The League of Nations

The League of Nations

The Leagues aims

• Too encourage disarmament
• To prevent another major war coming out
• To encourage international cooperation
• To prevent aggression
• To improve living and working conditions

The structure of the league

• Meet in Geneva
• Assembly- met once a year
• Council of the league- met more frequently and most major nations
• Secretariat who acted as the 'civil service' of the league and carried out decisions by the council

Early conclusion

The circumstances in which the league was set up and in particular the refusual of the USA to join, left the league with serious weaknesses. The league was not well equipped to deal with cases of aggression and had no armed forces of its own.

Early successes

The Aaland islands in 1921 dispute between Finland and Sweden. League reached a judgement and gave the islands to Finland. It was a satisfactory outcome however only cause the nations were willing to accept the leagues authority

Economic collapse in Austria and Hungary 1922-23. Their economies had not recovered after war and due to reparations so the league provided international loans to help their economies. Both countries began economic recovery so the leagues action was prompt and effective.

Early failures

Corfu 1923

Italian surveryers killed in Greece. Mussolini demanded compensation from the Greek government and when they didnt compensate he took corfu an island off the Greek coast…