Kinnaird College for Women

Title: League of Nations

Submitted by: Zainab Haseeb

Submitted to: Ma’am Arifa Kiyani

Department of International Relations

BA - Semester 1

Session: 2019-2023

Date of Submission: 29/10/2019

 TABLE OFCONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

FORMATION:

OBEJCTIVES:

ORGANS:

SUCCESSES:

WEAKNESSES:

FAILURES:

DISSOLUTION:

CONCLUSION
 LEAGUE OF NATIONS

INTRODUCTION:

The League of Nations was an international organization that was created for maintaining peace
and avoiding war. It was created as a platform where all states could participate, share their
issues and concerns with the rest of the world and find a solution for them. Before this
organization there were others that were created for the purpose of strengthening ties between
countries and keeping in check the balance of power. The organizations include concert of
Europe 1815-1914, Hague Convention 1899-1907 and Universal Postal Union 1907. Now if we
observe the framework of these organizations, we will get to know that they were established on
the basis of secular international laws. So, the concept of international bodies and law was
already available. But all of these were created for fulfillment of some specific goals and
purposes such as maintenance of power or war laws. But these organization weren’t capable of
stopping a war, or holding negotiations and solving disputes concerning the interests of certain
territories of different countries. There was a need of an organization whose decisions were
accepted by every state and was impartial in making them.

After WW1 the havoc and destruction were at peak. The economies were drained, the death toll
and casualties were huge, there was loss of territories and the balance of power changed.
Liberalist leaders of different countries were terrified of the outcomes and effects and wanted to
condemn this as an instrument of national policy. The war brought multiple problems with it that
were in need of a solution. By solving these problems, the grievances of the countries were going
to be addressed and the hostility between the defeated and defeaters was to be reduced. And the
concept of war was to be condemned.

In 1918, US President Woodrow Wilson came up with his 14 points. These points were focused
on aims such as the elimination of secret diplomacy, removal of economic barriers, restoration of
territories, arms reduction and a general association of nations to promote peace. Now this idea
of general association was given by Woodrow Wilson in order to promote the idea of
international organization. And it was materialized by the creation of the League of Nations. This
league was based upon a set a rules and principles that were to constitute a body that would act
as a neutral body working for the achievement of peace and prosperity. This organization was
regarded as a Child of War and its draft was presented on 21st April 1919 known as Hurst Miller
Draft. Another important document that proposed its formation was the Treaty of Versailles
(1919). The last term of the document stated that an international organization by the name of
League of Nations shall be formed.

FORMATION:

The committee for the constituting Hurst Miller Draft was appointed at the Paris Peace
Conference 1919. It consisted of members from different countries such as USA, England,
Brazil, France, Italy, Japan and Belgium. The draft was co-written by Cecil Hurst (British
Lawyer) and Wilson’s advisor David Hunter Miller. However, it wasn’t approved right away.
The committee met several times. The member countries raised objections on the clauses that
weren’t according to their preference. The revised version of it was approved on 11th April 1919
and signed on 28 June 1919. The organization came into being on 20th January 1920. The
league consisted of 4 major organs and a set of committees and commissions.

OBEJCTIVES:

The League has the following objectives:

 The first clause was of collective security. Which meant that if one country gets attacked
then the rest would come to rescue the attacked against the attacker or aggressor. This
was the aggressor would refrain from attacking and peace shall be maintained.
 The second clause was of International cooperation. This meant that member countries
would facilitate each other for solving economic and social problems. And would
promote peace and prosperity for everyone’s interest.
 The third important objective was of disarmament. That the member countries shall
observe this rule in order to stop war from escalating. And that they should focus on
peaceful resolution.

