The League of Nation- Organization and Structure, Achievements and Failure Reasons (19191946)

The League of Nations (LON) was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. Its primary goals, as stated in its Covenant, included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament, and settling international disputes through negotiation and arbitration. Other issues in this and related treaties included labour conditions, just treatment of native inhabitants, human and drug trafficking, arms trade, global health, prisoners of war, and protection of minorities in Europe. The League of Nation's task was simple - to ensure that war never broke out again. After the turmoil caused by the Versailles Treaty, many looked to the League to bring stability to the world. The League of Nations was established in April 1919 to deal with the difficult international problems. The League held its first council meeting in Paris on 16 January 1920, six days after the Versailles Treaty came into force. In November, the headquarters of the League was moved to Geneva, where the first General Assembly was held on 15 November 1920

The organisation of the League of Nations;

The League of Nations was to be based in Geneva, Switzerland. This choice was natural as Switzerland was a neutral country and had not fought in World War One. No one could dispute this choice especially as an international organisation such as the Red Cross was already based in Switzerland. If a dispute did occur, the League, under its Covenant, could do three things - these were known as its sanctions; 1-It could call on the states in dispute to sit down and discuss the problem in an orderly and peaceful manner. This would be done in the Leagues Assembly - which was essentially the Leagues parliament which would listen to disputes and come to a decision on how to proceed. If one nation was seen to be the offender, the League could introduce verbal sanctions - warning an aggressor nation that she would need to leave another nation's territory or face the consequences. 2-If the states in dispute failed to listen to the Assemblys decision, the League could introduce economic sanctions. This would be arranged by the Leagues Council. The purpose of this sanction was to financially hit the aggressor nation so that she would have to do as the League required. The logic behind it was to push an aggressor nation towards bankruptcy, so that the people in that state would take out their anger on their government forcing them to accept the Leagues decision. The League could order League members not to do any trade with an aggressor nation in an effort to bring that aggressor nation to heel. 3-If this failed, the League could introduce physical sanctions. This meant that military force would be used to put into place the Leagues decision. However, the League did not have a military force at its disposal and no member of the League had to provide one under the terms of joining - unlike the current United Nations. Therefore, it could not carry out any threats and any country defying its authority would have been very aware of this weakness.

The Structure of the League of Nations;

The main constitutional organs of the League were the Assembly, the Council, and the Permanent Secretariat. It also had two essential wings: the Permanent Court of International Justice, and the International Labour Organization. In addition, there were a number of auxiliary agencies and commissions. Each organ's budget was allocated by the Assembly. The Assembly: All members of the League were automatically members of the Assembly. Each member nation had 3 representatives in the Assembly and one vote. The Assembly met once a year, in Geneva. It could also meet at other times in the case of emergencies, the Assembly enjoyed the following powers and duties: a) Control of the budget b) Admission of the new members to the League c) All matters affecting world peace d) Making amendments to the Covenant and revision of treaties e) Electing non-permanent members to the Council f) Formulation of rules regarding the selection and terms of Council members g) Consideration of matters to it by the Council

The Council: The Council was the executive body of the League of Nations. This means that it was the decision making part of the organisation. The Council met on average 5 times a year. It initially had 4 permanent member nations (Britain, Italy, France and Japan) and four nonpermanent member nations who were on the council for 3 years. When Germany was admitted to the League of Nations they were given a permanent place on the Council. The number of non-permanent members rose to 6 and later to 11 members. The Council was assigned the following formidable responsibilities: a) The conciliation of disputes b) The expulsion of members of the League that violated the Covenant c) The supervision of the mandates d) The approval of staff appointments to the Secretariat e) The authority to move the League headquarters f) The formulation of plans for disarmament g) The recommendation of methods for carrying out the provisions of the Covenant for the peaceful settlement of disputes and the application of sanctions h) The obligation to meet the request of any League member to consider any threat to international peace The Secretariat: The Secretariat ran the various bodies that the League of Nations established. These included a Mandates unit to oversee the running of former German colonies that were now mandated to League of Nations member states; a Health department tasked with tackling the spread of disease; a Social unit that organised humanitarian aid, collective approaches to people trafficking along with offices dealing with legal, financial and administrative tasks.

The Mandate System: League of Nations Mandates were established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. These territories were former colonies of the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire that were placed under the supervision of the League following World War I. The Permanent Court of International Justice: Although the Permanent Court of International Justice was theoretically not a part of the League, but closely affiliated with it. The Court was established in 1921, three years after the end of World War I. The court was directed to decide disputes brought before it on the basis of existing treaty law and customary international law. It was composed of 11 judges and 4 Deputy Judges. The Court enjoyed three kinds of jurisdictionVoluntary, Compulsory and Advisory.

Achievements/Success
-The most remarkable achievements was its influence in spreading the ideas of international co-operation amity and Internationalism. Establishment of International labour organisation. -During its ten years of experience, the League of Nations tried to settle many disputes among various nations. For example, a dispute between Sweden and Finland was settled. -Sincere efforts were made to remove trade depression in the world. It appointed Commissions from time to time to find solution of many economic, financial, social and humanitarian problems. Economic advice to Austria (1922) and Hungary (1923) -It used its influence for the suppression of slavery and traffic in women and children. 400,000 Prisoners of War repatriated. Attacks on slave owners in Sierra Leone and Burma -It carried on various relief measures during outbreak of epidemics. Work against leprosy (extermination of mosquitoes). 1-Aaland Island Disputes Settlement; The League was successful in the Aaland Islands in 1921. These islands are nearly equally distant between Finland and Sweden. They had traditionally belonged to Finland but most of the islanders wanted to be governed by Sweden. Neither Sweden nor Finland could come to a decision as to who owned the islands and in 1921 they asked the League to adjudicate. The Leagues decision was that they should remain with Finland but that no weapons should ever be kept there. Both countries accepted the decision and it remains in force to this day. 2-Bulgaria Dispute Settlement; In 1925 Greece invaded Bulgaria, which did not fight back, but appealed to the League. The League ordered Greece to withdraw, which it did. 3-Iraq 1921; The Turks demanded Mosul, a part of Iraq (a British mandate). The League supported Iraq; Turkey agreed. 4-In the 1920's, its membership increased most notably when Germany was included in 1926.

