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Summary History gcse revision notes League of Nations
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Revision notes for Cambridge igcse gcse History chapter 1, League of Nations complete.
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the League of Nations(hi i think ini ud complete tp just fyi i blm mskin dri hodder)
Birth of the League of Nations
Background
+ Came into being after WWI on 10th January 1920
+ At the Treaty of Versailles, it was agreed that a universal League of Nations would be set up to
resolve international problems without resorting to armed conflict
+ Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland
+ Although Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States, had called for the formation of an
international peace-keeping force in his 14 Points (point 14), other world statesmen had made
similar suggestions
+ Each member state was required to sign a Covenant (promise) that it would abide by the rules of
the League. The Covenant (which also laid out the aims and rules of the League) appeared as the
preface, or an introductory preamble, to each of the Peace Treaties emanating from the Paris
Peace Conference (the Treaties of Versailles, St. Germain, Trianon, Sèvres, and Neuilly).
Aims
+ Avoid aggression between nations
+ Facilitate disarmament
+ Improve living and working conditions globally
+ Enhance global cooperation through trade
+ TWO MAIN AIMS:
○ To encourage international co-operation in order to solve economic and social problems.
○ To maintain peace through Collective Security.
Rules
+ All major nations would join (certain countries e.g. Germany and USSR barred)
+ All nations would practise disarmament
+ All disputes between countries would be taken and resolved by the LON and its decisions
accepted and respected
+ A Covenant was drawn up - in the event that any nation broke the covenant and went to war, all
other nations were to cease economic relations with it immediately, and send troops to intervene if
necessary
Collective security
+ If one state attacked another, the member states of the League would act together, collectively, to
restrain the aggressor (either by economic sanctions, or by joint military action).
+ Provided by first trying to persuade quarrelling countries not to go to war
+ Then, encouraging to bring their dispute to the attention of the League and to agree to a settlement
of the dispute either by:
○ Arbitration (a third and independent party decides the issue)
○ Judicial Settlement (by the Court of International Justice)
→ If an aggressor nation could not be restrained by either of the above two processes,
then it was the duty of each covenanted (agreed by contract) member country to:
- First impose economic sanctions (refusal to trade)
- (If that fails) Provide troops for collective military action against the aggressor
, + For collective security to work, all members had to agree to them and follow them
Why was collective security inefficient in practice?
- The USA was not a member of the League
+ Collective security was unlikely to be successful as there were three stages that all
members had to agree to and follow
+ These were moral disapproval, economic sanctions and military sanctions
+ The absence of the powerful USA would reduce the effectiveness of both moral
disapproval and sanctions
- The absence of the USA made sanctions ineffective
+ The USA also had the largest army in the world. This could have helped resolve a
crisis
+ Usa was also the biggest trader in the world at the time. Therefore any sanctions
imposed by the league would be useless
+ This happened in manchuria, as there was no point in a trade ban, as the USA was
Japan’s main trading partner anyway
- All decisions taken by the assembly or council had to be unanimous
+ The assembly could only make a decision by an unanimous vote and all of the
permanent members had a veto
+ Due to the structure of the league where there was a crisis, no one could agree
- The league did not have its own army
- Members of the league acted in the interests of their own countries
- Textbook stuff
+ This concept was essential for the League to maintain the peace, acting together,
members could place economic and/or military pressure on aggressors. There were
three processes by which the League could try to stop wars:
+ More disapproval: The Council would meet to condemn any act of aggression. The
aggressor would cease its military actions knowing that the world was watching.
+ Economic sanctions: If moral disapproval failed, then the Council could exert
pressure using economic sanctions against the aggressor. This could mean a trade
boycott and reducing credit.
+ Military sanctions: If economic sanctions did not work, then the Council could use
military sanctions. This might involve sending military help to the victim of the attack.
+ Collective security sounds like a sensible way to stop war, but remember the US was
not a member of the League. Two other problems restricted the collective security
approach:
- First, all decisions taken by the Council or the Assembly had to be
unanimous. A majority of the members was not enough to take action.
