During the 1920’s the League coped extremely well – it managed to keep the peace and avoided another war. Other than this there were many other successes of the league during the 20’s. In 1920 it settled a land dispute between Finland and Sweden over the Aaland Islands. Again in 1920 the league settled a dispute between Germany and Poland over Upper Silesia. In 1922 the league provided financial support to Austria after her economy was in the state of collapsing. The league acted swiftly in 1925 when it stopped a Greek invasion on Bulgaria as a result of this the Greeks were forced to pay compensation to Bulgaria. Also the League sorted out a number of refugee and social issues. It also helped to improve working conditions and health in general. Transport links were strengthened. As you can see the League dealt with the majority of issues that arose during the 20’s very well.
Despite these successes there were also a few issues where the league was deemed as a failure. For example the Polish army seized the capital of Lithuania, Vilna, and the league at first took no action but then decided that Poland could keep the town. In retaliation to this Lithuania seized a port in Denmark called Memel, and again the League took no action. Its weaknesses were beginning to appear. Its first major failure came in 1923 – the Corfu crisis. An Italian general, Tellini, was murdered whilst settling border disputes between Greece and Albania. Mussolini (the Italian leader at the time) demanded compensation and marched his troops into Corfu. The Greeks turned the league for help and it was granted; Mussolini was ordered to withdraw his troops and pay compensation to the Greeks. Later the league decided to support Mussolini and it was the Greeks who were forced to pay up. This showed that the league was insecure; they made wrong decisions and did not stick with what they had said.
By the end of the 30’s prospects for peace were looking quite good; business was doing well, world leaders had made agreements outlawing war, Germany seemed to have put aside its bitterness, and the league had had some success in solving disputes. What is certain is that the league was successful during the 1920’s. It prevented war occurrence during this time and kept the peace with few mistakes. The league did not deserve the criticism that it received during the 20’s as it did its job but it did expose its weaknesses – these were exploited more during the 30’s.
The league failed in the 1930’s because of several events. After the weaknesses of the Corfu crisis were exploited other countries began to take more of a gamble with the league. One of these countries was Japan. They were affected by the Wall Street crash and like America in a state of depression. The Japanese believed the only way to show there power and get themselves out of this state was to have a territorial conquest. Their destination was Manchuria, a Chinese province which was rich in raw materials. The Japanese already owned areas of Manchuria; they owned a railway line which ran throughout. All that the Japanese needed was an excuse to invade the area. In 1931 an explosion occurred on the Japanese rail line, the Japanese blamed the Chinese and began to invade. (Many sources say that Japan attacked her own rail line in order to gain the excuse to invade that she needed). The Chinese turned to the League for help, since Japan had used military aggression they were seen as the aggressor and they were told to withdraw, but they refused and continued to conquer land. The league decided to produce a report about the incident, this was called the Lytton report but it was not completed until a year after the invasion had started, this was slow and useless. The conclusion was in favour of China, and Japan walked out of the League in March 1933. Later they renamed Manchuria, Manchuckuo.
The league was seen as “toothless” as its economic sanctions were. America was not a member of the league and therefore Japan could trade with America and avoid these sanctions! Other countries were scared to intervene in case they lost vital trade links in America. This was an important event as it inspired others to take aggressive action.
The second significant event I am going to discuss is of a similar situation where Italy invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). The league was anxious to avoid a clash with Mussolini, the powerful, Italian leader and signed the stresa pact with him. This to the league was wise as they thought that they were getting Mussolini on their side but to Mussolini this was permission to invade. A clash between Italian and Abyssinian troops at Wal-Wal gave Mussolini the excuse he needed. The Italians used modern weaponry and the Abyssinian troops could not match this. The emperor, Haile, turned to league for help – he believed Italy were the aggressors. The league realised that Italy were in the wrong, and they must go against Mussolini. The league banned the safe of arms and basic goods to Italy and imports from Italy. But as the League Britain and France were fairly close to Mussolini they did not ban important resources such as oil and coal. They also did not close the Suez Canal which allowed supplies to reach the troops carrying on the invasion (the league told Mussolini to stop but he did not). Britain and France came up with a plan, the Hoare-Laval pact, which would hopefully end the fighting. The idea was to split Abyssinia into 2 giving Italy the better half. This was never passed by the League. The plan leaked to the press. The leagues reputation was damaged as it proved the British and French were willing to put their own interests before those of the league. On going the invasion reached Addis Ababa. The emperor fled the country. This was the end of the league. In March 1936 Hitler took back the Rhineland and in October of the same year both Hitler and Mussolini signed a treaty – the Rome-Berlin axis. No-one took the league seriously after this.
I agree with the statement the league failed in the 1930’s and not the 1920’s simply because it faced greater challenges. During the 1920’s people wanted to recover – not fight, by the 30’s this recovering was complete. The bitterness between countries began to once again show. Few experimented with the leagues power because they were scared of it, but after its failures they realised its weaknesses and tested it. The Manchurian and Abyssinian crisis’ just finished off the league. I believe that it failed because the USA did not join. If they had joined then the trade sanctions would have been more of a threat. It also had no real power as it relied on goodwill and persuasion. Its aims were very optimistic and it had high expectations because of this. Its structure was a disaster. Everyone needed to agree before any action could be taken. This gave major powers the power to veto anything it did not like. For example Britain could have invaded any country and just vetoed any decisions made by the league about it.
Overall the League failed in the 1930’s and not the 1920’s because dictators (such as Mussolini, Hitler or Army leaders – like in Japan) were prepared to defy it after its mistakes in the 1920’s. Also it faced much bigger challenges in the 30’s than it did in the 20’s.
