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Origins and Formation of the
League
The League of Nations (LON) was set up in Geneva the capital
of Switzerland.
It was the brainchild of Woodrow Wilson.
It was an association of countries which were brought
together by their common ideas to maintain peace in the world.
However, some important nations did not join the league when
it was formed although it was an international Organisation for example Germany
was not allowed to join the league until 1926 because she had been deemed to be
guilty of causing the First World War.
Germany later left the league in 1933 when the armament
exercise was initiated.
The USA never joined the league in line with their aversion
and fear of being entangled in European affairs.
Aims of the League
To maintain peace and security throughout the world
To settle disputes through peaceful means.
To reduce armaments to the lowest level.
To protect member states from aggression.
To prevent secret diplomacy in treaties or alliances a thing
that had caused The First World War.
To promote health of mankind.
To control drug trafficking.
To give financial support to countries in need.
To promote general labor interest.
To supervise the administration of mandated territories like
Danzig.
To safeguard the welfare of minorities and refugees
To encourage economic co-operation amongst member states
Organisation of the League
1. The General
Assembly
The General Assembly as the Central body was made up of
representatives from all member States. They met once a year in Geneva,
Switzerland.
It was more like the parliament of the League of Nations,
all of its affairs were debated by this organ.
Each Member State had 3 representatives in this chamber however it was
accorded only one vote.
Functions of
the General Assembly.
Was the debating chamber of the league and each member had
one vote.
It met annually and discussed issues affecting world peace.
It handled the finances of the league and drafted the
budget.
It elected the non-permanent members of the council to join
the Council. (see below).
It decided on general policies of the league.
It admitted new members of the league.
It was supposed to raise an army for the league when needed.
2. The council
It was a much smaller body which met more often, at least 3
times a year. It must be noted that this was the most important body of LON as
it is always referred as the Cabinet of LON, it consisted of permanent and
non-permanent member and it added more weight to the influence of the great
powers.
It had 5 permanent members i.e. Britain, France, Italy,
Japan and USA (Do not confuse this with the members of the Security Council.
The USA never joined the League because the US Congress refused to ratify the
LON Constitution)
There were 3 non-permanent members which were elected by the
General Assembly and had a 3 year tenure.
Functions of the
Council
It passed decisions on matters referred to it by the General
Assembly
It decided on punishments for members found guilty of
threatening peace for example imposing sanctions, take military action.
It submitted recommendations to the General Assembly.
3. The
Secretariat
It was headed by the Secretary General.
There were women and men who kept the records of LON, they
worked for this arm of LON at the headquarters of the League.
It was based in Switzerland.
Functions of
the Secretariat
It looked after the paper work of the league.
Kept minutes of meetings of the proceedings of the league’s various sectors.
It implemented decisions of the League.
This arm prepared reports, organised meetings and provided
documentary and office service for the LON
It carried out day to day chores of the League, for example
the preparations of agenda, distributing agendas….
4. The
International Court of Justice
It was based at The Hague in the Netherlands.
This arm was established in 1921
It was made up of 15 judges from different countries.
It should be noted that this court was not utilised as it
only dealt with 32 cases in the 22 years of its existence, though not utilised
to a greater extent as the ILO, when LON was abolished in 1946, ICJ was
incorporated into the United Nations.
Functions of
the ICJ
Dealt with legal disputes amongst nations.
It interpreted treaties.
It advised the Council and the General Assembly on any
matters brought to it.
5.
International Labour Organisation
This organ came into existence in 1919 and it dealt with
matters involving employment relations on a global scale.
Met once a year and it was made independent of LON thought
it depended on the league’s funds
Members’ states sent 4 representatives (2 government
officials, 1 worker representative and 1 employer representative)
It should be noted that this organ was very successful in
its endeavors and when LON was abolished in 1946 it was incorporated into the
United Nations.
Functions of
the ILO
To improve working conditions by doing things such as fixing
working hours, setting minimum wages, leave days, employment and unemployment
benefits, compensation and old age pensions.
6. Special
Committees.
Refugee commission-
which was responsible for monitoring the welfare of refugees.
Minorities’
commission- which was responsible for taking care of interests
of small ethnic groups.
Health
committee-carried out Research and Development in health and
monitored diseases.
Drug
trafficking commission
Disarmament
commission
Mandates
commission-oversaw the administration of the mandates.
Successes and Failures of
the League
Successes
The ILO improved worker’s
working conditions for example working hours, leave days etc.
The health commission performed invaluable work during
pandemics that beset the world after the First World War most famously the
influenza pandemic.
The League provided much needed help to needy states (the
League rescued Austria from a financial crisis in 1924) and carried out
essential famine relief work
It carried out resettlement and helped refugees for example
Jews fleeing from Hitler, Greek refugees and some Russians fleeing from the
often bloody Bolshevik revolution.
Major Powers managed to sign treaties guaranteeing the right
for minorities to practice their own cultures and religions and use their own
language.
Established international control over dangerous drugs for
example opium.
It succeeded in abolishing all forms of slavery
From 1920 up to 1929 the League was largely successful in
solving disputes among states for example the dispute between Finland and
Sweden.
In 1920 it solved the border conflict between Germany and
Poland over Upper Silesia.
In 1921 it solved the conflict between Albania and
Yugoslavia.
In 1925 it solved the dispute between Bulgaria and Greece.
In 1926 it solved the Mosul conflict between Turkey and Iraq
and Mosul was given to Iraq.
Failures
In 1920 the League failed to stop the Russo-Polish war.
In 1920 it failed to stop the Polish-Lithuanian war.
In 1923 it failed to solve the border dispute between
Albania and Greece over Corfu Island
In 1931 it failed to stop Lithuania over the annexing of
Memel.
In 1931 it failed to stop Japan from seizing the Chinese
province of Manchuria (called Manchukuo in Japanese)
In 1935 It failed to stop Italy from invading Abyssinia.
It failed to stop Germany from invading Austria in 1938
It failed to stop Germany from invading part of
Czechoslovakia in 1938 and the remainder in 1939
It failed to stop Germany from invading Poland in 1939
It failed to stop the outbreak of World War 22
Weaknesses of
the League and reasons for some of its failures
It had no standing army so it was powerless to intervene in
cases where powerful nations were aggressors (which was often the case) for
example Germany’s invasions
of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
The absence of major powers such as the USA meant that it
lacked the proper political clout to carry out global policing duties.
It could not force nations to disarm as it had no means to
do so.
The League was linked with the treaty of Versailles which
led some of the nations (especially the defeated powers like Germany who had
been forced to accept harsh terms) to view it as a club of conquerors bent on
imposing their will on everyone else.
The desire to establish unanimous decisions limited the League’s operations.
The General Assembly’s
timetable of meeting once a year gave it little time to discuss all the complex
issues affecting the world.
Britain and France lacked the will and power to make the
League an effective Organization.
Britain and France often disagreed on how to run the League
Member states pursued their own selfish ends to the
detriment of greater good.
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