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The League of Nations (French: Société des Nations, German: Völkerbund) was an international organization founded after the First World War with its constitution being approved by the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The League's goals included disarmament, preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation and diplomacy, and improving global welfare. Despite these bold aims, the League proved incapable of preventing aggression by the fascist powers in late 1930s. The United Nations effectively replaced it after World War II and inherited a number of agencies and organizations founded by the League.
Origins
Origin of the League of Nations The concept of a league of nations was already described in Immanuel Kants writing Perpetual Peace, where he phrased the concept of a constantly peaceful community of nations. The concrete idea of the League of Nations appears to have originated with British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, but it was enthusiastically adopted by the Democratic U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and his advisor Colonel Edward M. House as a means of avoiding future bloodshed as had been seen during World War I. The creation of the League was a centrepiece of Wilson's Fourteen Points for Peace, specifically the final point: "A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike." Wilson was a strong advocate of including the League in the Treaty of Versailles. As a result, the League was established on January 25, 1919 by Part I of the treaty. The Covenant of the League of Nations was worked out by a special commission, set up at the Paris Peace Conference. Initially, the Charter was signed by 44 states, including 31 states which had taken part in the war on the side of the Triple Entente or joined it later during the conflict. Despite Wilson's efforts, the United States neither ratified the Charter nor joined the League due to opposition by isolationists in the U.S. Senate, especially from influential Republican leader Henry Cabot Lodge.
The League held its first meeting in London on January 10, 1920 and on the same day ratified the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I. The headquarters of the League soon moved to Geneva and the first general assembly of the League was held there on November 15, 1920.
Symbols
A semi-official emblem of League of Nations used from 1939 to 1941 The League of Nations did not have an official flag or logo. Proposals for adopting an official symbol were made during the League's beginning in 1920, but the member states never reached agreement. However, League of Nations organisations used varying logos and flags (or none at all) in their own operations. An international contest was held in 1929 to find a design, which again failed to produce a symbol. One of the reasons for this failure may have been the fear that a supranational organisation might become more powerful than the member states.
Finally, in 1939, a semi-official emblem emerged: two five-pointed stars within a blue pentagon. The pentagon and the five-pointed stars were supposed to symbolize the five continents and the five races of mankind. In a bow on top and at the bottom the flag had the names in English (League of Nations) and French (Société de Nations). This flag was used on the building of the New York World's Fair in 1939 and 1940.
Structure
The League had a secretariat (headed by the General Secretary and based in Geneva), a Council and an Assembly, and many Agencies and Commissions.
Secretariat
The staff of the League's secretariat was responsible for preparing the agenda for the Council and Assembly and publishing reports of the meetings and other routine matters, effectively acting as the civil service for the League.
Over the life of the League from 1920–1946, the three General Secretaries were:
Council
The League Council began with four permanent members (United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan) and four non-permanent members. Subsequently, the composition and the number of members of the Council were frequently changed with Germany being added as a permanent member and the number of non-permanent members being increased to nine for a total of fifteen members. The Council had the authority to deal with any matter affecting world peace. The United States was originally to be the fifth permanent member; however, it never joined the League, as a result of the Republican Party's election gains in 1920).
Assembly
The first meeting of the Assembly in 1920. Each member was represented and had one vote in the League Assembly. Authorization for any action required unanimous votes by both the Council and a majority vote in the Assembly. Individual member states were not always represented in Geneva. The Assembly held its sessions once a year in September.
Eamon de Valera was the President of Council of the League of Nations at its 68th and Special Sessions, September and October 1932 and President of the Assembly of the League of Nations, 1938. C.J. Hambro was President in 1939 and 1946.
Other bodies
The League oversaw the Permanent Court of International Justice and several other agencies and commissions to deal with pressing international problems. These were the Disarmament Commission, the Health Organization, the International Labour Organisation, the Mandates Commission, the Permanent Central Opium Board, the Commission for Refugees, and the Slavery Commission. While the League itself is generally branded a failure, several of its Agencies and Commissions did a lot of good work in many different areas.
- Disarmament Commission
- Succeeded, initially, in obtaining agreement by France, Britain, Japan and Italy to limit the size of their navies. However, Britain refused to sign a 1923 disarmament treaty and the Kellogg-Briand Pact, facilitated by the commission in 1928 failed in its objective of outlawing war. Ultimately, the Commission failed to halt the military buildup during the 1930s by Italy, Germany and Japan.
- Health Organization
- Focussed on ending leprosy and malaria, the latter by starting an international campaign to exterminate mosquitoes. The Health Organization also succeeded in preventiong an epidemic of typhus from spreading thorughout Europe due to its early intervention in the Soviet Union.
- Mandates Commission
- Supervised League of Nations Mandates, and also organized plebiscites in disputed territories so that residents could decide which country they wished to join, most notably the plebiscite in Saarland in 1935.
