KQ2: To what extent was League of Nations a success?

Question 1

Main aims of LoN:

Answer 1

• Stop War
• Improve people’s lives/jobs
• Disarmament
• Enforce Treaty of Versailles

Question 2

Operation of LoN:

Answer 2

• All Nations join
• All Nations disarm
• Sanctions on any member who broke rules
• Problems/disputes taken to LoN
• Protect one another if invaded

Question 3

Problems from the start:

Answer 3

• USA didn’t join
• Dominated by Britain and France
• Germany barred
• Permanent members with vetoes: Britain, France, Italy, Japan
• No standing army
• All decisions had to be unanimous

Question 4

Treaties in 1920s (6 points):

Answer 4

• Washington Conference 1921
• Rapallo Treaty 1922
• Dawes’ Plan 1924
• Locarno Treaty 1925
• Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928
• Young Plan 1929

All done OUTSIDE LoN, against Wilson’s 14 points

Question 5

Washington Conference

Answer 5

• 1921
• Japan, Britain, Britain, France, USA all agree to limit navies

Question 6

Rapallo Treaty

Answer 6

1922
- Germany and USSR open diplomatic relations

Question 7

Dawes’ Plan

Answer 7

1924
- USA lends money to Germany to stop hyperinflation

Question 8

Dawes’ Plan

Answer 8

1924
- USA lends money to Germany to stop hyperinflation

Question 9

Locarno Treaty

Answer 9

1926
- Germany accepts Western Borders (gives up Saarland, Alsace-Lorraine, Malmedy)

Question 10

Kellogg-Briand Pact

Answer 10

1928
- War is condemned as a method of conflict relation by 65 countries

Question 11

Young Plan

Answer 11

1929
- USA agrees to reduce American war reparations to help Germany back on its feet
(Never happens because of Depression)

Question 12

Successful Diplomatic Incidents in 1920s:

Answer 12

• Upper Silesia 1921
• Aaland Islands 1921
• Mosul 1924
• Bulgaria 1925

Question 13

Upper Silesia

Answer 13

1921:
-LoN allowed a plebiscite and stuck to it, giving industrial land to Germany and agricultural areas to Poland

Question 14

Aaland Islands

Answer 14

1921:
- Wanted by Sweden and Finland
- LoN gives them to Finland, Sweden backs down

Question 15

Mosul:

Answer 15

1924:
- Area disputed between Ottomans and Iraq
- LoN gives it to Iraq, no conflict, Ottomans back down

Question 16

Bulgaria

Answer 16

1925:
- Greek soldiers killed on Greco-Bulgarian border
- Greece invades Bulgaria
- LoN fines them £45,000

Question 17

Structure of LoN:

Answer 17

• Assembly, met once a year, all members, all decisions unanimous
• Council, met 5 times a year, 4 permanent members (Britain, France, Japan, Italy), each with a veto
• Permanent Court of International Justice gave legal advice to Council and Assembly
• Secretariat kept records, arranged interpreters etc
• International Labour Organisations worked to improve working conditions
• Conference of Ambassadors settled border disputes

Question 18

Health Organisation:

Answer 18

• Survived LoN to become WHO
• Developed Vaccines for diptheria, tetanus, TB
• Campaign to exterminate mosquitoes
• Created research institutes in London, Copenhagen and Singapore
• Helped non-LoN states (USSR typhus epidemic)

Question 19

Refugee Organisation:

Answer 19

• Helped repatriate WW1 PoW’s and civillians
• gave them documents, retrained them
• Helped 425,000 people

Question 20

Economic and Financial Organisation:

Answer 20

• Controlled Interest rates, circulation of banknotes
• Gave loans
  -unemployment fell and budgets were balanced in Austria, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria

Question 21

International Labour Organisation:

Answer 21

-Workers rights
- Put in place 8 hr days, 48 hr weeks, annual holiday, trade unions
- got rid of white lead paint

Question 22

Slavery Commission:

Answer 22

-Abolish Slavery
- Freed 200,000 slaves in Sierra Leone
- reduced death rate on Tanganyikan railway from 50% to 4%
- Abolished slavery in Iraq, Jordan, Nepal

Question 23

Failures in 1920’s:

Answer 23

• Vilna 1920
• Occupation of the Ruhr 1923
• Corfu 1923
• Wall St. 1929

Question 24

Vilna

Answer 24

1920
- Poland invades Lithuanian Capital (Vilna)
- LoN condemns but Poland doesn’t stop
- Noone willing to send troops or anger Poland (Communist buffer)
- LoN gives Vilna to Poland

Question 25

Occupation of the Ruhr

Answer 25

1923 - France and Belgium invade the Ruhr (industrial area of Germany) to take reparations) - only left in 1925 when USA stabilised German economy - Directly led to hyperinflation

Question 26

Corfu

Answer 26

1923 -Italian General killed in Greece - Italians invade Greek Island of Corfu -LoN condemns it, Italians continue - Greece is forced to pay Italy 50 mill. Lira for them to leave

Question 27

Manchurian Incident

Answer 27

1931-33 - Japan invades Manchuria (China) for resources, power, money after Wall St. - LoN powerless, Japan only power in Asia - Japan uses it's veto to stop action - LoN send Lord Lytton to investigate, many people die around him, he condemns Japan, but nothing happens - 1933: Japan leaves LoN

Question 28

Disarmament Conference:

Answer 28

1932-34 - Tried to get 54 countries to disarm, after Wall St. tensions were high and noone willing to cooperate any more - Hitler gives speech that he is outraged that Germany has been the only major nation to disarm and that it's not fair, then walks out of the conference. - Germany leaves LoN in 1933, announces violations of ToV in 1934 and begins remilitarising

Question 29

Abyssinia

Answer 29

1935-36 - Italy wanted Abyssinia (Ethiopia) for its own empire (also get back pride from 1896 defeat) - 1934 Ethiopian soldiers meet Italian ones in Ethiopian territory, prepare to invade - January 1935: British, French, Italian diplomats sign the Stresa Pact allying against Hitler - October 1935: Italy invades - LoN has chance to stop imports to Italy but Britain and France want to keep Mussolini onside - December 1935: Britain and France propose the Hoare-Laval Pact, giving 2/3 of Abyssinia to Italy, calls off the attack - Italy continues invasion anyway