The League’s Council consisted of a small group of important nations, the permanent members being Britain, France, Italy and Japan. The smaller states were represented by a changing rota of four temporary members. In 1963, during the Ethiopian Crisis, Britain invited the Ethiopian delegate to sit at the council table, Italy didn’t accept their presence, Ethiopia responded by stating that “Ethiopia is not an aggressor, but a victim of aggression from a member of the League. I believe it is not Ethiopia who should withdraw from the council”. This affair increased tension between Italy and Ethiopia. This shows a weakness in the council that they were unable to settle the Ethiopian Crisis, instead they actually managed to aggravate it. Another weakness in the council was that they met too infrequently, causing decisions to be postponed.
The Secretariat was responsible for co-coordinating different functions, they published reports on meetings and certain aspects of the League. The limitation of the Secretariat was that is was too small to handle all of the league’s administrative affairs. For example: “the total number of officials classed as members of the Secretariat was 75 in September 1924. The total staff, including all the clerical services, comprised about 400 persons.” This shows a weakness in the structure of the secretariat and the Leagues organization; the secretariat was inefficient due to being undermanned and underfunded.
The committees are various organisations which serve to improve living conditions for people. The six areas of the committees are: the court of international justice, health committee, international labour organisation, refugees committee, mandates commission, slavery commission. This particular structure of the League is the most successful of all. There were many successes produced from the committees. One example is the introduction of the Nansen passport (1922), this gave stateless refugees an internationally recognised identity card. This shows strength in the Leagues structure and organisation as it was able to fulfill it’s goal to improve peoples lives.
Another strong point in the League was its vast support, which included sixty three of many of the most powerful countries in the world. The main countries in charge of the League were great powers including France, Britain, Italy, Japan and (after 1936) Germany. This gave it strength and authority. The many nations involved meant that new international relationships were built. This is an example of strength in the League’s organization.
Although, there was a problem with how the League was perceived by nations (including some of it’s own). A common view on the League was that the main leaders viewed themselves and their position in the world as the victors and the authority. This is partly due to the isolation of the countries blamed for WW1. “Because of its close linkage with the much hated treaty of Versailles, it was seen as a victor’s club.”, this shows that the League was, at times viewed, as a further way for the winners of WW1 to triumph over their victory. This suggests that, to an extent, the League was perceived as superficial and conceited. It also suggests a weakness in the Leagues structure, due to the rejection of powers such as Germany and Russia.
Another weak point in the League was the efficiency of collective security. Collective security was too idealistic as it was very difficult to get members to agree and fully commit. As a result it obstructed many peacekeeping efforts. It also lacked worldwide membership. Germany’s negative response to the Leagues conditions, once they were members, resulted in them rejecting the League and this meant they were no longer bond to following the League’s policy. This made carrying out sanctions difficult as for non-member states, the rules did not apply. This presented a significant flaw in the League’s organisation due to the lack of it’s members commitment
Although, the League did demonstrate some strength in it’s organisation and ability to attain many members. It‘s universal membership, at one point, meant it had a lot of support and all of the members had signed the Covenant (26 promises which every member agreed to follow) promising to preserve the League. This ‘community power’ meant that all members should act together and this strengthened the League’s influence. It also increased the tendency of certain nations to follow the leagues rules and not to aggravate them. This illustrates strength in the League’s security and organisation.
One weakness was that America never joined as a member. This was not something the League had anticipated when formed, it was American President, Woodrow Wilson, who had formed the fourteen point idea and had initiated the basis of the League. “It also transcended that of Europe; it is another sign of the new era that twenty six of the original forty two members of the League were countries outside Europe. Unfortunately because of domestic politics Wilson had not taken into account, the United States was not among them. This was the most fatal of severe weaknesses which made it impossible for the League to satisfy the expectations it had aroused.” as well as “The refusal of the USA to join the League of Nations deprived it of any real meaning”. This illustrates the Leagues organizational weakness in that America was not apart of it; there was a loss of economic and political backing of a super power.
Many organization flaws in the League were partly due to the Great Depression. Often members disregarded international issues; they were often too busy dealing with their own domestic issues which were caused by the depression. This economic difficulty also resulted in many peacekeeping efforts being ineffective because of the lack of funding. It caused the main members of the League to pursue a policy of pacification, with countries such as Germany, to prevent their aggression which would result in the members having to fund ways in which to settle the dispute. This had allowed rogue states like Germany to break free and show aggression, which finally lead to World War II. It was a huge weakness in the Leagues organization as it led to members disregard of international issues and offending countries to slip through the system.
The League of Nations was the first attempt to get a global agreement on international issues. Before the League of Nations was formed alliances often proved to be detrimental due to the tension they caused and the military rivalry. Although the League didn’t prevent WW2, it led to the foundations of the United Nations, which proved to be a more effective organisation. The League gave a voice to all their members, disregarding their strength and size. The League of Nations extended its influence beyond just military issues, it had many different organisations and aimed to help in many different areas. Its strengths in organisation include the covenant agreement, universal membership and the influence of the major powers. Its strength in structure is shown through the success of the committees, which passed many laws and created new systems to help improve peoples living conditions across the world.
On the other hand the main reason the League failed in its main goal in preventing war was due to its lack of organisation and its weak structure. This is shown through slow agreements, poor relationships with powers (such as Germany, Japan and Russia), insufficient funds, lack of American support, unsettled disputes and inability to enforce certain terms. In conclusion the league did have its weaknesses and strengths in structure and organisation but essentially it failed and this was mainly caused by lack of commitment from members, Germany’s inflexibility and America’s absence.
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Bibliography:
‘History of the World’ by J.M. Roberts
‘War and Peace: International relations 1878-1914’ by David G Williamson
‘Age of Extremes’ by Eric Hobsbawn
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