The League of Nations: Successes and failures in maintaining international peace

Prior to World War I, the way that countries negotiated and communicated was all done in secret, which left a constant atmosphere of paranoia among competing countries.

It was argued that a better way for countries to resolve conflicts was to set up an organisation that existed for the sole purpose of negotiating conflicts and disagreements between countries.

It was hoped that such an organisation would remove the need for nations to go to war to resolve disagreements.

This new organisation was called the 'League of Nations' and it was officially established on January 10, 1920, following the Paris Peace Conference that ended World War I.

At its beginning, it was made up of 42 nations, of which Great Britain and France were the most powerful countries involved. 

Initially, Germany and Russia were not allowed to join due to their actions in WWI.

However, Germany was later admitted in 1926 and then the Soviet Union (Russia) was also allowed to join in 1934. 

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

The League had a special building constructed in the neutral country of Switzerland, in the city of Geneva.

For U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's central role in establishing the League of Nations, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919.

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

As a result, the League of Nations did not have its own army. Any rules that the League created to stop countries doing the wrong things had to be enforced by other means.

So, instead of using military threats to enforce its will, the League used diplomatic pressure and moral persuasion.

However, the most powerful, yet still limited, influence the League had was called economic 'sanctions'.

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.
3. This meant that the countries who were members of the League would stop buying or selling goods with the offending nation.
4. 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.

However, the lack of a military arm was intentional. The League's purpose was to create global peace.

Therefore, having its own army and attacking countries who didn't listen, would have been the opposite of creating world peace.

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

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

Unfortunately, despite its best efforts, the League of Nations could not stop countries from entering into wars.

While there were the successes mentioned above, it is important to note that they were all relatively minor disputes.

Unfortunately, it was the major problems that the League failed to prevent.

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 continued its war until it annexed Ethiopia in 1936.

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 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.

Ultimately, people supported the general 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 overall effectiveness.

By the end of the 1930s, the League ceased to be an effective organisation and, by the time World War II began, it was considered irrelevant.

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