- International Labour Organisation
- Led by Albert Thomas succeeded in protecting workers by banning lead from being added to paint. It also worked to reduce child labour, increase the rights of women in the workplace, increase the liability of shipowners in accidents involving seamen and convinced several countries to adopt an eight hour work day and forty-eight hour working week.
- Permanent Central Opium Board
- Mediated the production, manufacture, trade and retail of opium and its by-products.
- Commission for Refugees
- Led by Fridtjof Nansen, oversaw the repatriation and when necessary the resettlement of 400,000 refugees and ex-prisoners of war from the First World War, most of whom had found themselves stranded in Russia at the end of the war. In 1922 it established camps in Turkey to deal with a refugee crisis in that country and help prevent disease and hunger from striking. It also established the Nansen passport as a means of identification for stateless peoples.
- Slavery Commission
- Attempted to eradicate slavery from the world as well as deal with forced prostitution and drug trafficking, particularly in opium. It succeeded in gaining the emancipation of 200,000 slaves in Sierra Leone and organized raids against slave traders in its efforts to stop the practice of forced labour in Africa. It also succeeded in reducing the death rate of workers in Tanganyika from 55% to 4%. In other parts of the world the commission kept records on slavery, prostitution and drug trafficking in an attempt to monitor those issues.
Several of these institutions were transferred to the United Nations after the war. In addition to the International Labour Organization, the Permanent Court of International Justice became a UN institution as the International Court of Justice and the Health Organization was restructured as the World Health Organization.
Mandates
League of Nations Mandates were established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. These territories were former colonies of the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire which were placed under the supervision of the League following World War I. A Mandate could be classified as:
- An "A" Mandate
- This was a territory which "had reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognised, subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a "Mandatory" until such time as they are able to stand alone." These were mainly parts of the Old Ottoman Empire.
- A "B" Mandate
- This was a territory which "was at such as stage that the that the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee:
- Freedom of conscience and religion
- The maintenance of public order and morals
- Prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms traffic and the liquor traffic
- The prevention of the establishment of fortifications or military and naval bases and of military training of the natives for other than political purposes and the defence of territory
- Equal opportunities for the trade and commerce of other Members of the League."
- A "C" Mandate
- This was a territory "which, owing to the sparseness of their population, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centres of civilisation, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the Mandatory, and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the Mandatory."
(Quotations taken from The Essential Facts About the League of Nations, a handbook published in Geneva in 1939).
The territories were governed by "Mandatory Powers" such as the UK in the case of the Mandate of Palestine and the Union of South Africa in the case of South West Africa until such time that the territories were capable of becoming self-governing. There were fourteen mandate territories divided up among the six Mandatory Powers of the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. In practice, the Mandatory Territories were treated as colonies and were regarded by critics as spoils of war. With the exception of Iraq, it was not until World War II that the territories began to gain their independence, a process that did not end until 1990. Following the demise of the League most of the remaining mandates became United Nations Trust Territories.
Successes
Although the League itself is generally seen to have failed in its mission to achieve disarmament, prevent war and settle disputes through diplomacy, and improving global welfare, it achieved significant successes in a number of areas.
Åland Islands
Åland is a collection of around 6,500 islands mid-way between Sweden and Finland. The islands are exclusively Swedish-speaking. Finland had sovereignty at the time. During the period from 1917 onwards, most residents wished the islands to become part of Sweden. Finland, however, did not wish to cede the islands. The Swedish government raised the issue with the League. After close consideration, the League determined that the islands should remain a part of Finland, but be governed autonomously. A potential war was averted, and Swedish culture and traditions were preserved. For more, see History of Åland.
Albania
After the Paris Peace Conference, there was some dispute over Albania's border with Yugoslavia. Yugoslavian forces occupied some of the country. After clashes with Albanian tribesmen, those forces invaded further. The League sent a commission of representatives from various powers to the region. The commission found in favour of Albania, and the Yugoslavian forces withdrew, albeit under protest. War was again prevented.
Upper Silesia
The Treaty of Versailles had ordered a plebiscite in Upper Silesia to determine whether the territory should be part of Germany or Poland. In the background, strongarm tactics and discrimination of Poles led to rioting and eventually to the first two Silesian Uprisings (1919 and 1920). In the plebiscite, around 59,6% (~500,000) votes were cast for joining Germany and this result led to the Third Silesian Uprising in 1921. The League was asked to settle the matter. In 1922 a six-week investigation found that the land should be split. The decision was accepted by both countries, and the majority of Upper Silesians.
Greece and Bulgaria
Greece and Bulgaria share a border. After an incident between sentries on that border, Greek troops invaded their neighbour. Bulgaria ordered its troops to provide only token resistance, trusting the League to settle the dispute. The League did indeed condemn the Greek invasion, and called for both Greek withdrawal and compensation to Bulgaria. Greece complied, but complained about the disparity between their treatment and that of Italy (see Corfu, below).
