Why Did the League of Nations Fail?

Why did the League of Nations fail?

•   The Post war treaties: The League was too closely linked to the post war peace treaties, giving it the air of an organisation for the benefit of the victorious powers. In addition it had to defend a peace settlement that was far from perfect. Some of its provisions were bound to cause trouble- for example, the inclusion of Germans in Poland and Czechoslovakia.

•    Membership: a) The league was dealt a serious blow when the USA refused to join the League. The League was deprived of a powerful member whose presence would have been of great financial and psychological benefit. The League was, after all, the idea of the US President Woodrow Wilson. America’s absence meant that the Leagues’ weapon of economic sanctions would be rendered less effective. During the Abyssinian war, the USA continued to export oil to Italy which made it less likely that members of the League would be prepared to impose oil sanctions. b) Germany did not join until 1926 and the USSR only became a member in 1934. Germany left the League in 1933. The League was therefore deprived of three more powerful nations. The absence of the USSR was highlighted during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria when it was far less likely the League would be able to take effective action against the Japanese without Soviet support.

• The lack of commitment of its leading members, Britain and France: The absence of other powers meant that the League was a Franco-British affair. But as their rejection of the Geneva Protocol showed, the British were never enthusiastic about the League. The main priority of the British was to protect her empire and international trade and was reluctant to act unless it affected her own interests. The British were reluctant to deal with Japanese aggression in Manchuria because there were fears that war with Japan would jeopardise colonial possessions in Asia, such as Singapore, Hong Kong and India. The French were mainly concerned about the possibility of future German aggression. The Vilna case of 1920 demonstrated that French self interest would come before the interests of international justice. The Corfu incident of 1923 was settled by the Conference of Ambassadors rather than the League because there were fears that Mussolini might withdraw Italy from the League unless the decision of the League in the case was modified. In the 1920s the British and French were involved in international agreement outside of the League. These included the Locarno agreements of 1925 and the Kellogg-Briand pact of 1928. Neither of these would have been necessary if the British and French had faith in the League to keep peace and to enforce the post war treaties. Both countries put their desire not to alienate Italy before their commitment to resisting aggression in Abyssinia. The Hoare Laval Pact revealed the lengths both countries were prepared to go to avoid upsetting a potential ally against Hitler’s Germany. The League was only as strong as the determination of its leading members to stand up to aggression; unfortunately determination of that sort was sadly lacking during the 1930s.

•    The organisation of the League: There were serious weaknesses in the organisation of the League which made it difficult to achieve unanimous decisions. Member states had a veto in both the Council and the Assembly of the League. This meant that decisions might not be taken or would only be taken slowly after much debate. This was a crucial weakness when it was often important that decisions be taken quickly. The League had no military forces of its own and though member states were expected to supply troops if necessary, a resolution was passed in 1923 stating that each member would decide for itself whether or not to fight in a crisis. This clearly made nonsense of the idea of collective security. At no stage in the League’s history did it actually use force against to assert its will. Attempts to strengthen the League came to nothing. The Geneva Protocol of 1924 which pledged members to accept arbitration by the League and help any victim of unprovoked aggression was vetoes by the British government of Stanley Baldwin.

•    The World economic crisis: The world economic crisis which began in 1929 contributed to the League’s decline. It brought about unemployment and falling living standards to most countries, and caused extreme right wing governments to come to power in Japan and Germany; together with Mussolini they refused to keep to the rules and pursued a series of actions which revealed the League’s actions. The depression also made countries far less willing to impose economic sanctions against aggressors. For example, Britain was reluctant to impose coal sanctions on Italy during the invasion of Abyssinia because of it would cause further unemployment in the mines.  

The League of Nations failed because it WAS DUMB

• Weak – the League’s ‘powers’ were little more than going ‘tut-tut’. Sanctions did not work.   It had no army.  
• America – the strongest nation in the world never joined.   Britain and France were not strong enough to impose pace on their own.  
• Structure – It took ages to do anything.   Members couldn’t agree – but decisions had to be unanimous.   This paralysed the League.  
• Depression – the world-wide Depression made countries try to get more land and power.   They were worried about themselves, not about world peace.  
• Unsuccessful – the more the League failed, the less people trusted it.   In the end, everybody just ignored it.  
• Members – the League’s main members let it down. Italy and Japan betrayed the League.   France and Britain did nothing to help it.  
• Big bullies – in the 1920s, the League had dealt with weak countries.   In the 1930s, powerful countries like Germany, Italy and Japan attacked weaker countries.   They were too strong for the League to stop them.