Post-World War I
League of Nations
• Birthed January 10, 1920
• Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland
• Often spoken as being the brainchild of President Wilson, but was also the result of similar suggestions made by world statesmen
• Wilson’s greatest contribution was that the League Covenant (list of rules by which the League was to operate) should be included in
each of the separate peace treaties
• One of its main aims was to settle international disputes before they got out of hand to prevent war from ever breaking out again
League of Nations
• Two Main Aims:
o To maintain peace through collective security: if one state
attacked another state, the member states of the League would act collectively to restrain the aggressor either by economic or by military sanctions
o To encourage international co-operation, in order to solve
economic and social problems
o Method of Operation: All war threats would be submitted
to the League, and any member who would break the
How the League Was Organized
•
Forty-two member states in the beginning, 55 by
1926 when Germany was admitted
•
Five Main Organs
o
The General Assembly
o
The Council
o
The Permanent Court of International Justice
o
The Secretariat
General Assembly
•
Met Annually
•
Contained Representatives of all the member
states, each had one vote
•
Decided general policy
•
Handled finances of the League
The Council
• Smaller body
• Met at least 3 times a year
• Contained four permanent members: Britain, France, Italy, Japan
• Four other members elected by the Assembly for periods of three years
• Number of non-permanent members had increased to nine by 1926
• Dealt with specific political disputes
The Permanent Court of International
Justice
•
Based at Hague in Holland
•
Consisted of 15 judges of different
nationalities
The Secretariat
•
Dealt with all the paperwork
•
Preparing agendas
•
Writing resolutions and reports so that
Commissions and
Committees
•
Dealt with specific problems, including those that had
arise before WWI
•
Main Commissions: handled mandates, military
affairs, minority affairs, minority groups, and
disarmament
•
Committees for: international labor, health, economic
and financial organization, child welfare, drug
Successes of League Committees and
Commissions
(To improve living conditions for men and women world-wide)
The International Labour Organization (ILO) was so successful that the USA joined it. In 1945 it transferred to the UN.
Fixed a maximum working day and week Specified adequate minimum wages
Introduced sickness and unemployment benefits Introduced old age pensions
Successes of League Committees and
Commissions
The Leprosy Commission helped eliminate leprosy.
The Transit and Communication Commission
standardised passports and visas, and radio codes were
also made common. (Mayday was internationalised.)
The Mandates Commission, under Lord Lugard, helped
colonies to reach independence.
Early Political Disputes
Resolved
• Finland v. Sweden over the Aaland Islands, Finland won (1920)
• Germany v. Poland over Upper Silesia, League decided it would be divided between the two (1921)
• When Greeks invaded Bulgaria, Greek troops were withdrawn and damages were paid to Bulgaria
• When Turkey claimed Mosul, British mandate of Iraq, the League decided in favor of Iraq
Why the League Failed to
Preserve Peace
1. Too closely linked to the Versailles Treaties 2. Rejected by the United States
3. Other important powers, like Germany and the USSR, were not involved until later
4. Conference of Ambassadors in Paris was an embarrassment 5. Serious weaknesses in the Covenant
6. World Economic Crisis (Great Depression) began in 1929 7. Japanese invasion of Manchuria (1931)
Too closely linked to the Versailles Treaties
• Made the League seem like an organization created especially for the victorious powers
• League had to defend an imperfect peace settlement
Rejected by the United States
• U.S. Senate rejected both the League and the Treaty of Versailles
o The American people and the Republican Party in particular were strongly against further involvement of European affairs
o Adopted a policy of isolation—tried to avoid political disputes with other states and the signing of treaties
Other important powers, like Germany and the
USSR, were not involved until later
• Germany not allowed to join until 1926
• The USSR only became a member in 1934
Conference of Ambassadors in Paris
was an embarrassment
• Only intended to function until the League was up and running, but it carried on and on several occasions, took precedence over the League
• League adhered to the decision of the Ambassadors:
Serious weaknesses in the Covenant
• Difficult to ensure that decisive action was taken against any aggressor
• Was difficult to get unanimous decisions
• The League had no military force of its own, up to individual members to decide whether or not to fight in a crisis
• The Geneva Protocol (which pledged members to accept arbitration and help any victim of unprovoked aggression) was introduced by Britain to strengthen the covenant and then rejected by the next British government
World Economic Crisis (Great
Depression) began in 1929
• Brought unemployment and falling living standards
Japanese invasion of
Manchuria (1931)
• In 1931, the Japanese invaded the Chinese territory of Manchuria
• China appealed to the League, who ordered Japanese troops to be withdrawn
• Japan refused, and the League appointed a commission which suggested that Manchuria should be governed by the League
• Japan rejected this and withdrew from the League
Failure of World Disarmament
Conference (1932-1933)
• Germany asked for equality of armaments with France
• The French demanded that it should be postponed for at least 8 years
Italian invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
(1935)
• Serious blow to League’s prestige and credibility
• League condemned Italy and introduced half-hearted economic sanctions
• Sanctions were not applied to the exports of oil, coal, and steel to Italy
• Italy was able to complete the conquest of Abyssinia
• A few weeks later, the sanctions were abandoned
Italian invasion of Abyssinia
• The border between Abyssinia and Italian Somaliland was uncertain and disputed
• In Dec. 1934 there was a small skirmish at Wal-Wal
• Mussolini demanded an apology and threatened to invade.