- Second, the League did not have its own army so imposing military sanctions
would prove difficult. Member states would have to send soldiers and
resources; this would take time and there was no guarantee that members
would do so.
Structure of the League of Nations
In the beginning there were 42 member states. By 1926 (when Germany joined), membership had risen to
55 member states. The major organs of the League were:
The Assembly The Council
, The Court of
Agencies and
The Secretariat International
Commissions
Justice
norities Mandates Disarmament Refugees
ILO & ot
mmission Commission Commission Commission
The Assembly
contained representatives (or delegates) of all the member states. Each country had one vote. The
Assembly met annually; its function being to decide general policy. The Assembly also handled the
finances of the League. Any decisions taken by the League had to have the unanimous support of all the
member states.
+ Was the administration of the League, with 700 officials from different countries
+ Admitted new members
+ Financed the budget
+ Discuss main agenda ideas
+ Decisions had to be unanimous → when dictatorships started sprouting in
Europe, they became difficult to bargain with and could block measures very
easily
+ Only 1 meeting a year → in a fast-paced world where technology was
speeding up events, events were often over before they could be dealt with
The Council
+ Much smaller than the Assembly
+ Designed to settle specific major political disputes as they arose (keep the peace between
disputing nations)
+ 4 permanent members: UK, France, Italy, Japan (had veto power)
○ Germany became permanent member in 1926
○ The US would’ve been a permanent member if joined
+ Included temporary elected members (up to 10) voted in by the General Assembly rotated every 3
years
○ number of non-permanent (elected) members had risen from 4 originally to 9 by 1926
+ Could administer economic sanctions or organise international forces
+ Required to meet at least 3 times a year; met up to 5 times a year
+ Lacked an army — this was required since the members had various different aims
+ Major decisions had to be unanimous (often difficult to get)
Court of International Justice
+ Set up in 1921
+ Located in the Hague (city), Holland (province), Netherlands (country)
+ Consisted of 15 judges of different nationalities
+ Dealt with legal disputes between nations rather than political ones
+ Gave decisions on border disputes and passed laws
+ Upheld or amended past treaties
, + Had no means to enforce its decisions as they merely acted in an advisory role —only at
request of countries
○ Could only carry weight when member nations were involved
+ Could condemn member states to the press — full transparency: everything happening was
publicised worldwide
The Secretariat
+ Was the bureaucratic organ of the League
+ Performed administrative work (handling paperwork, translating documents and keeping records
through preparing agendas and reports)
+ Usually understaffed and work was slow
+ Was responsible for publicity
+ First chairman of this body of civil servants → Sir Eric Drummond of Britain
The League of Nations Commissions
+ Branches of the LON set up to deal with issues caused by WWI
+ Issues included:
○ Global health
○ Economic and Financial organisation
○ Child welfare
○ Women’s rights
○ Illegal sale of arms
○ International labour (working conditions)
■ Campaigned against the use of forced labour, such as in building the Tanganyika
railway in Africa,where the death rate among African workers was 50%. The
League’s pressure brought this figure down to 4%.
○ Drug abuse and traffic
■ After more than ten years of work, 26 League nations signed an international
convention to combat the drugs trade — a law that is still in force
■ Blacklisted four large German, Dutch, French and Swiss companies involved in the
illegal drug trade
○ Slavery
■ Brought about the freeing of 200 000 slaves in British-owned Sierra Leone
■ Organised raids against slave owners and traders in Burma
■ Secured a commitment from Abyssinia to end slavery as a condition of membership
in 1923
■ Secured a commitment from Ethiopia to end slavery as a condition of membership
in 1926
■ Worked with Liberia to abolish forced labor and intertribal slavery.
■ Kept records to control slavery, prostitution and the trafficking of women and
children
■ Afghanistan abolished slavery in 1923, Iraq in 1924, Nepal in 1926, Transjordan and
Persia in 1929, Bahrain in 1937, Abyssinia in 1942.
■ Reduced death rate of workers constructing the Tanganyika railway from 55 to 4
percent.
○ Transport
■ The League made recommendations on marking shipping lanes and produced an
international highway code for users.
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