The most important reason why the League of Nations failed was because it had no army. How far do you agree?

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Essay: The most important reason why the League of Nations failed was because it had no army. How far do you agree?

The League of Nations was an organization set up by President Woodrow Wilson (U.S.A) its aims were to stop wars, improve peoples lives and jobs, to get every country to disarm and to enforce the treaty of Versailles. I agree that one of the reasons that the League failed was because it had no army. I don’t agree that it having no army was the most important reason. There were lots of reasons why the League of Nations failed, some more important than others.

The League was conceived under President Wilson and the therefore all countries saw it connected to the treat of Versailles. The treaty of Versailles was a harsh treaty and not many countries really supported it. This internal mistake started the League off badly as people were already starting to dislike it. Compared to the army it was a small factor but made as big impact.

In my opinion, this next reason is what made the League fail.  The membership and organization of the League played a big role in the Leagues failure. The League lacked authority and because of the treaty of Versailles, the people were cautious towards it. That made it seem weak. There were also two large countries, which were not a part of the League: Russia and the U.S.A. Germany only joined later when it was allowed. Shortly after Germany joined, Japan and Italy left. This made the League seem like a minority, that countries could come and go as they pleased. At the same time, the organization of the League was not very practical. Every country (even large or small) had a vote in the assembly. The voting was unanimous. Lastly, if one country said no to the decision it would be rejected. This organization was not one that a League wanted to solve problems. These problems were internal and very significant. They led to problems when the needed to act quickly, for example in Manchuria and in Abyssinia.

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The organization of the League was not suited to dealing with crises. We see that when the League were forced to deal with Japan, Italy and Germany. In Japan, Japan decided it needed to expand it’s population and invade Manchuria. As the League had no army it could do nothing about it. Everyone (including Japan) had to agree on the punishment. In the end, everyone agreed except for Japan so it was denied. The League was slow and dealt with the problem in a not very satisfactory way. Here, the problem was external but the way the League of ...

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