Stop war

(Article 10 of the Covenant = ‘collective security’)

Improve people's lives and Jobs

	Encourage co-operation in trade/
	Economic and social agencies.

Disarmament

Enforce the Treaty of Versailles

42 countries joined at the start. By the 1930s this had risen to 60.

May 1920, the US Senate voted against Versailles.

The USSR did not join the League. In 1919 it set up the Comintern to cause revolution.

Germany was not allowed to join the League as a punishment for causing WWI.

The leading members were Britain and France, helped by Japan and Italy.

secretariat (2 things):

	supposed to co-ordinate the different functions of the League
	too few secretaries to do the work - slow and inefficient

Council (2 things):

	met 4-5 times a year
	5 permanent members - Br, Fr, It, Jap & Ger - with a veto.

Assembly (2 things):

	the League’s main meeting, held once a year
	decisions only by unanimous vote

+ the Committees (6 things):

	Court of international justice
	Health committee
	International Labour Organisation
	Refugees committee
	Mandates commission
	Slavery commission

ALSO Conference of ambassadors (not really part of the League's organisation).

Set up by the Treaty of Versailles

Universal membership, all of which had signed the Covenant promising to support the League.

Means of Influence (6 things)

	Covenant (26 promises which every member agreed to follow)
	Moral condemnation (public opinion)
	Arbitration (act as a referee)
	Sanctions (refuse to trade)
	Military Force (send an army)
	‘Community of Power’ (acting together).

Silesia, 1921

Germany and Poland agreed to paritiion after a  plebiscite.

Aaland Islands, 1921

said the islands should belong to Finland; Sweden and Finland agreed.

Mosul, 1924

the Turks demanded Mosul, Iraq. The League supported Iraq; Turkey agreed.

Bulgaria, 1925

Greece invaded Bulgaria, but withdrew when Bulgaria appealed to the League.

Other (6 things): 

	400,000 Prisoners of War repatriated
	Turkish refugee camps (1922)
	Leprosy
	Drugs companies closed down
	Attacked slave owners in Sierra Leone and Burma
	Economic advice to Austria and Hungary

Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928

signed by 23 nations and supported by 65, to outlaw war.

Vilna, 1920

Poland refused the League orders to withdraw from Vilna.

Invasion of the Ruhr, 1923

by France; the League was not even consulted, and Britain disagreed.

Memel, 1923

The League told Lithuania to leave, but the Conference of Ambassadors agreed.

Corfu, 1923

General Tellini murdered, so Italy occupied Corfu.   The Conference of Ambassadors overruled the League’s order to Mussolini to leave – forced Greece to pay compensation to Italy.

Other Treaties (4 things): 

	Washington , 1921
	Dawes Plan, 1924
	Locarno Pact, 1925
	The Geneva Protocol, 1924 (to support the League of Nations) failed because Britain refused to sign it

Disarmament (2 things):

	Britain objected to the 1923 conference
	1931 conference was wrecked by Germany.

Manchuria, 1931 (3 points):

	The League sent officials (took a year)
	voted that Japan return Manchuria (Feb 1933 - Japan resigned from the League)
	could not agree economic sanctions or arms sales ban.

Abyssinia, 1935 (3 points)

	Mussolini invaded (October 1935) Haile Selassie’s Abyssinia
	Britain and France secretly agreed to give Abyssinia to Italy (Hoare-Laval Pact, 1935)
	The League tried sanctions on arms sales, rubber and metals, but they did not close the Suez Canal or ban oil sales.

These failures killed the League:

	Mussolini gained prestige
	Britain, France and the League were weakened - countries decided it was  a ‘sham’, left and began to prepare for war instead.

Britain and France 

were not prepared to use their armies and had other priorities.

USA, USSR and Germany (3 points):

	USA was never a member
	USSR not until 1934
	Germany not until 1926, and Hitler left the League in 1933.

Structure

its organisation [SCACHIRMS] was cumbersome so decisions were very slow.

Treaty of Versailles set up the League

so it was hated because the Treaty was hateful.

Economic Depression

countries acted to save their own interests, and ignored the League.

Dictators

dictators like Mussolini and Hitler  would not compromise.

Unsuccessful

the League’s failures damaged its reputation, so members left/ignored it.

Powerless (3 points):

	moral condemnation was just ignored by powerful nations
	the League had no armies
	people found ways round sanctions.