Both of these clauses were devised for avoiding another war. The clause of international
cooperation was to promote the concept of positive approaches and perceptions. And to purse
aims and national interest through bilateral means rather than invasion or exploitation. This was
one way of avoiding war. The second way of it was by creating secure atmosphere. The league
was created with 42 members. Now these 42 members were to act together as a unit. And if a
country was to attack one of these 42 members, the rest of the 41 would come to its rescue and
support it by either sending forces or by putting pressure on it. The clause of disarmament was
quite important. The arms race had to be halted. If we analyze the cause behind the arms race, we
will get to know that there are two reasons behind it: one is that the state wants to protect itself
from another state so it begins to manufacture or gather. That is called the policy of deterrence.
For example, Pakistan is a smaller state than India. So, it acquires arms for deterrence rather than
attack. Second, it wants to compete with the other state and wants to utilize it for its power
maximization. For example, Germany increased arms production because it had expansionist
plans and was focused on the creation of the third Reich comprising of areas in which the
German language was spoken. So, if we observe these examples, we find out that both reasons
are focused on one thing. War. And that is what the League focused on. To eliminate this
perception that war should be used as a solution to problems. The problems should be solved
through peace, negotiations and cooperation.

ORGANS:

The League of Nations comprised of the following organs:

General Assembly:

The first and the foremost body was the general assembly. It comprised of all the representatives
of member states. Each member state has one vote. The decisions were to be made unanimously.
The functions included the policy making, revision of treaties and handling the budget. The
membership was given to all independent states irrespective of their size. And all these states
whether small or large were represented.

The Permanent Court of International Justice:

The permanent court of international justice was a judicial body based in Hague, Holland. It
comprised of 15 Judges. All of which had different nationalities. The purpose of this body was to
solve legal disputes rather than political ones. It began to function 2 years after the creation of
the league and was successful in solving 66 cases by 1939. It was the first international judicial
body that had general jurisdiction and could hear all sorts of cases. It also provided clarification
for international law and was a body that would provide assistance through interpreting the
international law.
The Council:

The council was smaller in comparison with general assembly. It had 4 permanent members
namely Britain, France, Italy and Japan. And nine non-permanent members. The non-permanent
members were to be elected by the assembly for a period of three years. The meeting was held
thrice a year. The council dealt with the international disputes including political issues and all
the decisions were unanimous.

The Secretariat:

The administrative body of League of Nations was known as the secretariat. It managed all the
paperwork, the agendas that were to be discussed in the council and general assembly and the
resolutions and reports that were to be carried out by the league. This body was regarded as an
international civil service comprising of members from thirty different countries. The secretariat
was well organized and had high quality administration skills.

Commissions and Committees:

Apart from the four organs the League of Nations comprised of several committees and
commissions that were to focus and social and economic problems of different countries. It
focused on the health-related issues and rights of laborers, diseases, poverty and child welfare. It
also dealt with the after effects of wars and dealt with restoration of area, rehabilitation of
refugees, monitoring mandates etc. Also, the women rights and drug related issues were kept in
focus by the commissions.

SUCCESSES:

These commissions were quite successful in achieving their objectives and their efforts were
recognized by the rest of the world. The main focus was the welfare of humans despite their race,
color or nationality. And it achieved results as well that shall be discussed below.

International Labor Organization:

The international Labor Organization worked under a French Socialist director, who along with
his team worked for achieving the following objectives for protecting the rights of workers. The
objectives include:

An important point was to discuss and fix a day limit and hours limit. There were some
companies that didn’t have a fixed hour limit and would make the laborers work for increased
number of hours without providing them with extra credit. They would not give them a day off
and would make them work every day. With ILO, a new law was passed that there shall be fixed
number of hours and day limit in these factories to facilitate the working class.

The second point was the adequate minimum wages. The factories owners shall keep the
economic conditions of the country in mind and shall decide the pay of the worker. The owner
should follow the prescribed limit and should not give a wage that is less than the limit. In this
way the labors were provided with economic security.

