The League of Nations failed due to the Great Depression How far do you agree?

Authors Avatar by lewis_dearsley (student)

‘The league failed due to the Great Depression’ How far do you agree?

In this essay I will compare both sides of my view point on whether it was just the great depression to blame for the failure or all the previous conflict and un-organisation of the league.  I believe the Great depression was only partly the reason to failure as there were many things before this which made the league look weak and suffer. These things were like the poor economic sanctions or the veto system and also of how slow decisions were being made so the time other countries had to make their attack would be high.

Firstly the main reason the league did not start off on the right foot being powerful and showing they had the capability to run the world and keep piece was that America did not join the league to give the resources it needed. Also as the league was Wilson’s idea it meant he had all the foundations needed to make it a huge success. This was a mighty blow for the other members as it meant there was more pressure on them to try and do what Wilson had planned.  When USA did not join it meant that the armed forces would not be strong enough to face major powers. This links in to where the league did not punish aggressors (economic sanctions) for what they did, mainly foe the likes of Italy and Japan as they were in the permanent members and did not want them to leave the league or upset them as it was already week. The veto system meant when people like Italy went into win land they could always succeed as they could overpower any decisions made by the league and would always come out on top. All throughout the time the league was together one major problem had been sorting the conflicts as it took time to travel there, hear both sides of the argument, make a report, vote on decision and then get back to sort the problem.  So these ideas support my reasoning for why the leagues failure was not totally down to the Great Depression.

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On the other hand though, the Great Depression added to why the league failed in the 1930s as it caused much distress to every member as each country was in economic difficulties and this meant people could take advantage of the discipline as they would use the excuse that the country invading was helping the country they wanted to take over. This led to people in the country’s leading to militarism and extremist leaders focussing on expansion to distract people from their own countries' problems. These led to the Abyssinian Crisis and The Manchurian Crisis which the league then could not ...

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