Marlene Lücke Level 5 B
History Essay
“The League of Nations was crippled from the start”
(Discuss)
The League of Nations was an international peace keeping organization, where countries could solve their disputes peacefully, instead of resorting to war. It was set up in 1920, in Geneva, Switzerland. Originally formed by 42 members, the League was based on a Covenant (a set of 26 articles with rules and regulations which all members agreed to follow). Its main aims were to discourage aggression among nations, encourage international cooperation to solve economic and social matters, encourage nations to disarm, and to improve the living and working conditions of people from all over the world. Many historians consider that the League of Nations was crippled from the start, whereas others saw it as a step further in international affairs.
On the one hand, some historians believe it would be unfair to dismiss the League as a total failure. To begin with, many of the committees and commissions the League had established, had great results in achieving international cooperation. For example, the ILO (International Labour Organization), whose aim was to improve living and working conditions around the world. It struggled to get governments to fix a maximum working say and week, adequate wages, introduce sickness and unemployment benefits and old age pensions. Also, the Refugee Organization whose aim was to help return war prisoners to their original homes after the end of the First World War. This organization was able to help war prisoners in Russia, and those persecuted by the Nazi regime in Germany. Another example would be the Health Organization, who did a very good job in investigating the causes of epidemics such as typhus in Russia. Apart from the already mentioned committees, there are other commissions, such as the Mandates Commission which supervised the government of the territories taken away from Germany and the losers, or the Slavery Commission, who freed 200.000 slaves in British, owned Sierra Leone. In addition, it organized raids against slave owners and traders in Burma. In the second place, the League’s interference in 1920, in several border disputes, helped to solve political issues between the countries, without causing major trouble. Her decisions were accepted in several occasions and brought peaceful solutions to conflicting situations. For instance, the quarrel between Finland and Sweden over the Aaland Islands, in which the League ruled in favour of Finland, and Sweden had to accept, remains in force today (1921), or the struggle between Germany and Poland over the industrial area of Upper Silesia in which after a plebiscite the League decided to divide it between the two (1921). A final example to this argument would be the conflict between Greece and Bulgaria over an incident in which a Greek soldier got killed. As a consequence, Greece attacked Bulgaria. However, the League condemned the Greek’s action and ordered them to pull out, as well as to pay compensation to Bulgaria. Although Greece complained, she did as she was told. After all the arguments stated before, it can be said that the League of Nations was not ravaged from the start.
