As a result of the USA not joining the League, trade sanctions placed on those who had disobeyed the terms of the League were useless, as America could then trade with the nation who had been restricted. Decisions also had to be unanimous between the League, meaning that decisions were difficult to make and agree upon. The major incidents that guaranteed the League's weakness were the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931 and Italy's invasion of Abyssinia in 1935. These events showed the League's difficulties in dealing with aggression involving major powers. As Japan and Italy were permanent members, The League were powerless against them. The principle that the League of Nations had no armed forces of its own meant that The League had to rely upon the co-operation of its members. This showed the relatedness of the two main members, Britain and France, as they demonstrated in the Abyssinian Crisis, as they were slow in reaction and were un-willing to punish Italy, afraid that Italy could easily plot with Germany. With no armed forces, this made it difficult for the League to impose punishments. The League of Nations also met too infrequently, as the Assembly only met 5 times a year and the Council once a year. The need for all members to agree on a course of action undermined the strength of The League. The League hoped that it could influence other nations to obey to their rules by collective security, community of power and moral persuasion. Many writers have also commented that these are not very effective weapons against a powerful country that was determined to disobey the League. Collective Security failed, as Britain and France, along with other members, were more concerned with their own interests. As a result of this, they were reluctant to get involved in disputes involving aggression, as they were unwilling to send troops to fight.
During the first few years of The League, there appeared to be a genuine desire for peace after the horrors of World War One. Therefore, the League did have successes, though these tended to be in areas that had little strategic or economic importance. The main strength of the League was that it had been formed by the Treaty of Versailles, and had been agreed by everyone at the conference. The League was successful in the Aaland Islands in 1921. These islands are of equal distance between Finland and Sweden. Originally, they had belonged to Finland, but a majority of the islanders wanted to be governed by a Swedish government. Neither Sweden nor Finland could come to a decision as to who owned the islands and in 1921 they asked the League to adjudicate. The League’s decided that they should remain with Finland but that no weapons should ever be kept there. Both countries accepted the decision and it remains in force to this day. In the same year, the League was equally successful regarding the dispute between Germany and Poland over Upper Silesia. The League had given the people of Upper Silesia the right to have a referendum in relations to whether they wanted to be included in Weimar Germany or Poland. In this referendum, 700,000 voted for Weimar Germany and 500,00 for Poland. This resulted in rioting between those who expected Upper Silesia to be made part of Weimar Germany and those who wished to be included in Poland. After a six week inquiry, the League decided to split Upper Silesia between Germany and Poland. This proved to be successful and was accepted by both countries and by the people of Upper Silesia. Another success was in 1925, where the League helped to resolve a dispute between Greece and Bulgaria. As both these nations share a common border, it was reported that in 1925, sentries patrolling this border fired on one another and a Greek soldier was killed. As a result of this, the Greek army invaded Bulgaria. The Bulgarians therefore asked the League for help and the League ordered both armies to stop fighting and that the Greeks should pull out of Bulgaria. The League then sent experts to the area and decided that Greece was to blame and fined her £45,000. This decision was accepted by both nations and is therefore regarded as a success.
In conclusion, I have decided that to a substantial amount, The League of Nations was a failure. This was a result of many factors; the strongest nation in the world never joined the League, and Britain and France were not strong enough to impose punishment on other members, as the war had ruined Britain and France economically and militarily. Unanimous decisions and a weak structure paralysed the League. This also meant that powerful members within the Council could vote against sanctions placed on them. The Depression in 1929 showed many of the League's members' real intentions - to make certain that the welfare of it's own country was secure, ridding all thought of world peace. As trade was limited during the Depression, the punishment of placing sanctions of significant trading partners was too risky, any government willing to do this put themselves under threat of not being voted in a second term. Faith in the League had detoriated more as the League failed to act successfully in major incidents. The permanent members had failed to uphold the main aims and had betrayed the League; Japan and Italy had disobeyed the principles of the League in the thirties, and Britain and France had no relative interest in the main events concerning the League, deeming the League powerless against strong nations. Hitler and Mussolini observed these failures and their confidence increased; the problems the League faced encouraged the rise of powerful nationalist dictators and militaristic governments - such as Hitler and Mussolini. They were certain that if they acted whilst the League was still weak, they would be successful and the League would be powerless against them. This proved to true, as in the following years after the collapse of the League, Hitler rose to power and gained the position of Chancellor of Germany in 1933, and then dictator, following with WWII.
