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Topic 2: To what extent was the League of Nations a success?
2.1 The Birth of the League
● the league of nations was supposed to keep the peace
● Collective security= One of the main aims of the League was universal peace. This was the
intended means by which the League aimed to maintain peace. It depend on the willingness
of the members of the League to work together to deal with aggression. There were 3 stages
moral disapproval, economic sanction, military sanctions This was closely linked to the idea of
eventually having universal disarmament
○ Created uncertainty because:
■ Countries didn’t want to contribute to disputes if they weren’t involved shown by
Br not stopping trade with Jap
■ USA wasn’t there so they couldn’t have help from US army and financial
backing in support of economic and military sanctions (strongest army in world)
■ nanimous decisions in both
Difficult to make decisive actions because of u
Assembly and Council which was in its covenant which made it difficult to take
decisive action against any country acting in a war-like manner
■ Unrealistic to expect nations to obey the League while at the same time failing
to give it the power to enforce its will
● Self determination= right of any country to rule themselves or to chose who would rule them
● Unanimous decisions (all agree)= These were in place to prevent the League from being
dominated by stronger more powerful countries this gave all members and equal say in
the running of the League
● in 1920 it had some successes
○ Had just been WW1 so countries didn’t want to go to war
○ They were smaller counties willing to let League mediate (eg. Aaland islands)
○ After WW1 countries were not militarily or economically able to fights war
○ It was new so countries were willing to give it a chance to be successful
○ Was led by victors of WW1 (Br+Fr) which gave it credibility
● however there was disagreement about what kind of organisation it should be:
○ Wilson wanted the league to be like a world parliament (collective security) where
representatives of all nations could meet together regularly to decide on any matters
that affected them
○ Britain wanted the league to meet in time of emergency
○ France wanted a strong league with its own army
● Wilson won
1
Topic 2: To what extent was the League of Nations a success?
2.1 The Birth of the League
● the league of nations was supposed to keep the peace
● Collective security= One of the main aims of the League was universal peace. This was the
intended means by which the League aimed to maintain peace. It depend on the willingness
of the members of the League to work together to deal with aggression. There were 3 stages
moral disapproval, economic sanction, military sanctions This was closely linked to the idea of
eventually having universal disarmament
○ Created uncertainty because:
■ Countries didn’t want to contribute to disputes if they weren’t involved shown by
Br not stopping trade with Jap
■ USA wasn’t there so they couldn’t have help from US army and financial
backing in support of economic and military sanctions (strongest army in world)
■ nanimous decisions in both
Difficult to make decisive actions because of u
Assembly and Council which was in its covenant which made it difficult to take
decisive action against any country acting in a war-like manner
■ Unrealistic to expect nations to obey the League while at the same time failing
to give it the power to enforce its will
● Self determination= right of any country to rule themselves or to chose who would rule them
● Unanimous decisions (all agree)= These were in place to prevent the League from being
dominated by stronger more powerful countries this gave all members and equal say in
the running of the League
● in 1920 it had some successes
○ Had just been WW1 so countries didn’t want to go to war
○ They were smaller counties willing to let League mediate (eg. Aaland islands)
○ After WW1 countries were not militarily or economically able to fights war
○ It was new so countries were willing to give it a chance to be successful
○ Was led by victors of WW1 (Br+Fr) which gave it credibility
● however there was disagreement about what kind of organisation it should be:
○ Wilson wanted the league to be like a world parliament (collective security) where
representatives of all nations could meet together regularly to decide on any matters
that affected them
○ Britain wanted the league to meet in time of emergency
○ France wanted a strong league with its own army
● Wilson won
1
