The League of Nations

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The League of Nations

• Effects of the Absence of Major Powers.
• Max McGonigle3/6/123A

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What was the League of Nations?

• Intergovernmental organization founded as a
  result of the Paris Peace Conference which ended
  the First World War.
• It was the first permanent international
  organization whose main goal was to maintain
  world peace.
•  The largest the league ever got was 58 members
  from September 28, 1934 to February 23, 1935.
• It lacked its own armed force and depended on the
  Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, economic
  sanctions, or provide an army if and when needed.

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Failures of the League of Nations

• Experienced notable successes and some failures
  in the 1920s, the League was unable to prevent
  aggression by the Axis powers in the 1930s.
• Germany Japan, Italy, Spain withdrew from the
  League, among others.
• The beginning of the Second World War illustrated
  that the League was unable to prevent any future
  world war, which was its main purpose.
• Replaced by the United Nations at the end of
  World War II. The UN inherited a number of
  agencies and organizations founded by the League.

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Major Powers That Were Absent

• Germany
• USSR
• United States of America
• Italy

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United States of America

• The United States was never a part of the League
  of Nations.
• Isolationists in the Senate who were put off by
  America's intervention in World War I, which they
  felt was more of a European civil war than a true
  world war, prevented American participation.

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Effect of USA not joining League of Nations.

• The U.S was the only major power to come out of
  the war more powerful than it had been when the
  war began causing the league to lose a force that
  could reinforce their resolutions etc.
• The other nations all had been severely weakened,
  and only two major victor powers were left in the
  League. This meant that any move to change or
  challenge to the peace by a defeated power would
  be opposed by a very small number of very weak
  nations.
• The United States had also been the driving
  forces behind the Leagues creation, making the
  League seem less legitimate and less likely to be
  able to resolve future conflict.

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Germany

• Germany joined the League of Nations on September
  8, 1926.
• They withdrew on October 19, 1933.
• Withdrew because the League of Nations refused to
  end an arms limitations imposed on Germany after
  World War I.
• Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany at the
  time of their withdrawal.

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Effect of Germany withdrawing.

• The absence of Germany meant that one of the
  powers most likely to cause future conflict was
  now outside of a framework for peaceful
  reconciliation.
• This allowed Germany to disregard the decrees of
  the League of Nations, also by having the USSR on
  the outside with them, they gained additional
  strength against the league.
• Germany formed an alliance with Russia that
  allowed them to work around any kind of League
  action against them, including treaties banning
  German rearmament and military buildup.

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USSR

• Joined the League of Nations on September 18,
  1934.
• Expelled from the league on December 14, 1939.
• USSR expelled from League because of the Soviets'
  invasion of Finland on October 30.

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Effect of USSRs Absence

•  USSRs absence from the League meant that one of
  the most powerful post war nations was viewed as
  an outlaw state and felt that its interests were
  not represented.
• It also lead to a large amount of turmoil over
  the following years, as USSR attempted to regain
  lost territory.
• The fact that the USSR was excluded at the behest
  of President Wilson also lead to a very strong
  sense that the idealistic nature of the League
  had been compromised.
• Created the idea that the League would be used as
  a method of reinforcing the current power balance
  rather than as a way of preventing future war.
•   Like Germany, The USSR had no interest in
  protecting the status quo as established at
  Versailles, and had no means to renegotiate.

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Italy

• Italy was one of the founding members of the
  League of Nations in 1919.
• Withdrew from the League on December 11, 1937.
• Italy left the League of Nations after the
  Abyssinian crisis.
• The League of Nations condemned Italy's
  aggression and imposed sanctions including n
  attempt to ban countries from selling arms,
  rubber and some metals to Italy.

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Effect of Italys Withdrawal.

• After the League of Nations imposed Sanctions
  upon Italy, some political leaders in France
  and Britain were opposed to the sanctions arguing
  that it might persuade Mussolini to form an
  alliance with Adolf Hitler.

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Bibliography

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations
• http//ibhistory.wikidot.com/the-league-of-nations
  
• http//www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-ex
  pelled-from-the-league-of-nations