Conflict & Tension: The Inter War Years
Part Two: The League of Nations and International peace
The League of Nations formations
When the League was formed; It had two main goals for the future. One was
maintaining the peace; this would mean that the end goal would be for all nations to
full disarm; to arbitrate instead of fight so that is a country had a dispute with another
then they would talk it out rather than fight it out. Their second goal was to encourage
co-operation and help solve economic and social problems such as disease, slavery
together as countries. The league was intended to ‘Police the World’, they would set
morale guidelines and if anyone went against the League then they could impose
foreign sanctions such as embargoing a country so that trade was not possible.
The Weakness of the League
The League had some real problems that had to be addressed in order to continue
with the League. To start the U.S didn’t join (they were a major powerhouse and had a
lot of influence over the world). Also, many people thought that EVERYONE should live
in a democracy however Britain and France were not happy about this as they wanted
to keep their colonies strictly under British rule. The U.S.A, USSR and Germany were
not allowed to join for a while which meant that three of the most influential countries
in the world weren’t allowed to join so this meant that the League didn’t have control
over the whole League which they wanted.
The League could apply sanctions to countries which didn’t comply to their rules, but
this would only work if every country kept to them and as we know three of the most
powerful countries in the world weren’t in the League so didn’t have to comply with
them.
The League Relied on the armies of the members because the League didn’t have a
central army to enforce their rules on other people so there was no real threat that
the League could make to enforce their ideas and rules.
In the League, everyone had to agree on an idea before it could be passed so if one
nation disagreed then it would delay the whole process, his was a real problem.
The Kellogg-Briand Pact and Locarno treaties
The Kellogg-Briand pact was signed by 65 countries and was to end all wars. It didn’t
work.
The Locarno treaty was signed in 1925 where Germany, France and Belgium agreed
to respect their post-Versailles borders, whilst Germany agreed with Poland and
Czechoslovakia to settle any border disputes peacefully. Germany had previously
complained bitterly about their loss of territory.
Part Two: The League of Nations and International peace
The League of Nations formations
When the League was formed; It had two main goals for the future. One was
maintaining the peace; this would mean that the end goal would be for all nations to
full disarm; to arbitrate instead of fight so that is a country had a dispute with another
then they would talk it out rather than fight it out. Their second goal was to encourage
co-operation and help solve economic and social problems such as disease, slavery
together as countries. The league was intended to ‘Police the World’, they would set
morale guidelines and if anyone went against the League then they could impose
foreign sanctions such as embargoing a country so that trade was not possible.
The Weakness of the League
The League had some real problems that had to be addressed in order to continue
with the League. To start the U.S didn’t join (they were a major powerhouse and had a
lot of influence over the world). Also, many people thought that EVERYONE should live
in a democracy however Britain and France were not happy about this as they wanted
to keep their colonies strictly under British rule. The U.S.A, USSR and Germany were
not allowed to join for a while which meant that three of the most influential countries
in the world weren’t allowed to join so this meant that the League didn’t have control
over the whole League which they wanted.
The League could apply sanctions to countries which didn’t comply to their rules, but
this would only work if every country kept to them and as we know three of the most
powerful countries in the world weren’t in the League so didn’t have to comply with
them.
The League Relied on the armies of the members because the League didn’t have a
central army to enforce their rules on other people so there was no real threat that
the League could make to enforce their ideas and rules.
In the League, everyone had to agree on an idea before it could be passed so if one
nation disagreed then it would delay the whole process, his was a real problem.
The Kellogg-Briand Pact and Locarno treaties
The Kellogg-Briand pact was signed by 65 countries and was to end all wars. It didn’t
work.
The Locarno treaty was signed in 1925 where Germany, France and Belgium agreed
to respect their post-Versailles borders, whilst Germany agreed with Poland and
Czechoslovakia to settle any border disputes peacefully. Germany had previously
complained bitterly about their loss of territory.
