The international agreements – such as the Washington Naval Conference (1921), Locarno Treaties (1925), or the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) – seemed very promising but they were not organised by the League. This undermines the League and shows that countries were perfectly able to uphold peace on their own without the interference of the League.
During the Manchurian Crisis (1931-1933), the League did not make wise decisions. Its first mistake was the time it took for it to respond – it was a full year after the invasion before a detailed report was presented on Manchuria. The League couldn’t enforce economic sanctions on Japan, as without the USA, Japan’s main trading partner, it would be meaningless. The member countries could not even decide on the banning arms sales to Japan. Britain and France would not risk their armies or navies in war with Japan – only the USA and USSR would have had the resources to remove the Japanese from Manchuria by force, but they were not even in the League. After the events unfolded, the League made up excuses to cover up its inadequacy in dealing with the Manchurian Crisis; the League said that Japan was so far away, that it was a special case, and that Japan did have a point when it said that China was itself in the grip of anarchy. We can agree that the League was powerless if a strong nation decided to pursue an aggressive policy and invade its neighbours.
The Disarmament Conference in 1932 produced resolutions to prohibit bombing of civilian populations, limit the size of artillery, limit the tonnage of tanks and prohibit chemical waste. However, there was very little to show how these limits would be achieved, for example, bombing was prohibited but there was no attempt at abolishing planes capable of bombing. Moreover, Germany complained that it was the only country which had disarmed and wanted for all countries to disarm to its level; when the Conference failed to agree to the principle of ‘equality’, the Germans walked out. Britain didn’t help the situation: it signed an agreement in 1935 that allowed Germany to build up its navy as long as it stayed under 35% - this violated the Treaty of Versailles. In the end, Germany left the League and began to rearm openly – other League members also began to rearm themselves. From this we can see that he League was ignored by each country, and did not try to enforce the resolutions, as it only produced them.
The Abyssinian Crisis in 1934-36, concerned Italy invading Abyssinia. This time the League reacted swiftly, for example, it imposed immediate ban on arms sales to Italy while allowing them to Abyssinia. However, the trade of oil and coal was not banned; this is because the League feared the Americans would not support sanctions and it would mean 30,000 British coal miners would lose their job. The decision on opening the Suez canal was not from the League – the British and the French owned it and feared that closing the canal would result in war with Italy. This shows how much the countries don’t believe in the League’s effectiveness in upholding peace. Secretly between the British and the French, the Hoare-Laval Pact aimed to give two thirds of Abyssinia to Mussolini in return for his calling off the invasion. This shows that countries found their self-interest more important that world peace. The consequences of the Abyssinian Crisis began the ‘emotional preparation’ among the democratic countries for a war, and Hitler realised that he would be likely to get away with aggression.
On the other hand, the League was quite successful in some of its operations. The League allowed for member countries to voice their opinions in the Assembly. At the Aaland Islands in 1921, Sweden and Finland wanted control of the Aaland Islands – they appealed for the League’s help and accepted the League’s ruling, so war was avoided. Another example can be Upper Silesia in 1921, when both Germany and Poland wanted control of the industrial region. In 1920, a plebiscite was organised for the Silesians to vote on which country they wished to join, and French and British troops were sent to keep order at the polling booths. The League used the results from the poll to divide the region, but built in many safeguards to prevent future disputes – violence was avoided. Bulgaria (1925) was successful to an extent, as violence was avoided and the aggressive country did leave from the country they invaded.
The League had a number of commissions and committees that were set up to improve people’s living and working conditions around the world.