5-The league's presence gave a platform for situations to be dealt with in discussion instead of force.

Reason for Failure;

The League of Nations was founded at the Paris Peace Conferences in 1919 with the aim to preserve everlasting world peace. However, only twenty years later the Second World War began, destroying all high hopes that were placed upon the League. But the League showed weaknesses from its very beginning. World War 2 showed the final failure of the League. With a strong and decisively acting League Hitler could have been stopped. When Hitler began to break the Treaty of Versailles in the 1930s, the League was powerless to stop him. The main reasons for the failure of the League of Nations can be summarised into the following points: 1. Not all countries joined the League, lack of Universality; many powerful nations did not join Although the idea for the League of Nations had come from Woodrow Wilson, there was a change of government in the United States before the signing of the treaty and the new Republican government refused to join. As a punishment for having started World War One, Germany was not allowed to join and Russia was also excluded due to a growing fear of Communism. Other countries decided not to join and some joined but later left. 2. The League had no power. The main weapon of the League was to ask member countries to stop trading with an aggressive country. However, this did not work because countries could still trade with nonmember countries. When the world was hit by depression in the late 1920s countries were reluctant to lose trading partners to other non-member countries.

3. The League had no army. Soldiers were to be supplied by member countries. However, countries were reluctant to get involved and risk provoking an aggressive country into taking direct action against them and failed to provide troops.

4. Unable to act quickly. The Council of the League of Nations only met four times a year and decisions had to be agreed by all nations. When countries called for the League to intervene, the League had to set up an emergency meeting, hold discussions and gain the agreement of all members. This process meant that the League could not act quickly to stop an act of aggression. 5. Economic sanctions did not work. Economic sanctions were supposed to be the League's main weapon, but members of the League did not willingly impose them because they worried that without America they would not work. When they did impose them they were easily broken. The League therefore lacked the muscle to enforce the decisions of its assembly and council.

6. The Treaties it had to uphold were seen as unfair The League was bound to uphold the peace treaties which had created it. In time, however, it became apparent that some of the terms in those peace treaties were harsh and unjust and needed amending. This further undermined the League. 7. The self-interest of leading members The League depended on Britain and France to provide firm support in times of crisis. When conflicts occurred, however, neither the British nor French governments were prepared to abandon their own self-interest to support the League. Its two leading members, Britain and France, increasingly took account of their own national interests and conducted their foreign policy outside the League. 8. The failure to provide adequate security guarantees for its members The failure to provide adequate security guarantees for its members (like an alliance), Thus, encouraging more aggressive policies especially by the authoritarian states and leading to an arms race 9. The failure of this organization to achieve the disarmament The failure of this organization to achieve the disarmament goals it set out in the 1920s and 1930s, such as imposition of military spending constraints. These dimensions, including the aggregate explanations of the weaknesses of the League of Nations, have not been explored adequately by the extensive literature on the interwar economic and political turmoil. I would argue that analysis of these failures by the League of Nations can increase our understanding of the military rivalries, regime changes, and, ultimately, the outbreak of World War II Disarmament (1932) Disarmament talks failed, because Germany demanded as many weapons as everyone else.

Some of the major failures

Mukden Incident 1931 The Mukden Incident, also known as the "Manchurian Incident" or the "Far Eastern Crisis", was one of the League's major setbacks and acted as the catalyst for Japan's withdrawal from the organization. 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria - to try and revive the depressed economy, Japan invaded Manchuria, part of China. Other countries were unwilling to get involved because of the world depression. The LON's solution was to establish a commission. Japan soon left the League. Japan, a LON member, had invaded another member, China, and the LON had been powerless to change the situation. Italian invasion of Abyssinia 1935 In October 1935, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini sent 400,000 troops to invade Abyssinia. Abyssinia asked the League to help. The League talked to Mussolini but he used the time to send an army to Africa. The League suggested a plan to give part of Abyssinia to Italy. Mussolini ignored the League, and invaded Abyssinia. The League banned weapons sales, and put sanctions on rubber and metal. It did nothing else in fact Britain and France secretly agreed to give Abyssinia to Italy. Italy conquered Abyssinia and The League had failed.

Chaco War 1932 The League failed to prevent the 1932 war between Bolivia and Paraguay over the arid Gran Chaco region. Spanish Civil War On 17 July 1936, the Spanish Army launched a strike against the state, leading to a prolonged armed conflict between Spanish Republicans and the Nationalists. The LON failed to resolve the issue. Second Sino-Japanese War Following a long record of instigating localized conflicts throughout the 1930s, Japan began a full-scale invasion of China on 7 July 1937. On 12 September, the Chinese representative, Wellington Koo, appealed to the League for international intervention. Western countries were sympathetic to the Chinese in their struggle, particularly in their stubborn defence of Shanghai, a city with a substantial number of foreigners. However, the League was unable to provide any practical measures; on 4 October, it turned the case over to the Nine Power Treaty Conference.