Prepared by: Darwin Andrés Ballén Barrera

Issue: League of Nations

Review date: 09/08/2021

Objective: Analyze the main reasons for the creation and flaws of the League of Nations.

Executive Summary:
The League of Nations was an international organization that originated thanks to the Treaty
of Versailles, on June 28, 1919. Through this organization the strengthening of peace and a
reorganization were sought due to the consequences of the First World War. This
organization managed to resolve some conflicts in the postwar period. Even so, in 1929 the
International System was affected by the depression of this year, causing that this
organization could not achieve the expected results. Finally, it is important to recognize the
role of the League of Nations, as it was preceded by the creation of the UN in 1945.

Prospective Analysis:
The League of Nations was founded after World War I in 1919, with 42 members and
culminated with 57 adhering countries. One of the main reasons why the league was created
is that due to the conflict that France, the United States and the United Kingdom had, the
international system considered that an organization could be the main actor for the
resolution of peace and prevent them from being repeating wars like the one that occurred
between 1914 and 1918, which resulted in millions of deaths, displaced population, poverty
and instability; This, thanks to the fact that communications achieved a greater evolution
between States and international organizations, in addition to the fact that cooperation and
economic progress acquired greater importance in the international system.

In addition to the above, the important role of Woodrow Wilson's 14 points must be
recognized, since especially in one of them it gave the basis to give rise to the League of
Nations, which mentions overcoming the effects of the War and achieving lasting peace. The
League of Nations had as one of its main objectives, to provide a space where each of the
members could resolve their disputes through dialogue, instead of provoking possible new
wars between them; if necessary, subsequent economic and military sanctions could be
imposed, where members pledged to take care of other members in the event of a possible
assault. Another objective of this organization was to promote international cooperation on
economic and social issues.
Regarding the structure, the organization is constituted in 3 parts: The assembly, composed
mainly of the members of the League of Nations that met in September of each year in
Geneva, Switzerland. Where each one had the right to a vote in the elections that could be
given; The Council, in the first place, was made up of five permanents and four non-
permanent members that were renewed every three years, and by 1934 there was a total of six
permanents and 11 non-permanent members. Finally, there is the Secretariat that was in
charge of preparing the sessions of the Assembly and the Council, as well as the preparation
of reports and documents.
Regarding the failure of the organization, failures can be identified from the beginning of its
creation, such as the rejection by the United States Senate when approving the Treaty, thus
causing this country to never adhere to the League of Nations. . On the other hand, it was the
total exclusion of Germany and Turkey for their role as defeated countries of the First World
War, in addition to recognizing the responsibility that Germany had in the outbreak of the
War. On the other hand, the Soviet Union is also part of the excluded countries, because of its
communist ideology and because of the little recognition that the United States gave mainly
to the Moscow government.
Finally, after the lack of effectiveness of the League of Nations in the resolution of conflicts
and in the maintenance of world peace, the first reasons why this organization ended were
identified. Thus, two important members (France and Great Britain) preferred to continue on
their own with a policy of "appeasement" against the Fascist powers. This is how, finally, the
greatest failure of the League of Nations is recognized, after the outbreak of World War II,
when its main objective was to lose a new War. With this, the League of Nations lost total
credibility on the part of the members and the International System, which generated its end
and gave way to the UN in 1945.

Actions required - Recommendations:

The League of Nations had as its main objective the permanence of diplomacy and
cooperation for the maintenance of a better international stability, even so the organization
could not prevent the outbreak of new conflicts that would completely affect humanity. This
is how world leaders identified the deficiencies of this organization, which made it possible
to reinforce the objectives of the new and recognized United Nations Organization since
1945.