that the League could use to force countries to obey its decisions. Economic sanctions meant not trading with other countries. However, the League had no means of organising an army of its own, so if a country ignored the league’s decisions then very little could actually be done.

Vilna 1921 Poland invaded the Lithuanian city Vilna (Vilnius today) in 1921 as most of the population was Polish Lithuania asked the League for help but Poland ignored the League and kept the city under World War 2

Invasion of Corfu 1923 Italy invaded the Greek island of Corfu in 1923 as part of a border dispute over Albania The League was shown to be weak in this crisis and went along with Italy’s demands that they be paid money by the Greeks to withdraw

Invasion of the Ruhr 1923 German fell behind in its war repayments in 1922 France demanded they pay up and used this as an excuse to invade the resource-rich region of Germany called the Ruhr and claim it for France The League could do nothing and it confirmed that the League was dominated by France and the UK

Invasion of Manchuria 1931 Another League member, Japan, invaded the Chinese region of Manchuria in 1931 The League tried to get Japan to withdraw but it refused and the League couldn’t agree on sanctions / actions to stop Japan Japan ended up leaving the League in 1933 as did many other countries throughout the 1920s and 1930s

Failure 3: Structural Weaknesses Many of the big nations never joined or left early so it was dominated by France and Britain Votes for action had to be UNANIMOUS among nine council members which was difficult to achieve and often paralysed decision making

The Covenant and Disarmament The Covenant consisted of the rules which members had to agree to obey when they joined. The rules included accepting the League's decisions and not using force to solve disputes. The Covenant However many countries ignore this and the League couldn’t agree what to do The League set to disarm countries but they also ignored this despite agreements being signed to disarm.

Make the following table in your jotter Successes Failures SuccessesFailures

Work with a partner to think of three ways you could have improved the League