Memel
The port city of Memel and the surrounding area was placed under League control after the end of the First World War. It was governed by a French general. However, the population was mostly Lithuanian, and the Lithuanian government placed a claim to the territory. Lithuanian forces then invaded. The League chose to cede the land around Memel to Lithuania, but declared the port remain an international zone. Lithuania agreed. While the decision could be seen as a failure (in that the League reacted positively to the use of force), the settlement of the issue without significant bloodshed was a point in the League's favour.
Saar
Saar was a province formed from parts of Prussia and the Rhenish Palatinate that was established and placed under League control after the Treaty of Versailles. A plebiscite was to be held after fifteen years of League rule, to determine whether the region should belong to Germany or France. 90.3% of votes cast were in favour of becoming part of Germany in that 1935 referendum, and "Westmark", as the Nazis termed it, became part of Germany again.
Other successes
The League worked to combat the international trade in opium and sexual slavery and helped alleviate the plight of refugees. One of its innovations in this area was its 1922 introduction of the Nansen passport, an internationally recognized identity card for stateless refugees. Many of the League's successes were accomplished by its various agencies and commissions.
General weaknesses
The League did not, in the long term, succeed. The outbreak of the Second World War was the immediate cause of the League's demise, but there was also a variety of other, more fundamental, flaws.
The League, unlike the modern United Nations, lacked an armed force of its own and depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, which they were very reluctant to do. Economic sanctions, which were the most severe measure the League could implement short of military action, were difficult to enforce and had no great impact on the target country, because they could simply trade with those outside the League. The problem is exemplified in the following passage, taken from The Essential Facts About the League of Nations, a handbook published in Geneva in 1939:
- "As regards the military sanctions provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 16, there is no legal obligation to apply them...there may be a political and moral duty incumbent on states...but, once again, there is no obligation on them."
The League's two most important members, the United Kingdom and France, were reluctant to use sanctions and even more reluctant to resort to military action on behalf of the League. So soon after The War to End All Wars, the populations and governments of the two countries were very pacifistic. The British Conservatives were especially tepid on the League and preferred, when in government, to negotiate treaties without the involvement of the organization. Ultimately, the UK and France both abandoned the concept of collective security in favour of appeasement in the face of growing German militarism under Adolf Hitler.
Representatation at the League was often a problem. Though it was intended to encompass all nations, many never joined, or their time as part of the League was short. Perhaps the key point was that the United States never joined. Even though President Woodrow Wilson had been a driving force behind the League of Nations, the United States Senate voted on January 19, 1919 not to join the League. Wilson's stroke and protracted convalescence prevented him from pursuing the issue. This, to a great degree, took much of the League's potential clout away. Another major power, the Soviet Union, was only a member from 1934 to 1939. Even then, this was just because it, a Bolshevik state, looked to antagonise Germany – a fascist power that had left the year before – whenever possible. The USSR was expelled on December 14, 1939 for aggression, after it invaded Finland. Japan (who saw it as Euro-centric) and Italy began as permanent members of the Council, but withdrew from the League in 1932 (see Manchuria Crisis) and 1937, respectively. Germany, too, had a very limited period of membership. After the League had accepted Germany into the League, deeming them a "peace-loving country", in 1926, Adolf Hitler pulled them out as soon as he came to power in 1933.
The League, in attempting to act as a neutral party for all, driving diplomacy, made itself hugely indecisive. It required a unanimous vote of its nine (later fifteen) member Council to enact a resolution, so conclusive and effective action was difficult, if not impossible. The decisions that it made were slow in coming. Some decisions required unanimous consent of the Assembly – every member of the League – as well.
Perhaps the most important weakness the League had, however, was that it tried to represent all nations, but most members protected their own national interests and were not committed to the League or its goals. The huge reluctance all League members had to using the option of military action showed this to the full. If the League had shown its strength early, countries, governments and dictators would have been far more wary of crossing it. These failings were, in part, responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War.
Specific failures
There were also some specific failings the League had in ensuring its aims were upheld.
Poland and Lithuania
After the First World War, Poland and Lithuania both regained their independence, lost during partitions of Poland in 1795. Though both countries shared centuries of common history in the Polish-Lithuanian Union and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, rising nationalism prevented the recreation of this former federated state. The city of Vilna was made the capital of Lithuania, despite being mainly Polish in ethnicity. During the Polish-Soviet War, in 1920, a Polish army took control of the city. Despite the Poles' claim to the city, the League chose to ask Poland to withdraw. The Poles did not. Theoretically, British and French troops could have been asked to enforce the League's decision. However, France did not wish to antagonise Poland, seen as a possible ally in a future war against Germany; both Britain and France also wished to have Poland as a 'Buffer-Zone' between Europe and any possible future threat from Communist Russia, and Britain was not prepared to act alone. Thus the Poles were able to keep Vilna, and did until 1939.
