League of Nations

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  • International organisation for preventing future wars.
  • Treaty of Versailles also provide covenant to maintain peace and security in the world.
  • Founder of this organization was President Woodrow Wilson of USA.
  • Fourteen Points underline the creation of a general association of nations, during Paris negotiations to bring about the birth of the League of Nations, established in 1920.
  • Head quarters was shifted from Paris to Geneva in Switzerland.
  • League failed to prevent the Second World War.
Aims of the League
  • Preventing wars through peaceful settlement of disputes among member nations.
  • Preserve and protect the independence of member-nations by promoting international understanding and co-operation.
Organs of the League
All those powers who worked for the defeat of Germany and her allies became the members of the League.
  1. The Assembly
    • Every member state was given the right of one vote in the Assembly.
  2. The Council
    • four permanent members and four other members elected by the Assembly.
    • 1926, Germany was also given a permanent seat in the council.
  3. The Secretariat
    • Located at Geneva.
    • appointed by the Council but the approval of Assembly was essential
    • Secretariat, appointed by the Secretary General in consultation with the Council.
    • Member states had to pay towards the expenses.
  4. The Permanent Court of International Justice
    • 15 judges elected for nine years & Head quarters at The Hague.
    • Interpretation of international law, treaties and other mutual obligations.
  5. The International Labour Organisation
    • Headquarters at Geneva.
    • Representatives of the government, employers and workers
Mandate system
  • Set up by the League, territories captured from the Central Powers and Turkey were not restored to them.
  • Administration under the supervision of the League of Nations
Achievements of the League of Nations
  • Aaland Islands
    • Islands lie between Sweden and Finland dispute in 1920.
    • Special Commission of the League investigated the case and settled the dispute in favour of Finland.
  • Mosul Boundary Dispute
    • Dispute between Turkey and the Great Britain’s mandated territory of Iraq.
    • June 1926, small part of the Villayet was given to Turkey.
  • Eupen and Malmady
    • 1920 and 1921 Germany protested to the League of Nations against the decision of giving Euphen and Malmady to Belgium.
    • League decision of transfer is final.
  • Curfu Incident
    • August 1923, Italian general and two officers were murdered on Greek soil.
    • Italians demanded apologies, Greece refused to accept so Italy occupied the island of Curfu.
    • Britain and France mediated and brought about a compromise between Italy and Greece.
  • Dispute between Greece and Bulgaria
    • Border dispute between Greece and Bulgaria, In 1925 Greek army commander was murdered.
    • Greek forces were withdrawn and Greece was asked to pay compensation to Bulgaria for violation of her territory on a scale to be fixed by a League Commission.
  • Dispute between Great Britain and France
    • 1921, nationality question in Tunis and Morocco, Matter to Court of International Justice.
    • Mutual negotiations between the foreign minister.
Non-political Work
  • A slavery convention met at Geneva in 1925, set up permanent Slavery Commission.
  • Financial Commission - supervision of various League Loans for Austria, Hungary, Greece etc.
  • 1923, Health Organisation with a Health Committee and a secretariat.
  • Technical conferences.
  • Common Wealth work - Control of traffic in dangerous drugs, peasant reforms, suppression of trade in obscene literature.
Causes for the Failure of League of Nations
  • USA and USSR were not members of the League of Nations.
  • Japan, Germany and Italy had left the League.
  • Fully dominated by the victorious countries of World War I especially of France and England.
  • Rise of dictatorships in Italy, Japan and Germany.
  • League was not also in a position to condemn the action of Japan, Japan give up membership.
  • Italy there was Fascist Dictatorship, people of Italy narrow nationalism.
  • Germany too was not prepared to accept the commitments under the Treaty of Versailles.
  • Nazi dictatorship, Hitler want to expand Germany’s sway over Austria and Poland. Conquests over countries, questioned in the League, Germany left the League.
  • Small nations lost their faith on the working of the League.
  • League of Nations had no power to control the aggressive activities of the big powers.
  • France’s insistence of forcing Germany to pay the war reparation, contributed to the downfall of the Weimar Republic, rise of Hitler in Germany.
  • Member states of the League did not cooperate.
  • UNO was established on the disintegration of the League.

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