The Organization also laid stress on the rights of sick or unemployed. They introduced benefits
for them and clause of pension was added. So, if the laborers got sick or took retirement due to
his old age, they would still have a source of income that would ensure their survival and living.
The sick was to be catered by providing him with their salary for a fixed number of days so that
he could recover without the pressure that they will run out of money.

The Refugee Organization:

The refugee organization was headed by a Norwegian director. This organization focused on the
political, legal and material aid to refugees. He rendered excellent services by rescuing thousands
of war prisoners. He also solved the issue of the prisoners stuck in Russia and due to his efforts
half a million prisoners were sent back to their homes. This organization also supported the
people who were running away from Germany in order to seek refuge in some other country to
save themselves from the Nazi persecution.

The Health Organization:

The health organization was focused improving the health conditions at international level and it
dealt with the prevention and control of diseases. Thad included the elimination of epidemics and
protection against disease and the treatment of the diseased and wounded. One of its
achievements include the elimination of Typhus wave that started from Russia and began to
spread throughout the rest of the Europe.

Mandate Commission:

The next commission was the mandate commission. The purpose of the manatee commission
was to supervise the territories that were taken from the defeated countries of WW1 including
Germany and Turkey. An example of it is The Saar region that was taken up by the organization
that took care of it and conducted a plebiscite in 1935 in which the votes went in the favor of
Germany and the result was implemented according to the will of people.

Political Issues:

Apart from this the league was quite successful in solving several political issues and inter-state
territorial disputes. It would act as a mediator and would solve the issue by using plebiscites or
other means. The ones that were accepted by the members helped in promoting the league. The
examples are as follows:

Finland vs Sweden:

The league was successful is solving the Aland Islands dispute between Sweden and Finland.
These 300 Islands are located between Sweden and Finland and have quite a significance for
both states. Before the Napoleonic wars Finland and Aland Islands were both the part of Sweden.
After the war Sweden was forced to surrender them both to Russia. Which it did but in the
October Revolution Finland announced independence and then emerged the dispute of Aland
Islands. The people on these islands wanted the right of self-determination and wanted to be free
and independent. Also, the Swedish population living there was in the favor of joining their
former empire but this wasn’t implemented. As the dispute intensified the League interfered and
gave a decision in favor of Finland in 1920. But the demands of Alanders were also fulfilled that
granted them autonomy to some extent.

Germany and Poland:

The League also solved the issue of Upper Silesia between Germany and Poland. The Upper
Silesia was a mineral rich Industrial area of Europe and it occupied a primary economic
importance for both states. The population there comprised of Polish and German people. After
war the tensions began to rise between both sides. The Treaty of Versailles stated that this area
shall be a part of the new Polish State but the Germans protested against it and asked for a
plebiscite. It was under the German administration till the treaty proposed a solution. After that
the Allied Commission took control of the area. After that several uprisings took place. The
Poles also demanded a plebiscite now. In 1920-21 it was formally announced after that
campaigns with the permission of the commissions took place. The result was in the favor of
Germans as they had 60% votes while Poles had 40% votes. But this wasn’t accepted. This is
where the League of Nations entered and decided that the industrial area was given to Poland in
a treaty in 1922.

Greeks and Bulgarians:

Greeks and Bulgarians had hostilities prior to WW1 and in the interwar period. The cause of
rivalry was based upon the ancient rift of Greeks and Romans. Both people were set against
during world-war 1. After the war the situation become worse when Greeks invaded Bulgaria in
1925. The Bulgarians feared that if this situation worsens then another Balkan War might take
place. As a result, the League intervened and the issue was solved by the withdrawal of Greek
troops from Bulgaria. The League also ordered Greek to pay reparations for the damages that
were caused by them during this invasion.

