The League of Nations

Definition and Introduction

The League of Nations was an international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, created after the First
World War to provide a forum for resolving international disputes. Though first proposed by President Woodrow Wilson
as part of his Fourteen Points plan for an equitable peace in Europe, the United States never became a member. The
League had its successes and strengths no doubt but its abysmal failure to do anything in the face of resurging imperialism
led to its demise which took the ugly shape of another World War.

Background and Formation

 The Concert of Europe
After the Napoleonic Wars which dragged a number of European nations led by Britain into wars against France, a system
characterized by balance of power was designed in Austria in 1815, where the four powers of Europe – Britain, Prussia,
Austria and Russia – agreed to prevent bids for hegemony within Europe. Later the Concert was expanded to include
France once the monarchy had been reestablished. While the system failed in 1822, the powers continued to meet on an
ad-hoc basis and even then, they were able to prevent only a general war for a century while localized conflicts spurred
time and again, the primary examples being Prussia’s wars against Austria and France, and the Italian Risorgimento.
 First World War
The inherently unstable system established in 1815 collapsed completely when what the Germans thought would be a
short localized war in 1914, spiraled into a continent wide conflict as treaties and alliances that had been forged since as
early as 1839 were invoked. Non-European nations were also dragged into the war due to either treaties such as the one
between Britain and Japan, or due to Germany’s unbridled submarine warfare. However, the war ended in 1918 with the
British, French, Americans and Russians as the victors.
 Post-War Idealist Proposals by the Big Three
1. Proposal by Britain: the two principal architects of the Covenant of the League of Nations were Jan Smuts and
Lord Robert Cecil. They outlined the establishment, composition and administrative duties of various bodies of
the League, the creation of a Council for Great Powers as permanent members and a non-permanent selection of
minor states. The mandate system was also proposed by Smuts. The report of Phillimore Commission was also
incorporated into the Covenant.
2. Proposal by the US: Woodrow Wilson directed the formulation of a draft that reflected his own idealism as
embodied in the 14 points, and reflected the report of Phillimore Commission set up by the British.
3. Proposal by France: the French went a bit further in their proposal and advocated meetings of the council to settle
all disputes and even the establishment of an international army to enforce the decisions of the council.
 Paris Peace Conference and the Covenant
In 1919, at the Paris Conference, a commission was appointed to agree on a covenant and after much deliberations, the co-
written Hurst-Miller draft was accepted by the commission after some 10 meetings, with some changes, as the basis of the
covenant. The final treaty came into force on 10 January 1920 with some of its articles being amended in 1924. Geneva,
Switzerland was chosen as the base for operations of the League since Switzerland was a neutral country that had not
participated in the First World War. Moreover, another international organization, the Red Cross, was already based in
Switzerland.
 Members of the League
Over time, membership of the League changed with new members joining it and its existing members leaving it
voluntarily or due to expulsion. It had 42 founding members out of which only 23 remained members until its dissolution
in 1946. The largest number of members that the League enjoyed was 58 for less than a year between 1934-35. Germany
was permitted into the League in 1926 but it withdrew in 1933, while the USSR, permitted in 1934 was expelled in 1939
due to its invasion of Finland. The US never joined the League due to objections raised by many US politicians with
regards to Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations.

The Organization and its Workings

 The Four Main Aims of the League
1. Stop Future Wars
2. Disarmament – to get countries to give up their weapons
3. Encourage International Cooperation
4. Improve Social Conditions and Standards of Living
 Principal Organs and the Two Wings
1. The Main Constitutional Organs: these included three bodies:
 1. General Assembly: after its initial sessions in 1920, it met once every year in September. It consisted of
representatives from all member states, with a maximum of 3 representatives from each state thought
each state enjoyed only a single vote. Plus, their decisions were to be unanimous. The exact spheres of
duties of the Assembly and the Council were not explicitly defined which meant that both could deal with
any matter which could be referred to the League. However, the main functions of the Assembly included
admission of new members, periodic elections of non-permanent members to the Council, election with
the Council of the judges of the Permanent Court and control of the budget.
2. Executive Council: this was the executive body of the League whose decisions were to be based on the
unanimity rule. It began with 4 permanent representatives (Britain, France, Italy and Japan) and 4 non-
permanent representatives to be elected for a 3-year term. US was meant to be the fifth permanent
member but it did not ratify the treaty. The number of permanent members kept changing with Germany
and USSR also becoming permanent members for some time though Britain and France always remained
permanent members and were the only two from 1939 onward. The number of non-permanent members
was also increased first to 9, then to 10 and finally to 11.
3. Permanent Secretariat: established at Geneva, it consisted of a number of experts in various spheres
(political, financial and economics, transit, mandates, disarmament etc.) under the direction of the
General Secretary. The staff of the Secretariat acted as the League’s civil service and worked for
preparing the agenda for meetings of the Council and Assembly, for the publication of reports etc.
2. The Essential Wings: while there were many other bodies, two were essential wings of the League:
1. Permanent Court of International Justice: the PCIJ, provided for by the Covenant, was established by the
Secretariat and its constitution was made by the Assembly and the Council, the same two bodies which
elected its judges. It comprised of 11 judges and 4 deputy judges elected for 9 years, and they could give
their ruling on any matter submitted to it by the parties concerned, and give its advisory opinion on any
dispute or question referred to it by the Assembly and/or the Council.
2. International Labour Organization: the ILO was created in 1919 on the basis of part XIII of the Treaty of
Versailles and after the establishment of the League, it became a part of its operations. However, it
remained an autonomous organization that operated according to its own constitution and had its own
governing bodies including its own Secretariat. While it had the same members as the League, its
membership was not accorded to governments only; representatives of employers and workers’
organizations could also be its members. The only control League had over it was through its budget
which was passed by the Assembly.
 The Mandate System
Established in 1919, this system was included in the Covenant in order to set regulations pertaining to territories
transferred between countries. The Mandate was basically concerned with territories once controlled by Germany and the
Ottoman Empire. In theory, the system was established in order to prepare the natives of these territories for self rule but
in practice it was nothing more than a compromise between the Allied powers for the distribution and granting of spoils of
war to the victors of WWI (the Allied Powers themselves). In 1946, the system was replaced by the UN Trusteeship
System.
 Sanctions
The Covenant provided for a three-step mechanism for the League to deal with any dispute that emerged:
1. Verbal Sanctions: the Assembly could call on the states in dispute to sit down and discuss the problem in an
orderly and peaceful manner. It 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. Economic Sanctions: if the states in dispute failed to listen to the Assembly’s decision, the League could introduce
economic sanctions, arranged by the League’s Council.
3. Physical Sanctions: upon the failure of economic sanctions, the League would go for physical sanctions which
essentially meant the use of military force against the aggressor nation. However, the League did not have the
capability to enforce physical sanctions since it did not have any military force of its own and the only nations
that could provide it with any physical force were Britain and France, both of whom had been weakened
significantly by the First World War.

