The League of Nations: Key Events, Effectiveness, and Challenges
League of Nations: Early Incidents (1920-1925)
Vilna Dispute (1920): A League Failure
In 1920, Vilna, with its largely Polish population, was made the capital of the newly created state of Lithuania. The Poles found this unfair, and their army seized the city. Lithuania then appealed to the League of Nations. The League asked the Polish troops to withdraw, but Poland refused. The matter was then passed to the Conference of Ambassadors (a group of senior diplomats who oversaw matters arising from the peace settlements), which awarded Vilna to Poland.
Aaland Islands Dispute (1921): A League Success
The Aaland Islands, located in the Baltic Sea, were claimed by both Sweden and Finland. The League of Nations successfully mediated the dispute, awarding sovereignty to Finland but ensuring the islands’ demilitarization and cultural autonomy for the Swedish-speaking population.
Upper Silesia Partition (1921): A League Success
Upper Silesia contained a valuable industrial area on the border between Germany and Poland. It was originally given to Poland by the Treaty of Versailles, but the Germans protested. They agreed to hold a vote, but the results were unclear. The League suggested a partition: the eastern part went to Poland, and the western part went to Germany. Everyone agreed.
Ruhr Occupation (1923): A League Failure
The Ruhr was a valuable industrial region located in Germany. When the Germans failed to pay reparations, French and Belgian troops invaded it. In this case, the League did not intervene, which further made the League seem like a group for the war’s victors.
Corfu Incident (1923): A League Failure
In 1923, Italy ordered the bombardment and occupation of the Greek island of Corfu due to the death of an Italian general patrolling the Greek-Albanian border. Greece appealed to the League, which condemned the action. The Italians demanded the case be taken to the Conference of Ambassadors, which ordered the Greeks to pay compensation and the Italians to withdraw.
Mosul Dispute (1924): A League Success
In 1924, Turkey claimed a province from Mosul. The League investigated the problem and awarded Mosul to Iraq, and Turkey accepted the decision.
Bulgarian Border Incident (1925): A League Success
Greece was ordered by the League to pay £45,000 in compensation to Bulgaria after invading Bulgarian territory. The Greeks found it unfair but accepted the decision.
Humanitarian and Social Work of the League
Refugee Organization
The problem was that there were stranded prisoners of war and millions of homeless people due to the Turkish War of Independence. Fridtjof Nansen was responsible for solving this problem. He worked with the Red Cross and helped displaced people return home or find new homes. He improvised extensively, creating camps and arranging transport. It ended up being a great success.
Health Organization
The problem was that there were some very serious epidemics in the world (typhus, leprosy, and mosquito-borne diseases). So, they put Ludwig Rajchman in charge of solving it. He managed to do so by establishing relationships with non-member states, establishing research institutions, and developing vaccines. It was a success.
Economic and Financial Organization
After WWI, a series of countries faced serious economic problems, especially Austria, which was in danger of financial collapse. The League decided to control interest rates and the circulation of money and gave the struggling countries substantial loans. It was a success.
International Labour Organization (ILO)
During the 1920s, working conditions were poor, characterized by child labor, exploitation of women, long working hours, and a lack of sanitation or safety. To solve this, they put Albert Thomas in charge, and he set out a series of recommendations for jobs all around the world. His recommendations included: 8 hours of working a day, 48 hours each week, annual holidays, and the right to form trade unions. He also collected a wide range of data for countries to see unemployment rates and consequently put his recommendations into practice. Its overall success is not entirely clear.
Slavery Commission
They had a very important problem to solve: women and children being forced into labor (often referred to as “white slavery”). They tried to end slavery through investigations and reports; however, there were only a few successes in specific countries.
Disarmament Commission
They wanted all nations to disarm to the lowest point possible consistent with national safety. They organized a conference in Washington where they limited the naval forces for the US, Britain, Japan, and France. It was a total failure.
Methods for Maintaining Peace
The League of Nations attempted to maintain peace through several mechanisms:
Moral Disapproval
Following an act of aggression, the Council would meet and vote to condemn the action, hoping that the aggressive country might cease its aggressive behavior after seeing that the whole world was against them.
Economic Sanctions
If moral disapproval did not work, they would impose economic sanctions, such as boycotting trade or refusing credit.
Military Sanctions
If economic sanctions also failed, as a last resort, the Council could impose military sanctions. This could involve sending an army against the aggressor.
Challenges and Limitations
However, these methods often did not work because all decisions in the Council had to be unanimous, and one negative vote was enough for a motion to fail. Additionally, the League did not have an army of its own, which meant they could not impose military sanctions unless a member country offered its army, which was unlikely.
The Wall Street Crash and its Impact
The Wall Street Crash was a dramatic drop in the US stock market, which led to a drop in production and dramatic unemployment. There was also a significant impact on the countries of the League of Nations:
- Countries were unwilling to use economic sanctions.
- Extremist parties started to gain power.
- It encouraged militarism among countries.
- Economies needed to be balanced, as there was no budget for defense.
- There was pressure to find new markets and materials.
All these problems would create:
Extreme Nationalism
Countries began looking for their own benefits, leading to hatred and impatience towards their neighbors.
Imperialism and Militarism
Countries unhappy with the Versailles settlement were now ready to expand. They believed that glory outside the nation would bring happiness to people at home because the economic crisis could be resolved by expansion.
Lack of International Control
The League of Nations had no control because they could not apply economic sanctions, and there was no aggressor whom they could condemn effectively.
Major Crises Challenging the League
The Manchurian Crisis (1931)
Manchuria was a sparsely populated province, rich in minerals, agricultural lands, and forestry. Since 1905, Japan had controlled Korea and held trading rights in Manchuria. Japanese guards were allowed to patrol the railway area. Japan was badly affected by the crisis of 1929. Manchuria could provide the Japanese with food and raw materials, as well as land for their population surplus. So, Japan decided to attack China and invade Manchuria. The Japanese used the Mukden Railway Incident (an explosion of dynamite close to a railway owned by Japan) as an excuse to invade China. China appealed to the League, which sent a commission to investigate the aggression (the Lytton Commission). This commission reported that the invasion was not justified and that Japan had to leave; however, Japan ignored the League and did not receive any sanctions.
Reasons for League’s Ineffectiveness in Manchuria
- They reacted too late.
- They had no army.
- They did not have strong powers like the US or the USSR as members.
- Economic sanctions were useless.
- The British and French had colonies in the Far East and feared an attack from Japan.
The Abyssinian Crisis (1935)
In 1935, Italy invaded another League member, Abyssinia. Italy decided to invade this state because it was located between Italy’s other territories in East Africa, and Italy’s leader, Mussolini, was looking for ways to boost his popularity following the economic problems in the country. The modern military equipment of the Italians destroyed primitive villages and defensive lines.
League of Nations’ Reaction
Because the aggression was an unprovoked action from one member against another, the League decided to impose economic sanctions. However, they excluded some essential war materials (oil, coal) from the sanctions, and the Suez Canal was kept open, which meant that Italian supplies reached the army without problems. In December 1935, the Hoare-Laval Pact was signed, where Italy would receive two-thirds of Abyssinia, but it failed. After this, Italy left the League in 1937.
Reasons for League’s Insufficient Action
Britain and France wanted to maintain peace and, at the same time, wanted to prevent Italy from allying with Germany.