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League of Nations - Coggle Diagram

- - - - years before 1920, Vilna had been taken over by Russia. Historically, Vilna had been the capital of Lithuania when the state had existed in the Middle Ages.
        After World War One, Lithuania had been re-established and Vilna seemed the natural choice for its capital.
        However, by 1920, 30% of the population was from Poland with Lithuanians only making up 2% of the city’s population.
        In 1920, the Poles seized Vilna.
        Lithuania asked for League help but the Poles could not be persuaded to leave the city.
        Vilna stayed in Polish hands until the outbreak of World War Two.
        The use of force by the Poles had won.
    - - failure - failed to stop poland
  - - - in 1920 the poles invaded land held by the Russian army .
        the poles quickly overwhelmed the Russian army and by 1921, the Russians were forced to sign the 'treaty of riga', which gave the poles almost 80,000km^2 of Russian land, almost doubling polish territory
        however most of the west feared Russia's communist gov 'plague from the east', they didn't want it 'spreading to their own countries'.
        in fact, the allies made plans to attack Russia after the league had been set up
        obviously the league was just 'picking and choosing'
    - - failure
  - - - Sweden and Finland wanted control of these Islands in 1921 - midway the two countries
        They appealed to league and they decided islands should go to Finland : Sweden accepted.
    - - League was effective and probably gave valid reasoning for Sweden to accept. Depicts they have assertiveness and power and the permanent court of international justice was
      - success
  - - - Upper Silesia - industrial region on the border between Germany and Poland. Inhabited by both German and Polish people, both countries wanted control of it because of its rich iron and steel industry.
        In 1920 a plebiscite (vote) was held for Silesians to vote on which country they wanted to join. French and British troops were sent to keep order at polling booths.
        Industrial areas voted mainly for Germany, rural areas mainly for Poland.
        The league divided the region along these lines, but built in many safeguards to prevent future disputes. It safeguarded rail links between the two countries and made arrangements for water + power supplies from one side of the border to be supplied to the other. Both countries accepted the decision.
    - - The league was able to manage the conflict and keep the majority of the public happy. It was fairly effective as the countries were content and the league made sure to supply the countries with the necessary products, and to keep peace at polling booths and on the border.
      - success
  - - - Italian general sent to sort out border between Greece and Albania, but whilst he was there he was ambushed and killed. Mussolini (the Italian leader) blamed the greeks and bombarded and invaded Corfu.
        as these events resembled the events that started WW1, the league quickly intervened.
        It condemned Mussolini’s actions but Greece should pay compensation to the League and they should be given out when the killers were found.
        Even though Mussolini publicly accepted the League’s decision he tried to convince the Greeks to pay compensation directly to Italy and persuaded the Conference of Ambassadors to change the ruling.
        France and Britain then made the Geneva protocol and said that if two countries disagreed they would have to follow the League’s decision.
        However, Britain had a general election before this happened, preventing them from signing the protocol, fearing Britain would be forced into deals that didn’t benefit them.
    - - That the League held no power and countries inside it did not have to agree to their rulings.
      - failure
  - - - Memel and the land surrounding the port was under the control for three years and a French general acted as a governor, but in 1923 the Lithuanians invaded the port. The league intervened and gave the land to Lithuania.
    - - This implies that they were effective as they intervened and were able to settle the issue. They did this in a positive manner which highlights that they were effective.
      - success
  - - - In October 1925, Greek troops invaded Bulgaria after an incident on the border in which some Greek soldiers were killed.
        Bulgaria appealed for help and sent instructions to its army.
        The League condemned the Greek action and ordered Greece to pull out and pay compensation to Bulgaria.
        The Greeks obeyed although they complained that there seemed to be different rules for the larger states and smaller states.
    - - The League did its job by intervening and condemning Greece’s action, and the Greeks complied. But the Greeks also thought their treatment was unfair.
      - success
- - - - imposed economic sanctions
      - didn't want to offend Mussolini as they saw him as a valuable ally against hitler
      - Didn’t want to affect their own economy which was suffering
    - - Abyssinia was successfully conquered by Italy.
      - Lack of belief in the League shown in the speech of Selassie
      - Lack of action by the League discredited it.
      - Eventual failure of the League.
      - Italy and Germany become closer w/ Mussolini as they were angered by France and Britain’s double dealings.
        Hitler had not interfered, Mussolini made it clear in January 1936 that he was happy for Hitler to increase control over Austria.
        This was a very different message to 1934 when Mussolini had opposed German expansionism.
      - effects of Abyssinian + Manchurian crises
        
        It became clear that the League of Nations was not willing or able to use collective force to prevent conflicts.
        
        It became clear that the League of Nations was not united in its approach to dealing with conflict.
        
        It suggests that the major powers were willing to make concessions at the expense of smaller nations in order to prevent wider conflicts.
        
        It was clear that the major powers who were not members of the League of Nations (The USSR and the US) would not intervene unless their own interests were threatened.
- - - - This was a blow to the League and undermined their authority.
      - Undermined the League’s purpose as what they were trying to achieve was blatantly ignored by the countries which weren’t
      - part of its membership
  - - - Shows USA’s power even though it isn’t in the League, undermining the LoN
      - It ended up affecting the LoN badly since they had to pay money to help Germany, even though this wasn’t their initial intention.
- - - - General Disarmament
      - Peaceful discussion of international disputes
      - Setting up of League of Nations
      - Self-Determination
  - - - To discourage aggression from any nation.
      - To encourage countries to co-operate, especially in business and trade.
      - To encourage nations to disarm.
      - To improve the living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world
  - - - Pressure of world opinion
      - World trade ban (economic sanctions)
      - Force if necessary (though the League had no army)
      - What the members were promising to do was to take common action to defend each other in the event of an attack. This was called COLLECTIVE SECURITY.
- - - - met once a year
      - one nations, one vote
      - decisions had to be unanimous
      - every country in the league sent a representative
      - assembly could recommend action to council and vote on:
        