• There was great anger in Britain; Hoare (the foreign minister) made a strong speech
Italian invasion of Abyssinia
• Feb 1935: The League set up a commission,
which reported in Sept. It suggested giving part of Abyssinia to Italy.
• Oct 1935: Mussolini rejected the plan and
invaded Abyssinia. He used tanks and flame- throwers and attacked red Cross hospitals.
• The League banned weapons sales, and put sanctions on rubber and metal (this hurt
Abyssinia more than Italy).
Italian invasion of Abyssinia
• Dec 1935: Hoare-Laval Pact, a secret plan by Britain and France to give Abyssinia to Italy.
• Britain and France asked that sanctions be lifted
• - only Abyssinia voted against.
• March 1936: Hitler marched into the Rhineland; everyone forgot about Abyssinia.
• May 1936: Mussolini conquered Abyssinia.
• June 1936: Haile Selassie went to the League to ask it to reconsider its 'terrible precedent' of
Italian invasion of Abyssinia
• The Fascists continued to expand:
• Mussolini kept Abyssinia
• Hitler began to expand in Europe.
• Fascists took power in Spain
Italian invasion of Abyssinia
• The League was ‘a useless fraud’ (AJP Taylor): • It was slow (the Report took 8 months).
• A country could get its own way if it ignored it. • ‘Collective security' was useless against big
countries - especially during the Great Depression. • Even the great powers within the League were happy to ignore it (Japan was on the Council).
• Even Britain and France would betray the League • Nine
Effects of Abyssinia Invasion
• Mussolini drew closer to Hitler
• Small states lost faith in the League
• Hitler was encouraged to break the Treaty of Versailles
• After 1935, the League was never taken seriously again
Attempts to Improve International
Relations
• League of Nations
• Mandate System
• The Washington Conferences (1921-1922)
• The Genoa Conference (1922)
• The Dawes Plan
• The Locarno Treaties (1925)
• The Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
• The Young Plan (1929)
• The World Disarmament Conference (1932-1933)
• The London Naval Conference (1930)
• The Geneva Disarmament Conference (1932-1934)
Mandate System
• Refers to certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I. Which included a minority rights clause and an International Court.
• The mandate system was established under Article 22 of the League of Nations.
• All the territories subject to League of Nations mandates were previously controlled by states defeated in World War I,
Class A Mandates
• The mandates were divided into three distinct groups based
upon the level of development each population had achieved at that time.
• Class A mandates
• The first group or Class A mandates were areas formerly controlled by the Ottoman Empire that
• Were deemed to have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally
Class B Mandates
• The second group or Class B mandates were all former German territories in the Sub-Saharan regions of West and Central Africa, which were deemed to require a greater level of control by the mandatory power: "...
•The Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of
conscience and religion."
Class C Mandates
• A final group, the Class C mandates, including South-West Africa and the South Pacific Islands, were considered to be
"best administered under the laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory“.
• They essentially became colonies of the Mandates.
Washington Naval Conference
• Was a military conference called by President Harding and held in Washington D.C. from Nov. 12 1921 to Feb. 6, 1922
• Was attended by nine nations having interests in the pacific ocean and east Asia.
• The Washington Naval Treaty led to an effective end to
building new battleship fleets and those few ships that were built were limited in size and armament.
• Britain and the U.S. were by far the dominant navies, with Japan making great exertions to catch up.
• Numbers of existing capital ships were scrapped.
Washington Naval Conference
• Attempt to improve relations between the US and Japan
• The US was extremely suspicious of Japan’s power in the Far East, their influence in China since Japan had seized
Kiaochow and the German islands in the Pacific Agreements Reached
• GB, USA, France & Japan agreed to respect each other’s Pacific possessions & guarantee China’s independence.
• Japan would restore Kias-Chow & Shantung to China. Japan to withdraw from Siberia, in Russia.
Washington Naval Conference
Weimar Republic
• Germany’s new democratic government set up in 1919
• Had serious weaknesses from the start
o Germany lacked democratic tradition
o Several major political parties and minor ones
The Treaty of Rapallo of 1922
• A treaty between Germany and the USSR for mutual
assistance that allowed the Germans to develop weapons in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
• This treaty was a direct result of Russia and Germany’s exclusion from European politics. As an “outlaw,”
• Germany was encouraged to seek any means possible to evade the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles.