Turkey and British Mandate:

The province of Mosul which is modern day Iraq was a part of Ottoman Empire. After World
War 1 the Ottoman Empire lost its territory to Allies and Mosul became a British mandate. The
Ottomans continued to contest for this region even after accepting the treaty of Sevres and
Lausanne. In order to solve this issue, the League was called to consider it. The League sent a
fact-finding commission that gave decision in favor of Britain. The critics say that this
highlighted the influence of Britain in the League. And Britain handed over the control of oil to
the Faysal but kept its control over the resources. In this way another dispute was settled by
strategy of give and take.
WEAKNESSES:

Despite all these achievements mentioned above the League had some really important
weaknesses that led to its failure as the second world-war took place. These weaknesses were as
follows:

Based Upon Treaty of Versailles:

One of the weaknesses of the League of Nations was that it was based upon the Treaty of
Versailles. Now the treaty of Versailles was a document that was formulated for the welfare of
the winning blocks and for punishing the defeated powers. When the treaty came out it was not
welcomed by Germany, Austria, Turkey and Italy. They were asked to surrender territories, pay
reparations for the damages that was caused by them and were regarded as aggressors. In this
way their territory, economy and reputation were affected. Also, there were clauses in the Treaty
and Woodrow Wilson’s point that differed from each other. Which means that the Treaty was
formulated for the interests of the Allies only. As a result, the covenant of the League was also
affected and was regarded as biased and one sided by the defeated block. Its linkage with
Versailles led to execution of provisions that weakened the Germany, Turkey and Italy. It wasn’t
a liberal and impartial organization working for the recovery of both sides. It was crediting the
Allies only. And this one-sidedness became a weakness that further aggravated the losing powers
and led to their withdrawal.

Absence of USA:

Another astonishing factor was the absence of United States of America. The idea of a general
association was presented by the president of USA. But the country itself did not join it. This
meant that they were rejecting the idea of League. The Senate of USA completely rejected
Versailles treaty and the League and justified their stance by saying that they did not want to
interfere or participate in the European Affairs. This policy of isolationism was followed by US
in order to protect its national interest and avoid participation in any sort of war. Because the
collective security clause stated that all members shall go against the attacking state and for this,
they required the military of each member state. But US refrained from sending any sort of
military or economic assistance for the sake of its own economy and military. In this way the
league was deprived of a strong and powerful presence that would have had great psychological
and economic benefits.

Lack of other Powers:

An alarming factor that contributed to the weakness of the League was that it was an
International Organization but it did not have all the powers as its members. For example,
Britain, France, Italy and Japan joined the league in 1919 but Germany wasn’t allowed to join till
1926 and USSR joined it in 1934 right after Germany left in 1933. This clearly expressed the fact
that Germany was being punished for initiating the war and was no longer treated as a part of
International community in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. France wanted Germany to
be weak in terms of economy and military and France was the forerunner in the League. So, it
made it difficult for Germany even after it joined the League and due to this harsh treatment
Germany left as it wasn’t ready to comply with the orders that were issued by an organization
controlled primarily by Britain and France.

Another power that did not join was USSR. The reason behind this detachment was that USSR
was going through a revolution and they were focused on the internal affairs and nation building
of the state. Also, USSR was a communist state which was disliked by capitalist economies of
Britain and France. It did join the League after it had gained certain amount of stability but was
kicked out upon invading Finland in 1939 so the time period of its membership was very little
and it couldn’t contribute much to the League

Role of Conference of Ambassadors in Paris

A strong evidence that indicates the dominance of the Allies in the League was the interference
of Conference of Ambassadors. If we look at this body, we will get to know that it was
formulated by the allies after World War 1. It was intended to function only till the league
became self-sufficient. But it didn’t leave even after the machinery of the league was fully
established and continued to affect and influence the league. The example of this interference is
stated below:

