The second reason that the League was weakened at birth was the absence of another superpower, Russia. The west had not invited Russia because of their hatred of communism, but not allowing Russia into the League was a mistake for several reasons; firstly, Russia was the biggest country in Europe and, while America was stronger, Russia was not hundreds of miles away and the problems that the League would be dealing with would be on their doorstep, and so would concern them enough to aid the League. Russia also had huge amount of influence in East Europe and with this influence the League could sort of the problems in this area much quicker. Russia also had a huge industry, and with this extra money the League would be able to function much better.
The third and I believe fatal flaw in the League of Nations was that the defeated powers were not invited to join the League. The League was set up as a place to talk about issues instead of taking action, but if the other side to these arguments were not there how could the trouble be talked about? Germany was also resentful at not being included, they felt that they had been punished enough and the countries should not sit down and talk.
Due to the absence of America and Russia, Britain and France had to act as leaders. They were not up to the job both financially and militarily. Both of the countries had suffered immensely from the war; Britain was now broke and some of France was now completely destroyed, with the toll for rebuilding the shattered areas in the billions. The two countries did not have the resources to fill the gap left by the USA. Britain and France did not believe in the League, it was Wilson’s idea and they had opposed it at first but then eventually compromised. They were so dependent on the USA joining the League that had they foreseen America not being involved, they would not have joined either. The main flaw in their being appointed as leaders was that they were self-interested and opportunistic, always wanting to spin the affairs so that Britain or France did well out of it; France wanted to keep on crushing Germany, and Britain wanted to rebuilt its trade and keep her Empire and uphold the supremacy of the British Navy. Without the two major powers, America and Russia, in the league, the League did not have the power or influence to make trade sanctions work as the countries that were under trade sanctions could still trade with The USA or Russia.
The final flaw in the League of Nations was that they could not really impose any kind of punishment if a nation acted wrongly. They could morally condemn the action of the Country, which to a leader invading another country would make very little difference; they could impose trade sanctions, but without America or Russia these would not work as they could still trade with non-League of Nations states; and finally they could use military force against the aggressor, however no country would want to send their own troops to fight in a foreign war nothing to do with them, and as the League had no army of its own the League was reluctant to go to war. War was very expensive, and so was avoided if possible. Another flaw with the League’s punishments was that if a country sitting on the permanent council liked the country in question, they could veto this move, effectively tying the League’s hands behind its back. The League only met once a year, so theoretically decisions could only be made then and so it would take a long time for the League to take any action, such as the Manchurian Crisis.
Angus Walker
In conclusion I shall say that the League of Nations was hugely crippled at birth, lacking leadership and impetus from America, and money and influence from Russia. Without the defeated countries present the could not discuss the most important problems, and with Britain and France in charge, both severely weakened by the First World War, the League lacked the unbiased outlook that the USA would have provided. I believe that even if everything had worked out perfectly for the League it still would not operate well, but with these huge added flaws I think that the League was unable to function at all.
