Humayun Ahmad 4APJ GCSE History – Mr. Davis
Focus Task:
What were the consequences of the failure of the league in the 1930s?
The league was, overall, a failure. There were numerous reasons for why the league failed in the 1930s. These included the self-interest of leading members, economic sanctions did not work, America and other important countries were absent, the league had to cope with a lack of troops, the treaties it had to uphold were seen as unfair and also, the decisions that the league made were slow.
The first major test for the League came when the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931. Japan, like many other countries around the world, was suffering due to the Depression caused by the Wall Street Crash in America. Japan was also a permanent member of the League’s council (and it also had a VETO with this position) and by the 1920s Japan had become a major power. It had a very powerful army and navy – army leaders often dictated government policy; it had a strong industry, exporting goods to the USA and China in particular; it had a growing empire which included the Korean peninsular. The depression had hit Japan quite hard. Both America and China put up TARIFFS (trade barriers) against Japanese goods. Without this trade Japan could not feed its people. Army leaders in Japan had one solution in mind, invading and expanding to create a Japanese empire, by force! In 1931 an incident in Manchuria occurred where the Japanese claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged the South Manchurian Railway, which was built and run by the Japanese. This gave them an excuse to invade and in September 1931 they did just that, renaming the region of Manchuria to ‘Manchukuo.’
In February 1932 the Japanese had set up a puppet government in Manchuria. The Japanese government didn’t want to go any further, but in contrast, the army generals and other high military officials wanted to go even further. It was obvious who was the aggressor. China had appealed to the league but had waited a long frustrating period of a full year to receive a response. The league was reluctant to take any action against Japan and forbid them to continue invading. During this period the league was looking even worse as it went on. The more influential members of the league saw how they could manipulate the system and use their position in the league to their advantage. In February 1933, instead of withdrawing, Japan announced that they would invade more of China. The only countries that had a definite force to beat the Japanese were the USSR and USA. Yet they weren’t even members. Countries such as Britain and France thought only of their own self-interest by keeping peace with these growing powers and the League would also make the excuse that Manchuria was too far away for action to be taken. The league’s report was approved by 42 votes against Japan’s single vote. Yet the league took no action, as they were afraid of losing a powerful member as well as the fact that Britain and France remained reluctant to use military force as they were looking out for themselves and their self-interest was prioritised above the requirements of League of Nation’s work. On 27 Match 1933, Japan left the League and the next week they invaded Jehol. They discussed economic sanctions but without America, Japan’s main trading partner, they would be meaningless. They even discussed banning arms sales to Japan, but they could not even agree on that. The League was unconfident and did not have faith in itself, and was afraid that Japan may retaliate and the war would escalate. Back in Europe, Mussolini and Hitler observed with interest. They had seen how the league would react if such an event was to occur again. Within three years they would both follow Japan’s example.