Little Entente
• Was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revision and the prevention of a Habsburg restoration.
• The Occupation of the Ruhr, by troops from France and Belgium, was a response to the failure of the German Weimar Republic to pay reparations in the aftermath of World War I.
• By late 1922, the German defaults on payments had grown so serious and regular that French and Belgian delegates were
urging the seizure of the Ruhr as a way of encouraging the Germans to make more effort to pay, and the British delegate urging a lowering of the payments.
• As a consequence of an enormous German default on timber deliveries in December 1922, the Reparations
Commission declared Germany in default, which led to the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in January 1923.
• French Prime Minister Poincaré decided to occupy the Ruhr in 11 January 1923 to extract the reparations himself.
• Poincaré often argued to the British that if the Germans could get away with defying Versailles in regards to the reparations, then a precedent would be created, and inevitably the Germans would proceed to dismantle the rest of the Versailles treaty.
• Finally, Poincaré argued that once the chains that had bound
Germany in Versailles had been destroyed, then it was inevitable that Germany would once more plunge the world back into another world war.
• The invasion took place on January 11, 1923, with the aim of
occupying the centre of German coal, iron and steel production in the Ruhr area valley, in order to gain the money that Germany owed.
France had the iron ore and Germany had the coal.
The Dawes Plan (1924)
• Break the deadlock over German reparations
• Total amount of German reparations were not reduced
• Agreed that Germany would pay annually only what it can afford when it became more prosperous
• German was to receive a foreign loan of 800 million gold marks, mostly from the U.S.
• France agreed to withdraw its troop from the Ruhr with the assurity that Germany would pay at least some reparations
• The plan was successful because the German economy recovered on the basis of American loans
• International tensions gradually relaxed
Locarno Treaties
• The Locarno Treaties were seven agreements negotiated at Locarno, Switzerland on Oct. 5 – 16, 1925 and formally signed in London on Dec. 1, in which the Western European Allied powers and the new states of central and Eastern Europe
sought to secure the post-war territorial settlement,
normalizing relations with defeated Germany (which was, by this time, the Weimar Republic).
• Locarno divided borders in Europe into two categories: western, which were guaranteed by Locarno treaties, and eastern borders (of Germany), which were open for revision.
• The principal treaty concluded at Locarno was the
Locarno Spring
• The Locarno Treaties were regarded as the keystone of the
improved western European diplomatic climate of 1924-1930, introducing a hope for international peace, typically called the "spirit of Locarno". This spirit was seen in Germany's
admission to the League of Nations, the international
organization established under the Versailles treaty to promote world peace and co-operation, and in the subsequent
•
The
Geneva Naval Conference was a conference held to discuss naval arms limitation, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1927.• Badly needed restraints were applied to the naval arms race by the treaties stemming from the Washington Conference (1921-22), but those agreements were largely confined to limitations on battleships and aircraft carriers.
• Talks dragged on for nearly six weeks during which tensions rose among the former Allies. In early August, the delegates
adjourned without reaching any agreement.
The Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
• Idea of American Secretary of State: Frank B. Kellogg to renounce war
• Proposed that the whole war should be involved
• 65 states signed agreeing to renounce war
• Useless because there wasn’t any mention of the sanctions that would take place if a state broke the pledge
The Young Plan (1929)
• Chaired by an American banker, Owen Young, a committee decided to reduce American German reparations to 2 000 million pound to paid over the next 59 years
London Naval Conference
• Third in a series of meeting to reduce the naval armaments of the major powers
• The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which regulated submarine warfare and limited naval
shipbuilding.
• Remained in effect until 1936
World Disarmament
Conference
• Met in Geneva to work out a formula for scaling down armaments
• However, Britain said they needed more armaments to protect their empire
• French refused to disarm with the rise of Nazi support in Germany
• Another important weakness grew from the contradiction between the idea
of collective security and international relations between individual states. T
• The collective security system the League used meant that nations were
required to act against states they considered friends, and in a way that might endanger their national interests, to support states that they had no affinity with.
• This weakness was exposed during the Manchurian & Abyssinia Crisis when Britain and France had to balance attempts to maintain the security they had attempted to create for themselves in Europe, in which Italy's support played a pivotal role, with their obligations to Abyssinia as a member of the League.
• On 23 June 1936, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin told the House of Commons that collective security had "failed ultimately because of the
reluctance of nearly all the nations in Europe to proceed to what I might call military sanctions ... The real reason, or the main reason, was that we
discovered in the process of weeks that there was no country except the aggressor country which was ready for war.”
