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Set up as part of the Treaty of Versailles
It was envisioned to be a truly INTERNATIONAL
organization which would MAINTAIN WORLD PEACE
AND SECURITY by ACTING TOGETHER to PREVENT
WAR
Collective Security
For a brief idea of its organisation, do look at Fig. 6
on page 43 of your textbook
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Important Note:
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When EVALUATING HOW SUCCESSFUL / HOW MUCH
A FAILURE the League of Nations was … you must
look at HOW MUCH of its AIMS the League was able
to FULFIL:
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To promote international co-operation, peace and security
by accepting an obligation not to go to war
To promote open, just and honorable relations between
nations
To lay out a system of international law
To maintain, or help to modify, treaties between nations
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The League of Nations also tried to influence:
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Aid
Labour Issues
Mandates
Collective Security
Human Rights
Minorities
Health Issues
For a brief idea of what the League tried to
influence, do look at Fig. 7 on page 44 of your
textbook
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Dealing with social issues such as the
improvement of living and working
conditions worldwide (through ILO)
Dealing with health issues – targeted the
treatment of specific diseases (e.g. leprosy)
Set up commissions that improved living
conditions in poorer countries
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Weakest at dealing with issues that nations
saw as a threat to their security
Most members of the League were unwilling
to put the security of their nations at risk in
order to fulfill collective security
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Attitudes to the League
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Membership
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Mandates
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Difficulties in Resolving Disputes
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Attitudes to the League
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Many countries found the peace treaties unpopular
thus they were not very accepting of the League of
Nations as it was a part of the treaty
The League of Nations WAS NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY
by Britain and France
The USA was not a member – sending the signal
that if the USA did not take the LON seriously, why
should other countries?
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Membership
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USA was not a member
Germany, Austria and Hungary were not allowed to
join (resented by Germany)
Constant shift of membership as joining and leaving
the League was very easy
Many countries left because the League opposed
their actions or because it wasn’t doing much to
help
The League had very little control over its member
states
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Mandates
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The legal right to govern under the control of the
League
Took over most of Germany’s former colonies
Countries holding colonies in mandate had to
help the colonies move to self-government as
soon as possible
However, even after 20 years, this was not
happening and many countries who had been in
favour of the League turned against it
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Difficulties in Resolving Disputes
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Usual form of punishment for disobeying the League
was the imposing of SANCTIONS (not allowing trade
to take place)
Method was quite useless because sanctions hurt
trade with other countries so they were removed as
quickly as they were imposed
League had no force of its own (expected members
to contribute troops) so it could not prevent the rise
of authoritarian regimes in Germany, Italy and Japan
FAILURE
The Ruhr (1923)
Corfu (1923)
Vilna (1923)
PARTIAL SUCCESS
Upper Silesia (1921)
Memel (1923)
SUCCESS
Aaland Islands (1921)
Albania (1923)
Greek-Bulgarian Border
Dispute (1925)
Evaluating the League of Nations
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Successes:
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Social issues – improvement
of living and working
conditions
Health issues –
improvement in the
treatment of diseases such
as leprosy
Solving some territorial
disputes and conflicts
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Failures:
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Unable to enforce collective
security
Unable to act as an effective
deterrent towards aggressive
countries
Attitudes towards the League
Lack of strong membership
Failure of the mandate
system
Difficulties in resolving
disputes
How Far did Hopes for Disarmament
Succeed?
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What is Disarmament?
