How successful was the League of Nations in the 1920’s?
After the First World War, Europe was in total chaos. All nations had its problems but everyone was looking somewhere for someone to blame.
Everyone wanted to avoid repeating the mass slaughter of the war that had just ended. They also greed that a League of Nations – an organisation which could solve international problems without resorting to war – would help achieve this. However, there was disagreement about what kind of organisation it should be. During the Paris Peace Conference when President Wilson came up with the idea of the league, he wanted the League of Nations to be like a world parliament where representatives of all nations could meet together regularly to decide on any matters, which affected them all. Many British leaders thought the best league would be a simple organisation that would just get together in emergencies. France proposed a strong League with its own army. It was President Wilson who won and he insisted that discussions about a league should be a major part of the peace treaties and in 1919 he took personal charge of drawing up the plans for the league and proposed a very ambitious one. The main aims were: -
- To discourage aggression from any nation.
- To encourage countries to cooperate, especially in business and trade.
- To encourage nations to disarm.
- To improve the living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world.
When set up in 1919, France, Britain, Italy and Japan were the main powers and were very powerful.
When the league was set up it was decided to base it in Geneva, Switzerland. As a hunt for a nation to run the league went on it became very hard as not any of the main powers wanted this role. President Wilson, the brainchild of the league, would seem the most appropriate leader as America was not economically or physically damaged from the war but surprisingly America never joined, nor took on any role. Britain and France were the most powerful members of the League. Italy and Japan were also permanent members of the council but throughout the 1920s it was Britain and France who usually made the policy. Any action by the league needed their support. The league was based on a covenant, which was a set of 26 articles or rules, which all members of the league agreed to follow. Article 10 was probably the most important, ‘the members of the league undertake to preserve against external aggression the territory and existing independence of all members of the League. In case of threat of danger the council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled.’ This article meant that if any member showed physical aggression to a fellow nation that other nations could group together their armed forces and go and sort out the trouble. This further meant that all nations, large and small could be protected and war prevented.