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The L of N was set up
because Wilson wanted
it more than anything
else.
He wanted the League
to be a ‘world
parliament’ where
nations could sort out
arguments.
He wanted to make the
world a better place.
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Stop wars.
Improve people’s
lives.
Disarmament.
Enforce the Treaty of
Versailles.
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The United States did
not join the League.
The cartoon suggests
that the Senate rejected
the Treaty because it
had been left out of
negotiations.
Americans did not want
to get dragged into
other countries’
problems.
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Forty-two countries
joined the League at
the start.
In the 1930’s about 60
countries were
member.
This made the League
appear strong.
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The most powerful
countries in the world
were not members.
The USA did not want to
join.
The Russians refused to
join they were
Communists!!
Germany was not
allowed to join.
This weakened the
League.
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Britain and France
were the main
members.
Italy and Japan were
also members.
These were the most
powerful countries.
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Covenant – all members
had promised to keep
the peace (Article X)
Condemnation – the
League could tell a
country it was doing
wrong.
Arbitration – the
League could offer to
decide between two
countries.
Sanctions – stopping
trade
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The League could use
its four powers to make
countries do as it
wanted.
Theoretically, the
league was allowed to
use military force.
The League did not
have an army of its
own.
If a country ignored it,
there was nothing the
League could do.
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The absence of the US
was catastrophic.
The US was the
wealthiest nation in the
world and had the
greatest potential to
intervene in the interest
of maintaining peace.
The absence of the USA
meant that challenges to
the status quo
established at Versailles,
would meet limited
resistance.
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The concept of
collective security
depended on
collective action.
The absence of the
three great powers
limited the
effectiveness of the
League’s reaction in a
crisis.
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The Treaty of Rapallo
demonstrated how the
League had no recourse.
It also illustrated that
the disarmament clause
of the T of V was dead
in the water.
Germany developed
weapons which could
not be seen by League
inspectors, they also
trained large numbers
of personnel.
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The disarmament
conference in
Washington.
(organized by the US!)
The Locarno Treaty
between France and
Germany which
promised lasting
peace. (Germany was
not a member of the
League!)
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The absence of the
defeated countries
meant that the League
was a league of
victors enforcing the T
of V.
Another serious
problem was the fact
that a number of
important countries
dropped out between
1919 and 1939.
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The different parts of
the League were
supposed to work
together.
In a crisis no-one
could agree.
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Assembly – the main
meeting of the League
met once a year.
Its main problem was
that decisions had to be
unanimous, which was
very difficult to achieve.
Council – a small group
of the more important
nations – Britain,
France, Italy and Japan
plus some other
countries met 4-5 times
a year.
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Agencies (committees of
the League):
Court of International
Justice – for small disputes
Health (to improve world
health)
International Labor
Organization (to try to get
fair wages)
Slavery (to end slavery)
Refugees
Secretariat – was
supposed to organize the
League but failed
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This was the
cornerstone of the L of
N.
Article X – all nations
would protect the
other members
against aggression.
No more alliance
systems or to defend
one’s own selfinterest.
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C.S. is a more abstract
concept.
It does not specify
where threats come
from.
It assumes that all
nations will see each
challenge in the same
light.
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Not all nations see
every crisis in the
same way.
It failed as a concept
because it ignored
reality.
It required a level of
altruism that humans
had not yet been
capable of.
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It failed because it
asked nations to give
up their freedom of
action.
It also asked nations
to enforce policies
they disagreed with.
Or intervene against
countries they were
friends with.
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The league could not be
considered very
collective if three of the
largest nations were not
members of the League.
The UK and France
could not agree on their
treatment of Germany.
It was likely they would
not agree on any major
issues.
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Collective Security
Moral Persuasion
Community of Power
The cartoon is from
1936 and it is entitled
“Moral Persuasion”
What was it saying
about the League?
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The weakness of
collective security was
demonstrated by the
fact that it was
necessary to reinforce
the obligation of the
league members to
resist aggression.
