The League of Nations

 

  • 1929 was a hopeful year for world peace due to the signing of peace pacts
  • 1929 was also the 10th anniversary of the world’s first peacekeeping organization The League of Nations
  • Created in 1919 by the peace treaty which ended The Great War, the League was the hope of the future
  • The League had two aims:
    1. to keep peace between nations
    2. to make the world a better place for all people

 

  • to help achieve peace, countries which joined the League signed promises not to go to war with other League members
  • they also agreed to join forces if any member came under attack (collective security)
  • There were only three peacekeeping actions which had any effective results:
    1. deal with the dispute through legal means
    2. impose economic sanctions (no trade)
    3. impose military sanctions (fight off attacker)

 

  • The League dealt with nine disputes in its first ten years; seven settled without sanctions
  • The Disarmament Commission tried to persuade members to reduce weapon stocks and to rely on the League for protection

 

Limitations of the League of Nations

 

  • Not every nation belonged to the League
  • The US and the USSR were not members.  The US had a policy of isolation of European affairs, the USSR communist leaders saw the league as a club of capitalist countries opposed to communism
  • Some members lacked enthusiasm for the League; Germany had been excluded until 1926, but even after joining they saw the League as a “club of victors”
  • The League’s ability to keep peace had not been fully tested until 1929.  Although they had solved the issues brought forward. None of the problems had been with the world’s major powers
  • There was no proof that the League could stop a war