The first issue was that of Lithuania and Poles. Now if we study these two states, we will get to
know that Lithonia and Poland are neighboring countries. There was a time when both these
states lived in union but this union ended in 18th century and became a bi-confederation headed
by one monarch. Since both had lived in union there was a Polish minority in Lithuania and vice
versa. The reason of rivalry was that the loyalties of this bi-confederation were with USSR. But
when Germany captured USSR’s territory in WW1 Lithuania was under German control and
during this time Lithuania began to enjoy its freedom and detachment from poles but poles
wanted to maintain this bi-confederation. As a result, a series of conflicts took place between
these two states after WW1 over the region of Vilnius. During the conflicts the minorities were
subjected to harsh treatment on both sides. This issue was taken up by League of Nations who
gave the Vilnius region to Lithuania but in 1923 the Lithuania with the support of USSR and
Germany attacked another region. Due to this alignment with Germany, the Peace Ambassadors/
Allies withdrew their support and gave decision in favor of Poland by providing it with region of
Vilnius.

In this way the League changed its decision on the demands of the Allied Ambassadors

The second important issue is that of the Corfu Incident 1923. The Corfu incident was a result of
border dispute between Greece and Albania. When the dispute took place, three Italians were
killed and Italy became furious. Italy had offered assistance to both sides so they could solve
their issues but as the Italian General and his subordinates were making efforts to resolve it, they
were shot down in Greek territory. Since they were in the Greek territory Mussolini (Italy’s
leader) blamed them for their deaths and attacked the Corfu Island of Greece. Greece asked the
league to interfere which it did. And he threatened the league by saying that he will withdraw
Italy from it if reparations weren’t taken from Greece. It used the Ambassadors in Paris to
pressurize the league. The league could have faced this threat if it wasn’t for the ambassador.
And this led to another failure of the league.

Weaknesses of Covenant:

The League was further weakened by the changes that were introduced in it covenant. According
to Article 16 of the covenant the member states shall send military assistance to the attacked
state. But in 1923, a resolution was passed according to which each member state shall have the
right to decide whether it wants to send it troops for the military assistance or not. This
amendment diminished the role of collective security and discredited it completely. It altered one
of the basic objectives and the causes on the basis of which formation of the League took place.
In order to counter it the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, came up with a solution by
presenting the Geneva Protocol which was the collective security clause in its original form.
However, this Protocol could not be executed as the Conservative government that took
MacDonald’s place called for the cancellation of the protocol. The new British government
wasn’t ready to fight any sort of war and ruled out the initiative of the previous government.
Another reason behind this approach was that the British Public had suffered severely during
WW1 and now adopted a pacifist approach. So, it closed all the routes that could lead to any sort
of aggression or military action.

British-French Affair:

All the points that have been discussed above make it quite clear that this League was a British-
French Affair. The policies, the verdicts and the agreements were all in their favor. And if the
league made a decision that was against their interest then they would alter it by using the
Conference of Ambassadors in Paris. The primary function of the League was shifted. Its focus
was not the prosperity of all. It was the weakening of the defeated and superiority of winners.
The fact that they changed the objectives and shaped it according to their will and supported the
nations that were on their side was evident enough to come to the point that it was merely a
British-French Affair rather than an International Platform for all.

Great Depression:

Another factor that hindered the development of League of Nations was the Great Depression.
The wave of economic crisis was quite insidious. It covered the entire European region and the
United States. It de-railed the economies. Led to unemployment and fall of the living standard of
people. This downfall of economic sector made it difficult for all the nations to fulfill the
conditions imposed by the treaties such as the clauses of reparations. These severe economic
conditions lessened the interests of the nations such as Britain, France, USA, USSR, Italy in
humanitarian causes. They were no longer interested in solving international disputes as it
demanded monetary assistance and could be a potential threat for their state. For example,
Britain wanted the Germany economy to recover and was less harsh towards Germany than
France. The reason behind it was the economic interest of Britain. Germany was a major
consumer and client of the British products and the trade with it had beneficial effects for the
economy of Britain
At this point this crisis was affecting people greatly and this psychological pressure led to the
people appointing governments that belonged to the right wing. These people gave the people
what they wanted to hear. They promised radical solutions. And resultantly the people appointed
fascists and dictators for example Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany. These dictators came
to power and went against the decisions of the League and called it hypocrite and one sided.

