Was The League of Nationsa Success or a Failure?

AS and A Level History

Abdul Mufti

10. F

History Homework

Mr. Palmer

Tuesday 08 May 2007

Was The League of Nations a Success or a Failure?

In the 1920’s the league of nations was setup in order to preach disarmament, to encourage countries to co-operate, to discourage aggression from any nation and to improve living and working conditions in the whole world.

There were, at first, four major members of the league, Britain and France, Italy and Belgium. Unfortunately the USA was not able to become part of the league as much of its population did not agree with it. In a way the league had already taken the turn to failure, as it did not have the money and manpower to be too effective.

As the years progressed there were disputes to deal with. In 1920, there was a dispute between Poland and Lithuania, these were two new states created by the post-war treaties. The dispute was over Vilna (now known as Vilnius), which was made the capital of Lithuania, but Vilna’s population was mostly polish, in 1920 a Polish army rolled in and took control of it. Lithuania appealed to the league for help, testing it along the way. The league asked the polish to withdraw but Poland did not listen, the league was now stuck and did not have the power for troops to help, France on the other hand did not want to send on troops as they saw Poland as a potential ally against Germany, thus they did not do any thing and the Poles kept Vilna.

Here the league failed and was deemed as not very useful as force was not applied and the aggressor was not punished.

A year later in Upper Silesia, an industrial region between Germany and Poland, inhibited by both German and Polish people, was bickered over. Unfortunately both Germany and Poland wanted it as it had a rich iron and steel industry. Both countries appealed to the nation for help and in 1920 a plebiscite was organised for the Upper Silesians to vote on which country the wanted to join. French and British troops were sent to keep order at ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Here the league failed and was deemed as not very useful as force was not applied and the aggressor was not punished.

A year later in Upper Silesia, an industrial region between Germany and Poland, inhibited by both German and Polish people, was bickered over. Unfortunately both Germany and Poland wanted it as it had a rich iron and steel industry. Both countries appealed to the nation for help and in 1920 a plebiscite was organised for the Upper Silesians to vote on which country the wanted to join. French and British troops were sent to keep order at both voting booths.

The industrial area voted for mainly Germany and the rural Poland. The league divided the region along these borders and built in safeguards to prevent future disputes. Both countries averted war and accepted the leagues decision.

The league had been very successful this time; it kept peace between the countries. The fact that the league was successful at this time was not very significant; however the league was called for help once more in the same year.

In 1921, a dispute between Sweden and Finland took place. Both of these countries wanted control of the Aaland Islands, the Aaland Islands lay between both countries and both countries were threatening to go to war for it. They called d to the league for help. The league slowly and carefully examined the matter and decided the islands should go to Finland. Both countries accepted and so a crisis was averted.

This decision was very effective as there was no war, both countries were, once again, at peace with each other and the league had avoided using aggression.

In 1923, one of the boundaries that were to be discussed after the war was the border between Greece and Albania. The conference of ambassadors were assigned the job and it appointed an Italian (Italy was Part of the League) general called Tellini to look over it. On August 27th, while the ambassadors were examining the Greek side of the frontier, Tellini and his team were attacked and killed.

The Italian leader Mussolini was furious and demanded the Greeks be pay compensation to Italy and the murderers be executed. Greece however had no idea who the murderers were. On 31st august Mussolini bombarded and then occupied the Greek island of Corfu. Greece appealed to the league for help. As the days progressed the situation started to look more and more like the events that had triggered of the First World War, thus the league acted quickly and by 7 September had given its decision, it condemned Mussolini’s actions, it also suggested that Greece pay compensation, but that money is safeguarded by the League. The money would only be paid to Italy if and when Tellini’s killers were found.

In front of the league Mussolini accepted the decision. However he got to work on the conference of ambassadors and persuaded it to change the leagues ruling. The Greeks were informed that they had to pay compensation directly to Italy and must also express regret.

This dispute showed the weakness of the league and made the league look useless, thus not many people asked for help.

After finding out that Mussolini had done this, Britain and France drew up the Geneva protocol ion 1924 which aimed to make sure that the leagues ruling was accepted. They also thought that this may strengthen the league. The new conservative government refused to sign the protocol, worried that it would have to do things not of its own interests, thus making the protocol practically useless and further weakening the league.

In 1925 the league was of service once again. In October the Greeks had invaded Bulgaria after an incident on the border in which some Greek soldiers were killed. Bulgaria, like many other countries, appealed for help. The league for once acted using force.

“Make only slight resistance. Protect the refugees. Prevent the spread of panic. Do not expose the troops to unnecessary losses in view of the fact that the incident has been laid before the council of the league of nations, which is expected to stop the invasion.”

The league condemned Greece’s actions and ordered it to pay compensation to Bulgaria. Faced with disapprovals from major powers in the league Greece obeyed.

This dispute was handled effectively however not all the countries, evidently, had disarmed. The league was not trusted again by Greece as it had complained

“There seems to be one rule for the larger states (such as Italy) and another for the smaller ones (such as themselves)”

In my opinion the league was not a success nor was it a failure. However it is reckoned a failure as there was not enough money and manpower to back it up.

Had USA been a part of the league, it may have been a success, but the population complained about the possibility of deaths. Anti French/ British also did not want to help the British and French empires, though it was nothing about them.