Why did The League of Nations fail in the Manchurian Crisis?

by chillypeppers (student)

Why did the League fail in the Manchurian crisis?

Manchuria a Chinese province, China was a weak country. There had been chaos between the Chinese warlords for control since the death of the last Chinese Emperor in 1911. Japan was a strong country. It had taken over Korea in 1910 and wanted more power. In September 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria, Japan had a railway running through Manchuria, which brought raw goods to China and raw goods back to Japan. Why invade? Japans trade had slumped (USA was its main trading partner) and China had stopped trading. Japan’s industry was near to collapse and it needed essential raw materials. An explosion took place on the South Manchurian Railway Line this was a good scapegoat for Japan, so the Japanese blamed this on the Chinese and had a motive to invade. Japan immediately sent troops into Chain and forced out all Chinese forces. A puppet Government was then set up.

The Japanese claimed that the Chinese were unable to control this area and the Chinese asked for the Leagues help. This put the League in a state of agitation; Japan was a leading member of the League with a permanent seat on the Council (Japan could VETO any decision made by the League). The Leagues first step was to follow the rules and told Japan to take their troops out of Manchuria. Japan turned a blind eye. Lord Lytton set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate what happened. Lytton’s report (a year to come to be finished) stated that ...

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In March 1933 Japan left the League. 1937 Japan invaded China. This made the League look powerless and the influence Japan set might have caused future problems. What did the League do next? The League imposed Economic Sanctions on Japan. But Japan continued to trade with USA. Could other countries impose sanctions? Britain was worried about imposing economic sanctions on Japan. Britain made lots of money from trading with Asian countries and didn't want to affect this. The League also discussed banning arms sales to Japan, but the members quickly disagreed to this in fear of retaliation from Japan and the war would escalate. Besides, Britain and France had no intention of risking their armies or navies in a war with Japan. Only the USA and the USSR would have had the resources to remove the Japanese from Manchuria. But they weren’t even members of the League. In the end the League did nothing else and unsurprisingly Japan kept control of Manchuria and invaded further into China.

The people who expected the League to keep peace began to despair as this matter had greatly weakened the League. This crisis had shown just how incapable the League really was and of course the League realized this and had to justify it actions. Excuses were made, Japan was too far away; Japan had a point when it claimed that China was in anarchy and that they were unable to keep peace in the area (the self defense argument).

Future problems. The Japanese influenced Hitler and Mussolini. Could this have been the development of WW2?

Amelia Harte