Zusammenfassung der Ressource
League of Nation in the 1920's
- Aims
- Political
- discourage aggression
through collective security
- Military
- encourage world disarmament
- Social
- improve living and working
conditions
- Economic
- get countries to co-operate
rather than compete in
business and trade
- Membership
- Aim: have a broad membership
- Weakness: quality of membership
- Germany /
USSR not
allwoed to join
- USA refused to join
(return to isolationism
- Britain and France
are too weak to lead
- Strength: quantity of membership
- 42 members in 1919
- 65 members in 1939
- Structure
- Aim: to be efficient and effective
- Failures
- No army = weak
- Urgent matters require a
unanimous decision = time
consuming
- Successes
- Administration = clear
- Assembly
- between 42 and 65 members
- every member has one vote and up to 3 representatives
- a majority vote was sufficient = quick, effective
- met once a year to review the Council's activities and discuss plans, procedure and membership
- Council
- 4 permanent members = Britain, France, Itlay and Japan ; 10 temporary members
eleceted from time to time by the Assembly
- met up to 5 times a year to discuss urgent issues as they arose
- every member had just one vote
- International Court of Justice
- Permanently available
- 15 judges elected by the Council and Assembly
- investigate international disputes between member nations and decided who was guilty
- Actions = flexible and scale upwards
- a. Moral condemnation
- official, public criticism
of the aggressor
- b. Economic sanctions
- League members
refuse to trade with
the aggressor
- c. Military force
- League uses its own army
to attack the aggressor
- Borders
- Aim: settle disputes peacefully
- Failures
- Rhur (1923)
- Situation: France and Belgium invaded the Rhur after
Germany failed to pay the latest installement of reparations
- League's response: do nothing. America interviened and came up with the Dawes plan:
Germany pays the reparations over a longer period of time.
- Bulgaria (1925)
- Situation: a Greek soldier crossed the Bulgarian border to
fetch his stray dog and he was shot down. Greece invaded
Bulgaria and the Bulgarians asked for the League's help
- League's response: Greece were ordered to withdraw and recieved
no compensation When Italy invaded a Greek port after one of
theirs was shot, they recieved compensation (double standards)
- Successes
- Aaland Islands (1921)
- Situation: Finland and Sweden both wanted control of the
islands, as they were an important strategic position. They
ask the League who should own them
- League's response: give the islands to Finland, but they remain
permanently demilitarised. Peaceful solution still in place today
- Teschen (1919)
- Situation: Poland and Czechoslovakia both want
control of the small mining town rich in coal.
- League's solution: give Poland more land space in the
town, but the area Czechoslovakia recieve is richer in
coal. Creative solution that kept both countries happy.
- Social Affairs
- Aim: to improve working and living conditions
- ILO
- Problem: terrible working conditions create
social distress, which could lead to communist
revlutionaires gaining support
- Solution: Banned lead from white paint
- WHO (World Health Organisation)
- Problem 1: malaria
was killing lots of
people in African
mandates
- Solution 1: an extermination program to
contain malaria began
- Problem 2: typhus epidemic in the USSR.
Didn't want it to reach Europe
- Solution 2: contain the epidemic in
the USSR by providing medical
support to the European border
- Refugee Org.
- Problem: lots of Russians were against
communism and were feeling to Europe
- Solution: hand out Nansen passports (temporary European
passports) to Russian immigrants. Over 450 000
passports were handed out
- Slavery Org.
- Problem: there was lots of locals
enslaved in Sierra Leone
- Solution: 200 000 slaves
were liberated in Sierra Leone
- Disarmament
- Aim: promote world disarmament
- Why were coutries unwilling to disarm?
- Britain
- Washington Conference: Britain need a bigger
arm from the next to defend her empire
- Prevents an arms race, but means the production of more ships
- France
- Maginaot line: France fortified all the
border she shared with Germany
- felt the need to protect herself
- production of more weapons and artillerty
- Germany
- Rapallo treaties: Germany has a secret
agreement with the USSR that said
they could produce weapons in Russia
- Germany were regaining weapons
- production of more weapons, could lead to war
- Successes
- German force reduced to 100 000
men, 6 boats and no aircraft
- Failures
- only Germany disarmed,
- gives them an excuse to rearm
- Maginot line: France produced
more weapons and artillery to
reinforce her German border