The League Of Nations - The United Nations

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The League of Nations emerged as:
• an optimistic and noble ideal/way to prevent any other war from happening after the outbreak of war in 1914;
• the idea that all the countries in the world join together to ensure peace forever, to find a diplomatic solution to all conflicts.

SETTING UP THE LEAGUE
The American President Woodrow Wilson, who near the end of WWIpresented his ‘Fourteen Points’ as a basis for a better world in the future, was the main supporter of the League of Nations, since the last point of the list was a plan to set up this organization.
He had to give in to some points due to Clemenceau and Lloyd George standpoints at Versailles, but he never gave up the idea of the League.

The League:
• was set up in Geneva, Switzerland (neutral)• was not meant just a debating society but as an entity able to apply sanctions in case its decisions were not obeyed (a way of assuring its fulfillment)
was made up of:
two main parts:
an Assembly
kind of parliament since each country (42 at the start) had a vote
met once a year
any decision had to be taken unanimously
a Council
met more often
could takedecision on a majority vote
permanent members: Great Powers – Britain/France/Italy/Japan
the Court of International Justice:
set up at the Hague, in the Netherlands
its work was to settle legal disputes between countries
• aims of the League:
to deal with conflicts among nations
to prevent war and to keep peace through collective security
to protect theindependence and borders of countries
to persuade each country to remove their weapons
• the Article 10 of the Covenant of the League of Nations stated the purpose of the League, under which:
- the members were to preserve the territory and existing independence of all the members against external aggression
- in case of threat of danger, the Council was supposed todetermine the means to enforce this obligation fulfillment, i.e., if any member of the League was attacked, the League would help them and bring the aggressor under control by economic or military sanctions
• other articles stated three ways in which the League could try to make the decision of the Assembly and Council effective
1. condemn a country and express disapproval of its actions
2.impose economic sanctions (cut off supplies of raw materials and other goods)
3. use military force
• could only work properly when all the Great Powers unreservedly backed its actions

Membership:
• Several of the Great Powers did not become members in 1919
USA
Reason: The Senate refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles because:
- the killing of one hundredAmerican soldiers had vanished the idealistic feelings
- USA was cautious of being involve in world affairs and determined to focus on internal matters
Never became a member
Russia
Reason: The Russian Communist government since the Revolution of 1917 had set up the Comintern, an organization whose purpose was to encourage Communist revolution all over the worldDid not become a member until 1934
Germany
Reason: Not allowed to become a member when the League was first set up
Did not become a member until 1926
• The responsibility of running the League remained on Britain, France and two weaker powers, Italy and Japan

The attitudes of Britain and France toward the League:
Britain:
On the one hand, a great number of Britishpeople supported the League due to the horrors of WWI. Thus, League of Nations Societies were founded in towns, and rallies and League of Nations Days were held.
On the other hand, the politicians and the military chiefs were more skeptical. Reasons:
• Actually, they had a vast empire to look after and wondered if they really want to intervene in every trivial quarrel in Europe and the rest of...