        admitting new members to the League
        
        appointing temporary members of the council
        
        budget of the league
        
        other ideas put forward by council
    - - met regularly to deal with incidents (usually 5 times a year)
      - 4 permanent members (Britain, France, Japan, Italy)
      - 4-11 non permanent members
      - temporary members were elected by Assembly for 3 year periods
      - each permanent member of the council had a veto - one permanent member could stop the council acting even if all the other members agreed
      - if any disputes arose between members, they brought the problem to the council+it was sorted out by discussion. If this didn't work the council could use a range of powers:
        
        moral condemnation: they could decide which country was 'the aggressor' ie which was to blame for the trouble and could tell that country to stop what it was doing
        
        economic and financial sanctions: members of the league could refuse to trade w/ the aggressor
        
        military force: armed forces of member countries could be used against an aggressor
    - - mandates - made sure Britain+France acted in interests of people of that territory, not their own interests
      - refugees - helped refugees get back to own homes post war: helped 425,000 displaced individuals to their homes/find new ones for them
        helped stamp out disease e.g. cholera in refugee camps - however didn't have funding
      - slavery - worked to abolish slavery around world:
        freed 200,000 slaves in Sierra Leone
        organised raids against slave traders in Burma but didn't succeed in ending the white slave traffic
      - health - dealt with dangerous diseases, educate people about health+sanitation
        helped spread good medical practice+introduce vaccines for diseases e.g. malaria.
        Became WHO (world health org) in 1945
      - International Labour organisation
    - - did paperwork of league
      - prepared reports
      - civil services
      - kept records of league meetings
      - had specialist sections covering areas e.g. health, disarmament, economic matters
    - - based in The Hague
      - settled disputes in International Law
      - 15 judges
      - brought together employees, governments, workers' representatives yearly
      - aim= to improve conditions of working people throughout the world
      - collected stats + info about working conditions + tried to persuade member countries to adopt its suggestions
- - - - Germany made proposals for all countries to disarm to the same level as them
        when they failed to accept equality, Germany backed out as it wasn't feasible
      - Germany destroyed their own resources so others couldn't get them
      - hitler came to power as he raised hope, he rearms the country chancellor - 1933 he is overall leader - 1934 he is fuhrer
      - Germany was secretly building back their navy - going against ToV
      - 1935 anglo German naval agreement
        
        1935 Britain made agreement w/ Germany
        
        allowed Germany to rebuild their navy , as long as it stayed under 35% the size of Britain's navy
        
        France did not agree to anglo German naval agreement - Britain made agreement w/o permission of league
        
        signing of this can be considered the first step in allowing hitler to rearm more publicly, legitimising his actions
  - - - Germany wanted 'equality' between countries - meaning the other major powers would disarm to their (reduced) level. But none of the major powers, especially France, would accept this
      - Germany felt annoyed by Britain's negotiating style at the conference
      - Jan 1933 - Adolf Hitler became chancellor (leader) of Germany. he had no intention of disarming, and immediately started rearming
      - Hitler exploited France's refusal to disarm to Germany's level by using that as an excuse to withdraw from the conference + later the LoN
    - - Britain was one of the major powers who had not really disarmed at all in the 1920s because it was worried about the threat of another European war, this had made countries e.g. Germany + Austria feel that they had been treated unfairly
      - the tone of the British angered the Germans at the conference - less likely to agree
      - July 1933 - towards end of conference - Britain produced ambitious plan for disarmament - it failed to achieve support at conference
      - British leaders failed to understand Hitler's mentality. Hitler never intended to disarm
    - - France had not disarmed in the 20s because it was worried about another invasion from Germany. this made Germany think it had been treated unfairly
      - France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, were all worried about their future security - they preferred to have their own military capability, this made them less likely to agree to disarm at the conference
      - France was willing to disarm but only if additional security guarantees were provided by Britain + USA, however these countries were not willing to give such guarantees
- - - - League lost its reputation as a peacekeeping org as it was powerless when Japan attacked Manchuria
      - LoN was projected as slow+inefficient as it took them a full year after the invasion to present their report (the Lytton Commission), despite this Japan continues the invasion and the League could do nothing
      - LoN's rules+treaties could be overcome e.g. Japan overpowered the Nine Power Treaty - LoN was obviously weak
      - LoN is powerless against another permanent member of the League
      - Actions in Manchuria inspired Mussolini in Abyssinia, encouraged Germany to leave the league later on
      - lowers LoN's morale - league looks weak
    - - powerful nations are not a part of the league e.g. in Abyssinia USA and USSR didn't come to the aid of LoN - USA didn't support economic sanctions, they did the opposite and increased trade w/ Italy
      - Leading countries didn't want to be there and always put their own needs first
      - defeated powers aren't in LoN causing resentment from uninvolved countries
      - Power of Veto - hierarchy (permanent vs non permanent members- instability - will the LoN last?)
    - - hierarchy, power of veto
      - no legitimate structure-too complex? Not having power in the structure - International court of Justice
      - slow decision meeting process as assembly + council don't meet regularly e.g. in Manchurian crisis - took ages
    - - when e.g. USA withdrew all their loans from Europe, there was a lack of money in Europe so countries focused on themselves, can't give economic sanctions, Britain + France focus on themselves + own domestic issues
      - starts to promote aggression - against key aim of league, countries are stealing + invading each other e.g. Japan+Manchuria
    - - Abyssinia was close to them they should've dealt w/ it more effectively
      - hoare-laval pact damaged reputation of LoN, demonstrated that Britain+France, leading powers of LoN, couldn't be trusted