FAILURES

Failure of Disarmament:

One of the major failures of the League of Nations include the failure disarmament clause. Each
country had the fulfill this objective and observe it in its region in order to remain a member of
this League. Since the defeated powers were asked to lessen their armaments more than the
winner, they became frustrated as they were ordered to reduce their power and were labelled as
aggressors. For example, France demanded that Germany should reduce its arm production
which it did for some time. But then Hitler demanded that France and Germany should have
equal number of arms to which France replied that this shall be considered after eight years. To
which Germany reacted and left the League in 1933 and this was the year when the new
Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, came into power.

Japanese Invasion of Manchuria 1931:

Japan was supporting the Allies during WW1. Although its economy was affected by WW1, it
managed to recover and become stronger. The Japanese industry was highly developed during
the Inter-War period but there was a scarcity of natural resources. In order to obtain these
resources, they began to devise designs of expansionism. The area of Manchuria that was a part
of China had rich resources of oil, rubber and lumber. In order to gain these resources Japan
invaded Manchuria in 1931 and continued to expand in China’s Eastern region and it did not stop
until its defeat in World War 2. The league could not do anything except condemning this action.
Britain was too busy with Germany. Russia did not want to go to war with Japan and USA was
still in its isolation. Due to lack of pressure and authority of League, Japan did not stop and once
again the League failed.

Abyssinian Invasion 1935:

The League’s principles were violated for the second time when Italy attacked Abyssinia
(Ethiopia). Mussolini began to expand the Italian empire to address the economic weakness. He
ordered an attack on Abyssinia in 1935 and captured the region. Upon the demand of Abyssinia,
the League intervened and threatened Mussolini with economic sanctions but these were not
applied to steel, coal and oil. With these sanctions Italy conquered Abyssinia. This highlighted
the hollowness of the Leagues action and the blame was put on Britain and France because they
were the ones who suggested the sanctions. They were actually afraid of Mussolini’s motives
and did not want to ignite the issue to war by putting too much pressure on Mussolini. Rather
than asking Mussolini to return the territory they gave some of the land and power to Italy. And
this greatly affected the Leagues reputation.

Hitler’s Policies:

Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in 1933. He came into power with the motive of
restoring Germany’s position in the international arena and for making it powerful once gain. He
had new plans for Germany that included expansion and increased militray production. He came
to power in March and in October he demanded military parity of the member states of League.
When his demands were dismissed, he became furious and left the League. After that he initiated
the military production and violated the international laws that called for disarmament and
decreased weapon production. Also, Mussolini got close to him as both were plotting against the
same enemies. This withdrawal was followed by invasion of Rhineland in 1936 which was a
demilitarized zone, the annexation of Austria that was regarded as Anschluss which is translated
as forcible union, then the occupation of Czechoslovakia’s area. Now since Germany had
withdrawn from the league it could no longer direct Germany or control it. Britain had already
given its verdict regarding the collective security act and France was not going to initiate attack
against Germany as it was all alone. These factors led to the execution of expansionists designs
of Germany. And the League became a failure as it was unable to do anything about this.

Dissolution:

All the above-mentioned events led to World War 2 which was the last nail in the coffin of the
League of Nations. The League was completely discredited as it could not observe one last
objective that was to avoid war. It was dissolved in 1946. And even before its dissolution a new
body which is regarded as its predecessor, the United Nations, came into being in 1945.
Conclusion:

League of Nations (1920-1946) was the first international organization that was formed as a
platform where all countries could represent themselves. The idea with which it was created was
positive but it lacked military and financial power due to which it ended up being a failure. It
was dominated by Britain and France and worked for them. But it will be unfair to dismiss it as a
total failure. It did contribute, even if little, to humanitarian efforts and refugees and did manage
to solve few issues highlighting the fact that an organization like this could exist in the
International System. And that issues can be solved through peaceful resolution and negotiations.