Firstly I am going to look at some of the problems that the league handled which turned out successfully.
Upper Silesia was an industrial region on the border between Germany and Poland. It was inhabited by both German and Polish people. Both Germany and Poland wanted control over it. The League of Nations organised a plebiscite for the Silesians to vote on which country they wanted to join. The industrial areas voted mainly for Germany, the rural areas mainly for Poland. The league split the area between the two countries, two thirds of it went to Germany and one third went to Poland. The league also built in many safeguards along these border lines to prevent further disputes. This was a success as the decision made was fair and both countries accepted the decision.
In 1919 the Treaty of Versailles created the country Finland from Russia’s land. Both Sweden and Finland wanted control of the Aaland islands which where in the middle of the two countries. They belonged to Finland but the population was mainly Swedish. Both countries were threatening to fight for them. They appealed to the league, who gave the islands to Finland. Both countries agreed with the decision and war was avoided therefore making this problem a success.
- Greek invasion of Bulgaria 1925
Some Greek soldiers were killed by Bulgarians for straying over the border and to get revenge for this the Greek army invaded Bulgaria. The league condemned the Greek action and Greece was ordered to withdraw from Bulgaria and pay compensation. This was a success as the Greeks obeyed the league and the dispute was solved.
Next I am going to look at some of the failures of the league.
Italian soldiers were shot whilst mapping the unclear border between Albania and Greece. The Italian leader Mussolini blamed the Greek government for the murder and demanded that the Greeks pay Italy compensation and execute the murderers. The Greeks refused so the Italian navy shelled the Greek island of Corfu and occupied it. The league condemned Mussolini’s actions and suggested that the Greeks pay compensation to Italy, but that the money was to be held by the league until the people who shot the Italian soldiers were found. Officially Mussolini accepted the leagues decision but behind the scenes persuaded the Conference of Ambassadors to change the leagues ruling. The Greeks had to apologise and the money was given to Italy. This was a failure as Italy got what they wanted as they were more powerful and the league did nothing as they didn’t want to upset Italy. Also no investigation was made.
Lithuania and Poland were two new states created by the post-war treaties. Vilna was made the capital of Lithuania, but its population was largely Polish. It was seized by a Polish army. Under the Covent the league should have sent troops but France didn’t want to upset Poland as they saw them as allies for the future against Germany. Britain didn’t want to act alone so in the end the league did nothing and the Poles kept Vilna. This was a failure as the members acted in their own aims and not in the aims of the league.
- Turkey and Greece 1920-1922
The Turks refused to accept the treaty of Sevres (land given to Greece).The Greek army was attacked and driven from these areas. Eventually the borders were redrawn and the areas were demilitarised. The treaty of Sevres was scraped and the treaty of Lausanne was created. This was a failure for the league as it was not actually the league that solved this problem.
From studying the evidence above I have come to a conclusion that the league had not achieved its aims by 1925. The league did nothing at all during this time to encourage nations to disarm or to improve the living and working conditions for people in all parts of the world. Although it did mange to stop some disputes preventing aggression between countries it did not discourage aggression from all nations. Neither did it encourage all countries to cooperate with each other as there were quite a lot of disputes.
I am not saying that the league was a complete failure as it did successfully solve a lot of disputes which could have led to war. It seems that the failures of the league were not just the fault of the league itself but that of the attitudes of the people involved in the league. The permanent members seemed to put the aims of their own countries before the leagues aims. For example they did nothing when the Polish seized Vilna as they didn’t want to upset Poland as it was in their best interests. They saw the Polish as allies for the future against Germany.
Also when the league was dealing with disputes if they were dealing with small countries with small disputes that were insignificant to them the league would be successful. However, when faced with big disputes where powerful countries were involved (e.g. Corfu incident between Italy and Greece. Italy is a powerful country.) they failed. They failed because they did not have the power to get big powerful countries to cooperate and follow their commands. If countries decided to ignore the league all they could do was enforce moral and economic sanctions and hope that these worked, as they could not enforce decisions using military might as they had no army.
