2 To what extent was the League of Nations a success?

Successes and failures in peacekeeping during the 1920s

Successes:

Aalands Islands 1920

-          Finland who had recently broken away from Russia asserted themselves over the island, many of the inhabitants were Swedes and thought they should have a right over the running of the island

-          The league dealt with the dispute and the island was handed over to Finland

Greco-Bulgarian 1925

-          Both sides came close to all-out war

-          The league took prompt action and ruled that Greece was to blame

Failures:

Ruhr Invasion 1923

-          France was entitled to reparations from Germany

-          France invaded the Ruhr, and the Germans asked the league for help but the league failed to intervene

Corfu Incident 1923

-          Italy invaded the Greek island of Corfu

-          The Greeks asked for help from the league but again they failed to take action, as it was more important for the great powers to keep Italy within the league

Strengths and weaknesses in its structure and organisation

Strengths

-          42 countries had joined the league

-          World powers such as Britain, France, Italy and Japan were on the Council

-          The main strength came from the fact that it was set up by the Treaty of Versailles

Weaknesses

-          Neither USA or Russia were in the league, without these great powers in the League it was too weak to make a big country do as it wished

-          The Assembly could only make a decision by a unanimous vote (so it never made any decisions), and on the Council, all the permanent members had a veto.

-          Economic sanctions were not as effective

-          The league had no arm which made military sanctions obligatory

How successful was the League in the 1920s?

-          With smaller disputed the league could intervene and easily settle the dispute (Aalands Islands)

-          The League took 400,000 Prisoners of War home and set up refugee camps

-          Without USA in the league resolving issues with more powerful countries was near impossible

-          The League could not defend the Treaty of Versailles, get disarmament, or stop powerful countries.

-          The League sometimes failed to enforce the Treaty of Versailles

-          Overall the League was not very successful

The impact of the World Depression on the work of the League after 1929

-          14 million Americans were unemployed

-          Millions now lived in poverty

-          Countries like Japan and Italy wanted to expand their empires so as to get hold of new economies which led to the invasion of Manchuria

-          The League of Nations was not able to impose economic sanctions over Japan, because USA who was not in the league would continue trading with them and none of the members of the League wanted to stop trading because it would worsen their economy

-          Wall street crash lead to world trade slumping resulting in German loans being recalled, leading to the rise of extremist parties

The failures of the League in the 1930s

Manchuria 1931-1933

-          Japanese blew up sections of their own railway and blamed it on the Chinese, giving them an excuse to invade.

-          By 1932 they had annexed Manchuria

-          China appealed to the league due to the obvious violation of the Covenant

-          However Japanese used its seat in the council to veto any decision

-          The Lytton commission took two years to determine that Japan was guilty

-          Japan rejected the Lytton commission and left the league in 1933

-          The Japanese walked all over the League of Nations and got away with the invasion and then continued to expand into the north of china

Abyssinia Crisis 1935 -1936

-          Mussolini aim was to avenge humiliation of 1896

-          Mussolini moved in with a large army and by 1936 he had occupied the capital

-          Britain and France “watered down” sanctions allowing Italian troopships and supply ships through to provide materials for war

-          The league was only giving Mussolini a “moral sanction”

-          Creating the Hoare-Laval pact undermined the credibility of the league showing that they gave into Italy and would do o other big powers

-          The league drove Italy into Germany’s hands

How successful was the League in the 1930s?

-          In the 1930s due to economic depression this encouraged nations to be more aggressive towards each other

-          Fascist dictatorships took power in Germany, Italy and Japan

-          The failure to intervene in Manchuria and Abyssinia were the last few straws for the league as it lost all credibility

-          These crises destroyed the authority of the League, and it was powerless to stop Germany after 1935

-          This failure to control the big powers within Europe brought about the policy of appeasement

-          Without USA in the league the league could never have been successful

1 Were the peace treaties of 1919–23 fair?

What were the motives and aims of the Big Three (Peacemakers) at Versailles?

David Lloyd George – British Prime minister

-          Wanted to “make Germany pay” but did not want to be too harsh to make Germany vengeful or France too strong

-          Trading relation with Germany

-          Wanted reparations from Germany

George Clemenceau – French Prime minster

-          Wanted a harsh treaty which would crush and punish Germany to ensure French security

-          Reparations from Germany

Woodrow Wilson – US president

-          Being 3000 miles away from Germany Wilson had no fear of a German invasion

-          Did not want to punish Germany as harshly due to economic interests

-          League of nations to be set up

-          14 Key Points

Why did all the victors not get everything they wanted?

-          Different victors wanted different things, so they couldn’t all have everything what they wanted

-          The Big Thee were aware that their job was not just to get what they want but to re-build peace

-          The British and the French got a lot of what they wanted but not everything

-          European countries though Japan as inferior which resulted in them receiving nothing

What was the impact of the peace treaty on Germany up to 1923?

Germany was forced to disarm

-          Abolish conscription

-          Reduce its army to 100,00

-          Limit its navy to 24 ships, with no submarines

-          No air force

-          Demilitarise the Rhineland

To pay reparations

-          Germany had to pay £6.6 billion

Lose 13% of its territory

-          Alsace Lorraine was handed back to France

-          Saar was given to the French for 15 years

-          Danzig was put under League of Nations control

-          Poland was given parts of the Posen and West Prussia, crating the “Polish Corridor” giving access to the sea

-          Surrender its entire colonial empires

-          Promise to never unite with Germany

-          To accept the “war guilt clause” Article 80

The impact of the treaties on the defeated countries

Austria – Treaty of St Germaine 1919

-          Austria was disarmed and there army was limited to 30,000

-          Reparations had to be paid and they had to accept article 231

Hungary – Treaty of Trianon 1920

-          Disarmed and had there army limited to 35,000

-          Pay reparations

-          Lost 2/3 of its territory

Bulgaria – Treaty of Nevilly 1919

-          Army limited to 20,000

-          Pay reparations

Turkey – Treaty of Sevres 1920

-          Black sea became under international control

-          Turkey was to lose various coastal territories, however the Sultan was overthrown

-          After the Turks overthrew the Sultan Britain was forced to agreeing treaty of Lausanne

Turkey - Treaty of Lausanne

-          Cancelled treaty of Sevres

-          Turkey regained lost land

-          Military restrictions were torn up

Could the treaties be justified at the time?

Too harsh

-          Germany has no say in the treaty

-          Germany had to accept responsibility for the war

-          Reparations demand was unreasonable, crippling Germany

Wasn’t too harsh

-          Germany didn’t give Russia much say in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1917

-          Most historians believe that Germany did deserve the primary responsibility

-          Self-determination (the right for each country to have its own territory) was applied

-          Treaties were not fair as Germany could not cope with demands of the big three

-          Unreasonable and cause the second world war

-          The treaty should have been harsher to prevent the second world war