The main organs of the League of Nations were the General Assembly, the Council and the Secretariat. The General Assembly, which met once a year, consisted of representatives of all the member states and decided on the organization's policy. The Council included four permanent members (Britain, France, Italy and Japan) and four (later nine) others elected by the General Assembly every three years. The Secretariat prepared the agenda and published reports of meetings.
As a result of the decision by the US Congress not to ratify the Versailles Treaty, the United States never joined the League of Nations. Others joined but later left the organization: Brazil (1926), Japan (1933), Italy (1937). Germany was only a member from 1926 to 1933, and the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1940.
The aims of the League Of Nations was to:
- To stop aggressive acts against another country
- To encourage members to work together
- To disarm
- To improve living and working conditions
There were many problems with the league in 1919 were that:
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The they had no independent army
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The USA never joined
- It was too European
- The treaties that it upheld were see as unfair
The Manchurian Crisis, 1931-1933
Manchuria is a province in north China. In the 1920’s Japan had built up a strong influence in the area, including ownership of the south Manchurian railway. In 1931, young Japanese officers guarding the railway caused an explosion along its line and blame ‘Chinese terrorists’. Using this as an excuse, the Japanese army began the conquest of Manchuria. This was complete by December. The Japanese then set up a puppet ruler the last emperor of China, the area was renamed Manchukuo. The Chinese Government accused and took the matter to the League of Nations. The league set up the LYTON COMMISION to investigate the complaint. In the Lyton report, published in October 1932, the commission found that the Japanese were indeed guilty of aggression. The league accepted this report with only Japan voting against it. It was approved that the Manchurian Government was not to be recognised. Japan was asked to hand over the area to China, but it refused and withdrew from the league. No further action was taken.
The Abysinian Crisis And The League
In October 1935, Mussolini ordered the invasion of Abysinnia. Italy had an interest in one of a few areas of Africa what remained uncolonised. It is believed Mussolini wanted revenge for the Battle of Adowa in 1886 where Italian troops had been defeated and humiliated. The invasion was clearly a sign of aggression by one member of the league of nations against another. Following the invasion, the ruler of Abysinnia, Emperor Huile Sellani, appealed to the league for help. In October 1935, the league condemned Italy as an aggressor and decided to impose economic sanctions. The aim was to free Italy to agree to the leagues request to stop the invasion. Imports from Italy into league countries were forbidden, but it was difficult to make the sanctions because, first, some raw materials essential for Italy were not included. Mussolini continues the invasion and by May 1936 the conquest was complete. In 1936, the league voted to end sanctions against Italy, the next year, Italy left the league.
The league failed and collapsed, I believe because of really one thing the fact that the USA did not join, this is one major piece which was missing, the other reasons I believe were because that too many people were allowed to join and the fact that it took one year alone to write a report on the Manchuria crisis alone proves this point, if there were even more members at this time I think that this report will have taken a lot longer. All decisions that were too be made were too slow. There was too much interest in the league itself they did not take enough notice of the further distant countries.
