3. M
The Turks demanded Mosul, a part of Iraq (a British mandate). The League supported Iraq; Turkey agreed.
Greece and Bulgaria (1925)
Both these nations have a common border. In 1925, sentries patrolling this
Border fired on one another and a Greek soldier was killed. The Greek
Army invaded Bulgaria as a result. The Bulgarians asked the League for
Help and the League ordered both armies to stop fighting and that the
Greeks should pull out of Bulgaria. The League then sent experts to the
Area and decided that Greece was to blame and fined her £45,000. Both
Nations accepted the decision.
The social successes of the League of Nations
At a social level the League did have success and most of this is easily forgotten with its failure at a political level. Many of the groups that work for the United Nations now grew out of what was established by the League. Teams were sent to the Third World to dig fresh water wells, the Health Organization started a campaign to wipe out leprosy. This idea - of wiping out from the world a disease - was taken up by the United Nations with its smallpox campaign.
Work was done in the Third World to improve the status of women there and child slave labour was also targeted. Drug addiction and drug smuggling were also attacked.
These problems are still with us in the C21st - so it would be wrong to criticize the League for failing to eradicate them. If we cannot do this now, the League had a far more difficult task then with more limited resources.
The greatest success the League had involving these social issues, was simply informing the world at large that these problems did exist and that they should be tackled. No organization had done this before the League. These social problems may have continued but the fact that they were now being actively investigated by the League and were then taken onboard by the United Nations must be viewed as a success.
The league helped in:
- 400,000 Prisoners of War repatriated
- Turkish refugee camps helped (1922)
- Work against leprosy (extermination of mosquitoes)
- Attacks on slave owners in Sierra Leone and Burma; Freed 200,000 slaves in Sierra Leone.
- ILO (international labour organisation) successful in:
Limiting children's working hours.
Banning white lead from paint.
Campaigning for improved working conditions.
- Recommended marking shipping lanes.
- Produced international Highway Code.
- Challenged forced labour for railway building in Africa.
After stating the success, the failures should be discussed to determine how successful the League was.
Article 11 of the League’s Covenant stated:
"Any war of threat of war is a matter of concern to the whole League and the League shall take action that may safe guard peace."
Therefore, any conflict between nations which ended in war and the victor of one over the other must be considered a League failure.
Activity outside the League of Nations
This is a sign that most countries relied, not on the League, but on separate treaties to keep them safe:
- During the 1920s a number of international agreements were reached, mostly outside the League of Nations.
- The two most important of these were the Locarno Treaties and the Kellogg-Brand Pact. The Locarno Treaties were signed in 1925. In these, Germany agreed to accept the borders as set out in the Treaty of Versailles.
The Kellogg-Briand, 1928
In 1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact consisted of 65 nations agreeing not to use force to settle disputes. All parties condemn war as a means of settling disputes.
There was nothing to say about what would happen if someone did declare war.
This was looked on as a turning point in History and people thought the world was getting a safer place.
Locarno Treaties (1925)
Germany agreed borders with France and Belgium as in the Treaty of Versailles (but nothing on Eastern borders). Britain and Italy agreed to protect France if Germany attacked. Germany accepted Rhineland as a de-militarised zone. France and Germany agreed to settle future disputes through the league. France was really pleased. This paved the way for Germany to join the League of Nations in 1926.
USA< Japan, Britain, and France agreed to limit size of navies. Japan’s army was limited to 3/5 of USA and British army. This allowed a Japanese naval build up, but at the time was seen as a positive step to maintain peace.
This treaty’s aim was to break deadlock over German reparations. America was to lend Germany money to kick start its economy after the disasters of the hyper inflation and invasion of Ruhr
These were all good but people missed the point that this was meant to take place in the league not out of it. The USA and Germany r in most of the treaties and they are not part of the league anyway. These treaties such the Washington treaty contradicted the Treaty of Versailles aims very clearly. The Dawes plan created the biggest problem for the whole world when all economy was dependant on America and the Wall Street economy suddenly crashed.
One problem that crippled the league was its inability to stop the Japanese invasion of China
The Manchurian crisis 1931
Just one week before Japan invaded Manchuria, Viscount Cecil, Britain’s chief representative at the , said in a speech to the League:
"I do not think there is the slightest prospect of any war."
Japan, the strongest member in the Far East, proved him wrong.
Japan attacked Manchuria, a province of China, in 1931. Unable to defend her territory, China appealed to the League of Nations for help. The League condemned Japan and ordered her to withdraw. Japan left the League and continued with her conquests. Because of the unwillingness of Britain and France to act decisively, the League of Nations was powerless to do anything.
The could not enforce its authority. It demonstrated that a major power could get away with using force. It meant that an issue so far from Europe was not likely to attract the whole-hearted support of the major European powers in the League - Britain and France. The affair had indicated that Britain was more concerned with her territories in the Far East than in the maintenance of law and order. Other powers would almost certainly see this episode as a sign that they too could get away with the use of force
The also lost its most powerful member in the Far East and ultimately Japan was to unite with the two other nations that broke League rules - Germany and Italy.
In conclusion, I would finish by measuring the League of Nations against its aims:
- to stop war
- to improve people's lives and jobs
- to get disarmament
- To enforce the Treaty of Versailles (oh yes - what about appeasement? German disarmament? Rhineland? Anschluss? reparations? TOTAL failure here, i think!)
The first point was a total failure. WW2 broke out and one of Hitler’s aims was to destroy the treaty of Versailles which was what the league was trying to impose.
The league did succeed quite well in the second point were it did help with social issues as mentioned before. This was one good thing the league done.
The third point was also a totally failure. Treaties were signed to limit armies, (the Washington conference), which was totally contradicting the league. The league said “disarmament” which meant NO armies.
The fourth point was also a failure. The treaty of Versailles included the appeasement, German disarmament, Rhineland, Anschluss, and reparations. None of these was not subject to a change. All were tampered with n twisted to suit the strong countries that were looking for their own gain.
I conclude by saying the League of Nations was quite a failure by 1929, apart from the social successes which were quite good.
Maryam Ali