The League of Nations' successes, failures, and the quest for global peace

The League of Nations was an international organization formed after World War I, which was meant to prevent future conflicts and encourage cooperation between countries.

The idea for the League was primarily championed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who included it in his Fourteen Points, a peace proposal presented in 1918.

During the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles in 1919, Wilson pushed for the establishment of an international body that could mediate disputes between nations and prevent future wars.

Its main objective was to provide a forum where nations could resolve their disputes peacefully.

Its foundational document, the Covenant of the League of Nations, outlined the principles of collective security, disarmament, and diplomacy, which meant that member nations were expected to work together to avoid war.

The organization was officially established on January 10, 1920, when the Covenant of the League of Nations became active.

Forty-two founding nations agreed to join, many of which were European countries that had experienced significant losses in the war.

The League’s headquarters were set up in Geneva, Switzerland, a neutral and peaceful location that symbolized its intent.

The Covenant required member states to respect each other’s borders and use arbitration in international disputes, offering a diplomatic alternative to war.

Early decisions made by the League reflected its ambition to foster international cooperation.

For example, the League quickly established the Permanent Court of International Justice, which settled disputes between nations.

It also created specialized agencies to address pressing issues like labor rights and public health, such as the International Labour Organization.

Nations were encouraged to adhere to the League’s rulings, but compliance largely depended on their willingness to cooperate.

The League of Nations and was initially composed of 42 nations, of which Great Britain and France were the most powerful.

In the years following its creation, the League experienced fluctuating membership as countries joined and left. 

Germany was initially not allowed to join the League due to its role in WWI, but it became a member in 1926 and left in 1933 as Hitler began to rearm the country.

The Soviet Union was not a founding member but was invited to join in 1934, only to be expelled in 1939 after its invasion of Finland.

This was a clear breach of the League’s Covenant, which condemned acts of aggression.

Interestingly, the United States chose to not join and preferred to remain as an isolationist state.

This decision was largely due to the US Senate's refusal to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which established the League.

Even though U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was one of the key advocates for the League, his political opponents in the Senate opposed it, which led to the U.S. not joining.

By the 1930s, the League had nearly 60 members.

As the League was conceived of as a place for negotiation, it was considered to be a political entity, not a military one.

At its core, the League aimed to act as a mediator in global disputes and offered arbitration through its Permanent Court of International Justice.

This court, which was one of the League's most important institutions, was designed to handle legal disputes between countries and ensure that international law was upheld.

The League also worked on a variety of global issues, including labor conditions, public health, and the treatment of minority groups, which were areas of growing international concern at the time.

However, the League of Nations did not have its own army. The lack of a military arm was intentional. The League's purpose was to create global peace.

Having its own army and attacking countries who didn't listen, would be the opposite of creating world peace.

Therefore, any rules that the League created to stop countries doing the wrong things had to be enforced by other means.

One of the key mechanisms the League used to pressure nations was the imposition of economic sanctions.

Sanctions involved restricting trade with a country that refused to comply with international rulings.

The idea behind this was to make the offending country economically isolated, which would force them to reconsider their actions.

Here are how the sanctions were supposed to work: 

1. The League would encourage disagreeing nations to meet to resolve their conflicts peacefully.
2. If one country would not negotiate with the other, the League would impose 'economic sanctions'. This meant that the countries who were members of the League would stop buying or selling goods with the offending nation.
3. This would mean that the country would become poorer and would have to cooperate in order to survive.

Ultimately, this was the extent of the League's powers. If the offending nation still refused to obey the League's will, the League could not stop them.

Despite the League's limited power, there were times when its sanctions did avoid major wars:

Aaland Islands

Finland and Sweden argued about who controlled these islands between them. The League intervened, and after negotiations, it was decided that Finland would control the islands. The League’s decision was accepted by both sides.

Upper Silesia

One of the clauses in the Treaty of Versailles allowed the people of Upper Silesia to choose whether they wanted to join Germany or Poland. A vote showed that it was almost 50/50, so there was civil unrest and riots between angry groups. The League of Nations stepped in and, after six weeks of negotiations, Upper Silesia was split between Germany and Poland. All countries agreed to the decision.

Memel

The sea port of Memel in Lithuania was under the control of the League of Nations until Lithuania marched on it and captured it. The League declared that the area around the port could remain with Lithuania, but the port itself was an international zone. Lithuania agreed.

Turkey

During the 1920s, Turkey was suffering from an epidemic outbreak of typhoid and cholera. The League arranged teams of doctors as well as supplies, medicine, and food.

However, without military backing, these sanctions were often ineffective. So, despite its best efforts, the League of Nations could not stop countries from starting wars.

Here are some of the most famous conflicts the League could not stop:

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War

When Italy invaded the African country of Ethiopia in 1935, the League of Nations was called upon to punish Italy. However, despite attempted sanctions, it had no impact on the war and Italy left the League in 1937.

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria

When Japan invaded the region of Manchuria in 1931, and later attacked China, the League was called upon to punish Japan. However, despite more attempted sanctions, Japan simply chose to leave the League in 1933 and continue with its war. As reports came to light about the atrocities committed by Japan against civilians, there was nothing the League could do to stop them, as it had no army to call upon.

As more the aggressive nations continued to defy its authority, the League's initial goals of preventing war and fostering cooperation seemed increasingly distant.

However, people continued to support the idea of the League of Nations: an organisation designed to help avoid global conflict.

However, the fact that the League had no way of realistically stopping nations from starting wars undermined its effectiveness.

As World War II approached, the League’s relevance diminished further, and by 1939, it had largely become ineffective as a peacekeeping body. 

The overall concept, though, would survive. At the end of World War Two, a new group was founded in 1946, called the United Nations, which would be far more effective in this role.