1. FORMATION OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

2. AIMS OF THE LEAGUE Stop aggression through co-operation
Improve living and working conditions around the world
Disarmament
Enforce the Peace Treaties
Free Trade between countries

3. Problem 1
The League was very complicated and took a long time to make decisions.

4. Problem 1
The League was very complicated and took a long time to make decisions.
The Covenant laid out the League’s structure and the rules for each of the bodies within it. The Secretariat was at the centre of this structure and acted as a sort of civil service, for example preparing reports for the different agencies of the League. The Assembly was the League’s Parliament, with a seat for every member country and met once a year. Decisions had to be unanimous (agreed by all members) which made it hard for decisions to be made at all. The Council was a smaller group which met about five times a year and was made up of four permanent members and up to nine temporary members. If disputes arose the Council could use the powers of the League to deal with them, however, each permanent member had a veto (ability to stop proceedings) which could act as a huge barrier to action. Other bodies within the League’s structure were the Permanent Court of Justice, the International Labour Organisation and the LoN Commissions. With so many elements the structure of the League was too complex for decisions to be made quickly and action to be swift.

5. Problem 2
It was created by the President of the United States. But the US never joined up.

6. Problem 2
It was created by the President of the United States. But the US never joined up.
At first it was envisaged that the USA would be a member of the Council, but in the end America refused to join. Wilson was a Democrat. The majority in the US Senate belonged to another party – the Republicans – and many of them disliked Wilson. There was a strong tradition of ‘isolationism’ in the USA (a belief that America should not get involved in international politics). Wilson was stubborn and failed to compromise or to persuade his opponents to support the League. In March 1920the US Senate stopped the USA from joining the League. The absence of the USA greatly weakened the authority of the new LoN and made trade sanctions difficult. Members knew that if they stopped trading with an aggressive country, the USA would step in to fill the gap.

7. Germany and the Soviet Union were not allowed to join at first.
Problem 3
Germany and the Soviet Union were not allowed to join at first.

8. Germany and the Soviet Union were not allowed to join at first.
Problem 3
Germany and the Soviet Union were not allowed to join at first.
Forty-five states were founder members of the League. These were all either victorious or neutral in the First World War. The defeated nations were not allowed to join in the beginning. As a result Germany, Austria and Hungary saw the League as a club for their enemies. The founders were frightened of the spread of Communism, so the new Soviet Union was also not invited to join. Thus, it was difficult for the League to claim to be the voice of world opinion.

9. Problem 4
Asian countries, such as Japan, felt that the League was biased towards European Countries.

10. Problem 4
Asian countries, such as Japan, felt that the League was biased towards European Countries.
Many non-European were very unhappy with the way the Covenant gave power to the European countries of Britain, France and Italy. They criticised the League by saying it was a ‘European Club’. Countries like Argentina argued for a democratic League with all the Council members elected by the Assembly. But these ideas were rejected.
There was a fear that the League would be dominated by white people, so the Japanese asked for a promise to oppose racial discrimination but the Americans and British rejected this proposal. The Covenant took a very patronising view of people living in colonies, believing so called ‘civilised states should look after them.

11. Problem 5
The League didn’t have it’s own army, it was very difficult for the League to go to war.

12. Problem 5
The League didn’t have it’s own army, it was very difficult for the League to go to war.
The League had no army of its own. Instead, the idea was that all countries could act to help any other country if it was attacked. This turned out to be completely unrealistic. Every member state would first of all stop trade with an aggressive country and if this failed to stop them, every country would then supply soldiers for a joint war against the aggressive country. However, this assumed that governments would be willing to risk the lives and money of their own people in order to sort out a quarrel that had nothing to do with their country.

13. Problem 6
The two main members of the League only cared about their own interests.

14. Problem 6
The two main members of the League only cared about their own interests.
The league was dominated by the two big European Powers of Britain and France. At the Treaty of Versailles they had shown that they only cared about their own interests. If the League of Nations had to do something that would go against the interests of either of these two countries would Britain and France let it happen? Or would they use their position on the League’s council to block the League from acting?
Britain and France had economic interests in their Empires and Trade, which may be threatened by the actions of the League. Furthermore both countries had no wish to disarm, one of the key aims of the League of Nations.

15. The League would find it difficult to stand up to big countries
Problem 7
The League would find it difficult to stand up to big countries

16. The League would find it difficult to stand up to big countries.
Problem 7
The League would find it difficult to stand up to big countries.
If the League was going to stand up to big and aggressive countries it would need to be able to be strong, united and swift in action. Because the League didn’t have an army it would not be able to win battles against powerful countries.
The only other tactic the League had was to use Trade embargos and sanctions (refusing to trade with the aggressive countries), but if they refused to trade, then the aggressive countries could easily trade with countries who were not in the League (Germany, Russia & particularly the USA).

17. Tensions between Britain and France
Problem 8
Tensions between Britain and France

18. Tension between Britain and France.
Problem 8
Tension between Britain and France.
In the absence of other powerful countries, the League was dominated by Britain and France. These two countries had different views of how the League should work. The French wanted to make the League into a military alliance, with strict obligations on members to support each other. This was a result of the French obsession with the dangers of a German attack. The British saw the League as a much looser, less formal organisation. They resisted French demands for a stronger League. The British were finding it difficult to defend their own empire and had no wish to get involved unnecessarily in military conflicts anywhere else in the world.