Draft treaty of Mutual
Assistance in 1923 –
supported by France
but rejected by the UK
and its dominions.
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It would have called on
nations to support the
victims of aggression as
determined by the
League.
The same thing
happened with the
Geneva Protocol for the
Pacific settlement of
International Disputes.
This would have
enforced compulsory
arbitration in all
disputes.
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Few members of the
League were willing to
take on the open-ended
commitments that
collective security
entailed.
The main reason being
self-interest.
Also after WW1 the
prospect of armed
intervention would not
gain support from the
population of any
nation.
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There was widespread
opposition to using
military force to resolve
other countries
disputes.
Especially if the
aggressor was a large
country.
This was true of the
Corfu dispute in 1923.
This was led by
Mussolini and members
of the League took no
action.
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An Italian general was
killed while he was
doing some work for
the League in Greece.
Mussolini was angry
with the Greeks and
invaded Corfu.
The Greeks asked the
League to help.
The Council met and
told Mussolini to leave
Corfu.
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It told Greece to give
some money to the
League.
Mussolini refused.
The League changed its
decision told Greece to
apologize and pay
money to Italy.
The Greeks did as the
League said and then
Mussolini gave Corfu
back to Greece.
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It was a concept that
attracted great
popular support but
nothing of a concrete
nature.
It was an illusion in
which desperate
populations wanted
to believe.
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However, if there was
to be collective
security then the
collective has to
agree.
The world in the
1920’s and 30’s was
far from agreement on
many fronts.
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In the early years of
the league it was
called on to intervene
in a number of
disputes.
Its record of success is
mixed. It allows us to
understand the
strengths and
weaknesses of the
League and collective
security.
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Success: The Aaland
Islands, Upper Silesia
and the GrecoBulgarian War of
1925.
Failures: The Seizure
of Fiume, Vilna, the
Russo-Polish War, the
Corfu incident and
the Ruhr invasion.
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Greek soldiers were
killed in a fight on the
border between
Greece and Bulgaria.
The Greeks were
angry.
Bulgaria asked the
League to help.
The Council of the
League met.
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It condemned the
Greeks and told them
to leave Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian govt
sent orders for their
soldiers not to fight
back.
The Greeks did as the
League said and left
Bulgaria.
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Greece and Bulgaria are
fighting like Tweedledum and Tweedle –dee.
The League, like the
dove of peace stops the
fight.
‘Just then came down a
monstrous dove whose
force was purely moral,
Which tuned the heroes
hearts to love and made
them drop their quarrel.
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The antagonists were
small or medium
powers.
These powers were
usually unwilling to
resort to violence.
This allowed the
League to negotiate
and enforce a
settlement which both
parties would accept.
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The dispute involved a
major power that refused
to submit to the League.
Countries decided to
resort to violence and not
seek peaceful solutions.
The Corfu incident was a
major indicator of the
problems the league faced.
Greece complained that
there seemed to be one set
of rules for small countries
and a different set of rules
for big countries.
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Italy was a major power
and when she resorted to
violence the league could
do nothing.
This was the case when a
major power pursued a
policy in contravention of
the League.
Peacekeeping would only
prevail in the disputes of
smaller countries
provided that the stronger
members could agree on a
course of action.
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In the absence of the US
it was vital that the
remaining powers were
in agreement on major
issues.
This was not the case.
The British govts of the
1920’s did not really
support European
settlements.
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In the dispute between
Turkey and Greece
1920-23, GB and France
took opposite sides.
France supported
Poland in Russia and
Silesia, GB did not.
GB also had major
problems in Ireland and
the Empire so it did not
focus on upholding the
interests of the League.
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The Dutch did not
give up the Kaiser.
Germany did not
surrender war
criminals.
She did not disarm or
meet reparations
quotas.
Austria could not and
did not pay
reparations.
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Poland did not accept
her frontiers.
Italian troops did not
evacuate Fiume.
Turkey did not accept
the Treaty of Sevres.
Nothing much
happened.
The will to enforce the
treaties was lacking or
at best divided.