The League of Nations

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  • Created by: Eduardo1
  • Created on: 07-12-15 18:59
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  • League of Nations
    • About
      • Was set up in January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference (1919)
      • The key principles of Woodrow Wilson's 14 points was the setting up of The League of Nations
    • Aims
      • To encourage co-operation in Europe
      • Disarmament
      • Stop aggression or Collective Security
      • Improve social conditions
    • Membership
      • It had a total of 63 member from 1920-39
      • At its greatest extent it had 58 at one time
      • 42 Founding members
      • Defeated countries could not join eg Germany
        • Joined in 1926, Left in 1933
      • Russia not allowed to join as they were a communist state
      • USA stayed out of European affairs (Isolationism) Therefore they did not join League
    • Structure of The League
      • The Assembly
        • Every country sent a representative to the assembly
        • Met once per Year
        • The assembly voted on admitting new members to the League, temporary members to the Council and they also voted on a budget.
          • The decisions had to be unanimous (Everyone had to vote yes)
      • The Council
        • Met at least 5 times a Year and any emergency meetings
        • Consisted of permanent and temporary members
        • In 1920 the permanent members were Britain, France, Italy and Japan
        • Temporary members were elected by the assembly to serve for 3-9 years
        • In the event of a crisis
          • The permanent members voted on what action should take place, this was often ineffective as they all had the power of VETO (One vote against an action and no action could take place)
          • The council could decide which country was the aggressor
            • Members of the League would stop trading with the aggressor
            • Armed Forces of members could be used to stop aggressors
      • The Secretist
        • Kept records of the meetings and reports for different agencies
      • The Permanent Court of International Justice
        • Hague, Netherlands
        • Tried to solve disputes between powers e.g over borders
        • Gave legal advice to Assembly and Council
          • They had no way to see if countries followed the advice
    • Strengths of The League
      • Solved some settlements between land
      • Many countries supported it in the early days
    • Weaknesses of The League
      • No true power- relied on good will and persuasion
      • USA didn't join after creating The League
      • Everyone had to agree before action
      • It didn't have a permanent army
    • Failure of The League
      • Manchurian Crisis 1931-33
      • Abyssinian Crisis 1934-36
      • No countries wanted to submit troops to take stop aggressor
      • When the crises werent being resolved they began to lose members as they lost faith in the League

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