THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 1919-1939

The idea to form the League of Nations was by Woodrow Wilson, the American President.
This was the 14^th point of his famous 14 points that were the basis of the discussions at the Versailles Peace Settlement of 1918.
The League of Nations was formed in 1920 with its headquarters IN Geneva, Switzerland.
The Covenant of the League was the written constitution to which all member countries had to adhere.

AIMS OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

The aims of the League of Nations (as enshrined in the Covenant) were as follows;
Preservation of world peace and security i.e. National disputes was to be settled peacefully. This was the most important aim of the League of Nations.
To guarantee political independence and territorial integrity to great and small nations
To ensure general disarmament to the lowest level for national security.
To establish an international force (army) under the supervision of the League, to help in implementing and enforcing the decisions of the League of Nations.
To respect treaties and publish them.
To encourage friendships among members countries.
To encourage international co-operation among member countries in solving social, political and economic problems.
To impose economic and political sanctions against any member country committing acts of aggression.
To set up a mandate system for the control of defeated countries’ former territories.

THE STRUCTURE/ORGANISATION OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The structure of the League of Nations comprised of 5 main organs plus a number of commissions.

ORGANS OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The League Assembly;
This was like a world parliament where each member country had a right to send 3-5 representatives.
When it came to voting, each member country had only one vote regardless of the status and size of a country.
The members met once every year in September. Decisions were made on a 2/3 majority.
The functions of the League Assembly were;
To make laws to govern the League i.e. it was a legislative body.
It approved the budget of the League of Nations
It debated on issues concerning member states
It also appointed the non-permanent members of the League Council.
It was responsible for the appointment of the Secretary-General on recommendation from the League Council.
The League Council;
This was the League Executive body which was made up of 9 members.
The 5 permanent members were Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the USA whose seats remained Vacant.
The League assembly also elected 4 non-permanent members on a 3year rotational term. Members met at least 3 to 4 times a year though they could be summoned any time if there was any emergency that threatened world peace.
Decisions in the Council were made unanimously.
The 5 permanent members had the right to Veto, meaning they could refuse any decision made by the Council.
The Functions were;
To carry out general Disarmament
It was also responsible for the maintenance of world peace and security.
It recommended the appointment of the Secretary-General and the admission of new members.
It was responsible for imposing sanctions (economic/military) on disobedient member countries.
The League Secretariat;
This was an international Civil service. It was made up of the Secretary-General and about 500 members from member countries. Its headquarters were based in Geneva, Swaziland.
The first secretary-general was an Englishman, Sir Eric Edmund.
This was the administrative wing of the League.
Its functions were;
It implemented the League’s decisions.
It carried out research and provided factual information on issues needed by the League Assembly and organs.
It also kept records for the League.
It translated documents in all the Major world languages.
It sent reminders for meetings to all member countries
It supervised the work of the Commissions of the League.
The Permanent International Court of Justice;
This acted as an international judiciary.
The headquarters of the Court was based in the Netherlands (Holland) at The Hague.
It was established in 1922. It consisted of 15 judges who were drawn from member countries and elected by the League Assembly on recommendation from the League Council.
The functions of the court were;
To settle disputes among member countries. However, it had limited powers since it could not enforce its decisions.
It also gave legal advice to other organs.
It interpreted international documents.
By 1939, the court had settled 70 major cases and had helped to arrange 400 international agreements.
The International Labour Organization;
This was made up of representatives from governments of member countries; employers. Employees and trade unions.
Its headquarters were based in Geneva Switzerland.
The function was;
To work for the improvement of workers’ conditions of services through an 8-hour working day and a working week of 48 hours.
Workers to have annual paid holidays.
Encourage workers to have trade Unions
Also published international agreements which member countries were to rectify.

COMMISSIONS OF THE LEAGUE

The League Commissions complemented the work of the 5 main organs in achieving the aims of the League of Nations.
These were;
The Permanent Mandate Commission;
This ensured the good governance of the mandate territories i.e. the former colonies of the defeated powers in the First World War.
These were controlled by countries such as Britain and France.
The World Health Organization;
This commission was there to ensure that people in member countries enjoyed good health.
It carried out research to find vaccines and cures for contagious diseases such as smallpox and measles.
The Food and Agriculture organization;
This commission ensured that there was food security in the world.
It carried out research on how to improve production and made the information available to member countries.
It also gave loans for the improvement of food production to member countries. In times of drought and famine, it provided food relief to the affected countries.
The Drug Commission;
This commission drew attention to the dangers of certain drugs and introduced measures of controlling drug trafficking.
The Minorities Commission;
This commission drew attention to the ill-treatment of minority groups in major countries and devised ways of protecting them.
The Disarmament Commission;
This commission dealt with the reduction of arms in all member countries to the lowest level
. However, this commission had the least success.
The Economic and Social Commission;
This dealt with social and economic problems in Member countries.
It carried out research on these problems in member countries and made recommendations on how to solve these problems.
Refugee Commission;
This commission dealt with the repatriation and resettlement of refugees from the 1^st World War since many people had lost their homes during the 1^st World War.

