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Six Successes of the League in the 1920s  

[SAMBOK]

 

1.       Silesia, 1921

            The League settled a dispute between Germany and Poland – it held a plebiscite and suggested a partition; Germany and Poland agreed.

2.       Aaland Islands, 1921   

            The League settled a dispute between Sweden and Finland – after an investigation it said that the islands should belong to Finland; Sweden and Finland agreed.

3.       Mosul, 1924  

            The Turks demanded Mosul, a part of Iraq (a British mandate). The League supported Iraq; Turkey agreed.   

(Interesting fact: in 1992, the people of Mosul, who were being persecuted by Saddam Hussein, went to the United Nations and cited League of Nations documents which guaranteed them minority rights in 1924, when the League gave Mosul to Iraq.   The incident may have been a success for the League, but it was a disaster for the Kurds who lived there.)

4.       Bulgaria, 1925

            Greece invaded Bulgaria, which did not fight back, but appealed to the League. The League ordered Greece to withdraw, which it did.

5.       Other

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400,000 Prisoners of War repatriated

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Turkish refugee camps helped (1922)

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Work against leprosy (extermination of mosquitoes)

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Drugs companies blacklisted

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Attacks on slave owners in Sierra Leone and Burma

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Economic advice to Austria (1922) and Hungary (1923)

6.       Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928  

            An Act of the League Assembly, signed by 23 nations and supported by 65 countries, accepted the Pact to outlaw war; it was the highest point of the League’s work.

    

   

   
   

   

Six Failures of the League in the 1920s  

[VIMCOD]

 

1.       Vilna, 1920

            The Poles captured Vilna (the capital of Lithuania). The League ordered Poland to withdraw, though Britain and France supported Poland. Poland refused. The League could do nothing.

2.       Invasion of the Ruhr, 1923

            France invaded the Ruhr when the Germans did not pay reparations; the League was not even consulted, and Britain disagreed.

3.       Memel, 1923

            Lithuania seized Memel, a German port under League control. The League told Lithuania to leave, but the Conference of Ambassadors gave Memel to Lithuania.

4.       Corfu, 1923

            An Italian general named Tellini was murdered in Greece, so Italy occupied Corfu. Greece appealed to the League for help, which ordered Mussolini to leave – but the Conference of Ambassadors overruled the League and forced Greece to pay compensation to Italy.

5.       Other Treaties

It is a sign that most countries relied, not on the League, but on separate treaties to keep them safe:

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Washington Treaty, 1921   (naval agreement between USA, Britain and Japan)

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Dawes Plan, 1924   (to sort out reparations)

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Locarno Pact, 1925    (to defend Versailles Treaty)

The Geneva Protocol, 1925  (a mutual promise not to use poison gas or germ warfare - failed because Britain changed its mind at the last minute and refused to sign it!   The USA and Japan also refused to sign.)   

6.       Disarmament

            A disarmament  conference failed in 1923 because Britain objected. It took until 1931 to arrange another conference, which was wrecked by Germany, which demanded equal armaments with Britain and France.