Next, another weakness of the League of Nations was their failure to exercise their authority properly. They had the power to punish any aggressors through a variety of sanctions; economic, military, political and moral. However, this armada of “weapons” were rendered ineffective by the lack of willingness of the members. They were afraid that their own countries would suffer as a result of contributing in sanctioning the aggressor. For example, when Italy attacked Abyssinia in 1935, the League of Nations did not use those sanctions to force Italy to back down as B retain and France were afraid of provoking Italy into allying with Germany. Thus, we can see that failure to exercise their authority properly was a major weakness as it allowed aggressors to get their way. Also, the League of Nations lacked the military forces. This was a weakness and it is patent in the example of Italy against Greece over the Corfu. The league could not do anything to remove Italy as they had no military forces to do so. Thus, this became a weakness as other countries no longer cared about the League of Nations as they know that the League of Nations would not and could not use force against them.
Next, the membership factor of the League of Nations was another weakness. The United States of America (USA) did not join the League of Nations. The USA was the most powerful and richest nation in the world. Without, their participation, the League never really had any power to do anything substantial. The absence of the USA also resulted in the League becoming dominated by Britain and France who were mostly only concerned in their own affairs and were not fully committed to the aims of the League. For example, in the Spanish Civil war in 1936, Germany and Italy assisted General Franco in his fight against the Spanish Government. Britain and France decided to remain neutral and the League did nothing substantial. Thus, we can see that the absence of USA and the domination of Britain and France in the League was a major weakness. Furthermore, members could leave and join the League at will. The constant shift in members made the League unstable and weak as the members could just quit when they were not willing to obey the League and just simply join back when they will.
Lastly, the League of Nations was also weak because its leading members were preoccupied with protecting their own interests. This was clearly seen when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931. All the League did was to send the Lytton Commission and morally condemned Japan. As seen above, Japan walked out of the conference and completed the conquest of Manchuria. The question of economic sanction was never raised because the Great Depression had already damaged worlds trade and Britain and France were themselves having serious economic problems. They were reluctant to impose a trade boycott of Japan as it would certainly affect them economically. Therefore, the desire of member countries to preserve their own self interests weakened the League since it meant that the League lack strong support and commitment from its member.