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Dismantling of armies and the breaking up of
weapons to be in the position of making war
impossible
Disarmament was part of collective security
because if nations cut down their use of
weapons, the world would be safer
Collective vs. Individual Security
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While nations felt
that collective
security was good,
many still wanted to
focus on individual
security:
Reasons for not Disarming
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Britain:
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France
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The need to defend the Empire and to stop trouble in
parts of the Empire seeking independence
Defend France from Germany
China
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Civil War in progress and the need to defend China
against Japanese advances
Reasons for not Disarming
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Japan:
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Switzerland
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Power of the Japanese Army and the need to defend
Japan against European land-grabbing in the Asia-Pacific
Army was small and only big enough to defend their
neutrality
Poland
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Need to defend their new country, especially from
Germany and Russia
German Disarmament
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Supervised by the League of Nations
Was slow and took advantage of several
loopholes:
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Trained its cut-down Army as officers so as to
secretly train others to be ordinary soldiers
Disarming the rest of the World
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Naval Disarmament
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Targets set by agreeing to a ratio of shipbuilding
between nations
Tensions between countries based on ratios
allocated
Proportions were applied to all warships
Everyone could build submarines but at a low
level
Look at Fig. 11, page 52
Disarming the rest of the World
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Military Disarmament
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1923 Treaty of Mutual Assistance
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1924 Geneva Protocol
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Countries would limit arms
League of Nations would come to their assistance
Very few agreed to the TMA
Nations would agree to bring disputes to arbitration instead of
going to war
1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact
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Signed by 65 nations
Promised no war over the next 5 years except in self-defence
Difficulties of Reconstruction & Recovery
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Post-War Economic
Problems
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War Damage (esp. France)
Broken Trade Links
Industrial Problems
Disrupted Communication
Systems
Debt
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Reparations made Germany’s economic problems
after the war, WORSE:
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Prices Rose
Wages Fell
High Unemployment
High Levels of Discontent
French Invasion of the Ruhr after debt default
Strikes by German workers worsens the situtation
The Weimar Government responds to the situation by
printing more money and creating inflation
Children using bundles of
money as building blocks
A housewife using
bundles of money to light
her stove
In 1923, it cost
200 Billion Marks to buy
a loaf of bread in
Germany…
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Simply put, inflation is a rise in prices relative to money available. In other
words, you can get less for your money than you used to be able to get.
Here's an example:
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You buy a candy bar for 50 cents. A year later, you go to buy the same candy
bar and it's 60 cents. You still have only 50 cents, but the prices of the
candy bar has gone up. We can say that inflation is at work. The price of
that bar has been inflated.
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When inflation rises but people's pay-checks don't, this means that people
have to spend more of the money to buy the same things that they used to
be able to buy for less.
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Let's go back to the candy bar. You have only 5/6 of what that candy bar
now costs. Your money supply hasn't changed, but the price of what you
want has. That's inflation.
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Became Chancellor of Germany in 1923
Replaced the German mark with the Rentenmark
and reduced government spending
Improved relations with Germany’s enemies (e.g.
Treaty of Locarno)
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929
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Introduced the Rentenmark
Borrowed money from overseas to increase
Germans’ confidence in the new currency
(had proper currency to back the value of the
new currency)
German Mark (before Rentenmark)
German Rentenmark
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The Ruhr, Germany’s most industrialised area, was
occupied by France after Germany defaulted on her
reparations.
As a result, workers went on strike or worked slowly,
generating little or no profits. This was harming the German
economy.
Stresseman negotiated with the workers and the economy
improved. He also borrowed money from overseas for
building schemes, taking off many unemployed people off
the streets.
Protest placard against the occupation
of the Ruhr District (Theo Matejko,
1923): Hands off of the Ruhr District!
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Signed the Locarno Treaty in 1925, normalising
relations with Britain and France
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Entered the League of Nations in 1926
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Signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928
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Stresseman’s efforts encouraged the USA to
produce 2 plans to cut down the amount of
reparations and lend Germany money
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Germany was to pay less money
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USA would lend Germany money
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French troops would leave the Ruhr
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Germany would give the A/G for Reparations gold, which
would be invested and the interest used to pay off the
reparations
Profits from the German railways would be used as well
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Cut German reparation amounts to ¼ of the original
amount
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Lengthened the repayment period by 59 years
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Made the repayment method fairer and more achievable
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The Results:
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Despite the 2 plans, Germany still could not
meet the requirements
Most of the borrowed money went to economic
recovery programmes
Some of the money was funneled towards secret
re-armaming
When Hitler took over power in the 1930s, the
Young Plan was abandoned