An Analysis of the League

 Successes
Given the League’s aim to stop and prevent war, this is the one criteria by which we can judge its success and there were
numerous instances where it was successful in its aim:
 1. The Aaland Islands (1921): a territorial dispute of these islands lying between Finland and Sweden was resolved
by the League in favour of Finland with the condition that the island be kept free of all weapons. The decision
remains in force to date.
2. Upper Silesia (1921): a referendum held as directed by the Treaty of Versailles in this territory led to a close call
between people wanting it to go to Germany or to Poland and as a result riots broke out. The League’s decision to
split Upper Silesia between Germany and Poland was accepted by everyone.
3. Turkey (1923): the League failed to stop a bloody war in Turkey which caused a humanitarian crisis including 1.4
million people becoming refugees. Doctors were sent by the League from the Health Organization, reconstruction
work was undertaken for the socioeconomic uplift of the people and wells were dug as well.
4. Greece and Bulgaria (1925): firing by Bulgaria which killed a Greek soldier on the border both countries shared
led Greece to invade Bulgaria. The matter was taken up at the League which found Greece at fault and
subsequently, fined it. The decision was accepted by both the countries.
5. Mosul (1926): as a part of the mandate system, Iraq had come under British control with Mosul as a province of
Iraq, but Turkey contested Mosul as a part of its territory. The League took a decision according to which a treaty
was signed between Iraq, Turkey and Britain, declaring Mosul a part of Iraq.
 Failures
1. Italy (1919): the country felt that it had been wronged since it had not been given the territory that had been
promised to it in the Treaty of London signed before WWI. As a result, Italian nationalists captured the port of
Flume that had been awarded to Yugoslavia. Flume was ruled for some time by the Italian d’Annunzio.
Eventually, the Italian government, which was less popular than d’Annunzio, due to this lack of popular support,
bombarded Flume and enforced a surrender. The league played no role at all in this whole episode.
2. Teschen (1919): this was a town desired by both Poland and Czechoslovakia due to its coal mines in the suburbs.
Czechs invaded it but the matter was taken up to the League which awarded the bulk suburbs to Czechoslovakia
while Poland got the bulk of the town. The decision was unacceptable to the Poles and the two nations continued
to argue over the matter for the next 2 decades.
3. Ruhr (1923): the French and Belgians occupied Ruhr which was under Weimar Germany, when the latter was
unable to pay reparations according to the Treaty of Versailles.
4. Imperialism in 1930s: basically, the three who formed the Axis, went on a spree of imperialism in the 1930s with
the League being unable to do anything about it:
1. Germany: occupied the Rhineland in 1936, annexed Austria in 1938, violated the Munich Agreement og
1938 by invading Czechoslovakia in 1939, and invaded Poland in 1939.
2. Italy: invaded Abyssinia in 1935 and Albania in 1939.
3. Japan: it occupied Manchuria in 1931 and invaded China in 1937.
 Weaknesses
1. Many States were not Members: the most glaring example of this was the US which was ironic since Woodrow
Wilson was the one who floated the idea of such an organization. The US objected to Article X of the
2. Economic Sanctions did not Mean Much: since most of the countries were not members of the League, they could
continue to trade with each other even if the League directed its members to boycott trade with any country. So
when sanctions were imposed on Japan, it continued trading with the US. Moreover, with the Great Depression,
countries were willing to trade with any country ready to buy their goods and were willing to purchase from any
country that could supply them with what they needed, irrespective of League’s directives.
3. No International Army: the League had no army which it could use to impose physical sanctions which essentially
killed the purpose of its system of sanctions since it could not carry out any threat that it gave any state a warning
about. The League had to rely on Britain and France but both of them were unwilling to contribute their forces for
the League’s purpose and aims.
4. Inability to Act Quickly: decisions had to be taken after deliberations, through the unanimity rule which required
time. Furthermore, the Assembly met only once a year and the Council met only four times a year with emergency
sessions being called for special purposes (which must have happened a lot).

Conclusion: Legacy of the League of Nations

The League helped out countries with humanitarian crises. It started a program to wipe out leprosy, on which the UN modeled
its own disease fighting and eradication program. Mistakes from which lessons were learnt, helped make the experiment of
global governance via the UN more successful in comparison with the League. The League did much emancipatory and
humanitarian work in the third world and the fact that these problems are still with us means that the League’s being able to
identify the existence of such problems was in itself an achievement – something not done by any other organization/body – and
its not being able to eradicate them was not its failure. Most of the bodies working for the UN actually grew out of the League
which can be called the former’s forerunner.