ATTITUDES OF SOME MEMBER COUNTRIES

Russia;
She was not invited to join the League of Nations because the Western powers feared the new communist regime in Russia.
According to them, Russia encouraged bloody revolutions and communism.
However, Russia only joined in 1934 and was expelled in 1939 when she invaded Finland.
The USA;
Although Woodrow Wilson was the founder of the League of Nations, the US senate refused to rectify the League Covenant and never became a member of the League.
France;
She saw the League of Nations as an agency of enforcing the terms of the Versailles Treaty.
She wanted the League to guard her security against the dangers of the emerging German power after Hitler came to power.
Britain;
She expected the League to solve world problems peacefully.
Britain was not willing to send its forces to act on behalf of the League. People’s memories in Britain were still fresh with memories of the slaughter of the 1^st World War.
Such that they were not willing to engage in another way.
Germany;
She had joined the League of Nations in 1926. Germany ruled by Hitler from 1933 withdrew from the League of Nations when the disarmament conference proved to be a failure in 1934
Hitler then embarked on Acts of Aggression in Europe and disregarded all the terms of the Versailles treaty and undermined the League of Nations.

SUCCESSES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The League was successful in settling disputes among member countries e.g. it settled a dispute between Turkey and Iraq over Monsul which was given to Iraq but Turkey was to benefit from the oil revenues.
The League also intervened in the murder of 5 Italians engaged in the settling of a frontier dispute between Albania and Greece in 1923. This led to the Italian seizure of the Greek Islands of Corfu.
However, the League secured the withdrawal of Italian troops and the payment of compensation by Greece.
The League also stopped the Yugoslavian invasion of Albania in 1921.
The League also organized economic aid for Austria and Hungary whose economies were on the verge of collapsing.
The League of Nations also scored successes on the rehabilitation of refugees e.g. about £10 million was given to Greece to assist in the settlement of refugees.
The League succeeded in combating post-war epidemics such as typhoid in Poland and Russia where there was an outbreak.
The League also made a strong effort in suppressing drug trafficking.
It was also partly successful in protecting the rights of minority groups in various countries.
It scored a lot of successes in Labour welfare through the work of the ILO.
There was also an increase in the membership from 42 in 1920 to 60 by 1936.
During its most successful period, 1920-1929, several Treaties and pacts were signed e.g. 1925 the Locarno Pact and the 1928 Kellogg Pact.
It also acted as a base from which the United Nations Organization was formed.

FAILURES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The major failure of the League of Nations was that it was unable to prevent the outbreak of the 2^nd World War in 1939.

This failure was due to the fact that the League of Nations could not stop the Aggressive acts of some of its major member e.g. Countries the Japanese invasion of Manchuria of 1931.

After comdemnation from the League of Nations, Japan withdrew from the League membership. Another example was the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1933 and many acts of aggression committed by Germany under Hitler.
When condemned, these countries withdrew from the League to committee more acts of aggression.

The League’s failures were also as a result of the absence of an international army or force to reinforce the League’s decisions.

As such, the League was perceived to have been a “toothless” organization as it had no mechanism to reinforce its decisions.
This weakness made the aggressive countries to take advantage of and carry out more acts of aggression.

The League of Nations also failed to carry out complete disarmament. It only emphasized on the disarmament of the defeated powers especially Germany, while the other powers kept their arms

. As such, when Hitler came to power, he started rapid re-armament and the other powers responded by starting to rearm.
This started the Arms race again

The absence of major world countries from the beginning also contributed to the failure of the League.

Though the League of Nations was founded by Wilson, the US president, the US senate refused membership. Other countries especially the defeated countries such as Germany and Russia were not members of the League.
As such, the League of Nations was seen as a “victors club”.
This weakened the foundation of the League of Nations.

The Principle of Nationalism was much stronger than that of internationalism.

Nations were not ready to put the interests of the League of Nations before their own National interests.
This meant that the League of Nations received minimal co-operation from member countries.

The League of Nations was also perceived to have been a European organization by countries of other continents.

This lack of international standing contributed to the failure of the League of Nations.

The rise of dictatorships in some European countries also contributed to the failure of the League of Nations.

The dictators in Italy, Germany and Spain started carrying out aggressive acts that the League could not control.

The Smaller members lost confidence in the League’s ability to protect them against aggressors as they felt vulnerable and withdrew their support from the League.
The League also failed to be financially independent from its major member countries. This influenced the decision making of the League of Nations.

QUESTIONS.

What were the successes of the League of Nations during the inter-war period in working for World Peace? Why did the League fail to preserve world peace by 1939? {8, 12}.
Show how the events between 1920 and 1939 showed that the League of Nations was a toothless organization. What other factors led to the eventual collapse of the League of Nations. {6, 14}.
Discuss the aims and structure of the League of Nations. {20}
Discuss the League of Nations under the following headings;

Aims
Composition and Functions of three of its organs.
The Work of Three of its commissions

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