Ruhr
Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to pay reparations. They could pay in money or in goods at a set value. However, in 1922, Germany was not able to make its payment. The next year, France and Belgium chose to act upon this, and invaded the industrial heartland of Germany, the Ruhr, despite this being in direct contravention of the League's rules. With France being a major League member, and the United Kingdom hesitant to oppose its close ally, nothing was done in the League, despite the clear breach of League rules. This set a significant precedent – the League rarely acted against major powers, and occasionally broke its own rules.
Corfu
One major boundary settlement that remained to be made after the First World War was that between Greece and Albania. The Conference of Ambassadors, a de facto body of the League, was asked to settle the issue. The Council appointed an Italian general, Enrico Tellini, to oversee this. While examining the Greek side of the border, Tellini and his staff were murdered. Benito Mussolini, the Italian leader, was incensed, and demanded the Greeks pay reparations and execute the murderers. The Greeks, however, did not actually know who the murderers were. On August 31, 1923, Italian forces occupied the island of Corfu, part of Greece, with fifteen people being killed. Initially, the League condemned Mussolini's invasion, but also recommended Greece pay compensation, to be held by the League until Tellini's killers were found. Mussolini, though he initially agreed to the League's terms, set about trying to change them. By working on the Conference of Ambassadors, he managed to make the League change its decision. Greece was forced to apologise and compensation was to be paid directly and immediately. Mussolini was able to leave Corfu in triumph. By bowing to the pressure of a large country, the League again set a dangerous and damaging precedent.
Manchuria Crisis
The Manchuria Crisis was one of the League's major setbacks and acted as the catalyst for Japan's withdrawal from the organisation. In 1931, the Japanese held control of the South Manchurian Railway, in the Chinese region of Manchuria. They claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged the railway, which was a major trade route between the two countries in September of that year. In retaliation, the Japanese army, acting contrary to the civilian government's orders, occupied the entire province of Manchuria, which they named Manchukuo. In 1932, Japanese air and sea forces bombarded the Chinese city of Shanghai. The Chinese government asked the League for help. The long voyage around the world for League officials to investigate the matter themselves delayed matters. When there, the officials were confronted by the Chinese assertions that the Japanese had invaded unlawfully, while the Japanese claimed they were acting to keep peace in the area. Despite Japan's high standing in the League, the Lytton Report declared Japan to be in the wrong and demanded Manchuria be returned to the Chinese. However, before the report was voted upon by the Assembly, Japan announced intentions to invade more of China. When the report passed 42-1 in the Assembly (only Japan voted against), Japan left the League. Economic sanctions were powerless, as the USA was Japan's major trading partner and was not part of the League, and Britain seemed keen to keep good relations with Japan. Once again, the League bowed to the more powerful, and showed its weakness.
Other failures
The League also failed to prevent the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay in 1932. It could not itself intervene in the Spanish Civil War nor prevent foreign intervention in the conflict. Most remembered in history, it was ineffective against Italy's invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 implementing only partial economic sanctions which did not include coal, oil or steel (even the limited sanctions were abandoned the next year). The League was powerless and mostly silent in the face of major events leading to World War II such as Hitler's re-militarisation of the Rhineland, occupation of the Sudetenland or invasion of Austria. In the case of the Soviet Union's 1939 invasion of Finland the League expelled the Soviet Union as a member but was unable to take futher action. As with Japan, Germany in 1933 (using the failure of the World Disarmament Conference to agree to arms parity between France and Germany as a pretext) and Italy in 1937 simply withdrew from the League rather than submit to its judgement.
Demise
With the onset of the Second World War, it was clear that the League had failed in its purpose – to avoid any future world war. During the war, neither the League's Assembly nor Council was able or willing to meet and its secretariat in Geneva was reduced to a skeleton staff, with many offices moving to North America.
After its failure to prevent one war, it was decided to create a new body to fulfill the League's role, but to take it further. This body was to be the United Nations. Many League bodies, for instance the International Labour Organization, continued to function and eventually became affiliated with the United Nations. At a meeting of the Assembly in 1946, the League dissolved itself and its services, mandates, and property were transferred to the United Nations.
See also
References
- Walsh, Ben (1997). Modern World History. John Murray (Publishers) Ltd.. ISBN 0-7195-7231-2.
- The Essential Facts About the League of Nations, published in Geneva, with ten editions between 1933 and 1940
- George Gill (1996) The League of Nations from 1929 to 1946: From 1929 to 1946 (Partners for Peace Series). Avery Publishing Group. ISBN 0-895-29637-3
External links
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