The League of Nations A Promise Unfulfilled

Why a League? The idea of a League of Nations was suggested during the creation of the Treaty of Versailles After the horrors of WWI, people wanted to find a way in which future wars could be avoided. It was hoped that through collective security nations would be able to curb aggressors and sort out differences peacefully

The League of Nations The League was based in Geneva, Switzerland (chosen due to Switzerland’s neutrality) The League started with 42 member-nations, but grew to include over 60 The main mission of the League was to prevent war. Of the world’s major powers, only Britain, France, Italy and Japan joined the League Germany (WWI enemy) and Russia (Communist) were not allowed to join the League The USA did not join because they didn’t want to be involved in European struggles (isolationism)

The Goals of the League 1.to deal with disputes among nations 2.to prevent war 3.to protect the independence of countries and safeguard their borders 4.to encourage each country to reduce its armaments It also attempted to deal with world issues such as: labour relations, improving health, stopping the drug trade, and helping refugees

Keeping the Peace The League had 4 main methods of preventing conflict: 1.Covenant: The League members had all signed a pact promising that they would keep the peace. (collective security) 2.Condemnation: The League could tell a country it was in the wrong. (moral persuasion) 3.Arbitration: The League could offer to settle a dispute if the nations involved agreed to it. 4.Sanctions: The League could ask its members to stop trading with the offending country

Using Force In theory, the League could use military force to compel an offending nation to cease hostile actions. However, the League had no military of its own that it could use to do this. If the League needed military power, one or more of the member-nations would have to volunteer to supply it. The member-nations had made no agreements that guaranteed they would provide troops if the League asked

Weaknesses of the League relied upon the desire of countries to maintain peace had no method to compel its members to abide by the rules – Did not have a League army – so could not bring force to bear on an aggressor Some of the most powerful countries in the world were not members of the League European members wanted to avoid another large war at all costs Members too concerned with domestic issues like the Great Depression The League rules were sometimes violated by the major members themselves (France & Britain both held colonies, sometimes used force to achieve their goals) – this caused the League to have issues with legitimacy with other nations