League of Nations Flashcards
(28 cards)
What did Wilson want the League of Nations to be?
An organisation that prevented war and encouraged peace worldwide
What was the Aaland Islands dispute 1921?
- Finland vs Sweden
- The islands were Finnish, but Sweden wanted it
- Sweden put troops and weapons there
- Finland went to the League
- League decided Finland could keep the Aaland islands, but it had to be demilitarised
What was the Corfu Crisis 1923?
- Greece vs Italy
- Italian general murdered in Greek territory while trying to settle a dispute between Greece and Albania
- Italy invaded Greece
- Greece went to the League who did nothing
- Conference of Ambassadors told Italy to withdraw
- Greece had to pay compensation
What was the Greek - Bulgaria Crisis 1925?
- Greece invaded Bulgaria
- Bulgaria went to the League
- League said both armies stop fighting and Greece should pull out of Bulgaria
- Greece fined £45,000 as they were to blame
- Both nations accepted this decision
What was the Upper Silesia crisis 1921?
- Treaty of Versailles gave people of Upper Silesia right to have plebiscite on whether they wanted to be part of Weimar Germany or Poland
- 700,000 voted for Germany, 500,000 voted for Poland
- Led to riots between people who voted for Germany and those who voted for Poland
- League held 6 week enquiry and decided Upper Silesia be split between Germany and Poland
- Accepted by both countries and the people in Upper Silesia
What did the International Labour Organisation do?
- Removed lead from paint
- Encouraged the introduction of sickness and unemployment benefits
- Set labour standards
What did the refugee committee do?
- Helped free over 427,000 prisoners of war by 1921
- Nansen passport - used for ID of refugees
What did the health committee do?
- Started to campaign to eradicate malaria and yellow fever through killing mosquitoes
- Later become the WHO
How was the Aaland Islands a success of the League?
Both countries accepted the decision
How was the Corfu Crisis a weakness of the League?
Showed powerful nations could still bully less powerful nations
How was the Greek - Bulgaria Crisis a failure of the League?
- showed the League was inconsistent in its dealings with Greece, as Mussolini was allowed to take similar action during the incident in Corfu in 1921.
- this suggested the League’s reaction to disputes depended on the countries involved
How was the Upper Silesia crisis a strength of the League?
Germany and Poland accepted the results, as did the people of Upper Silesia, which stopped the riots
What was the Manchuria Crisis 1931?
- Depression caused silk trade to collapse
- Military overthrew Japanese government
- Japan wanted to invade Manchuria but needed a reason
- Japan owned railway line in Manchuria - bomb planted and detonated then blamed the Chinese
- Japan invaded Manchuria
What happened as a result of the Manchuria Crisis 1931?
- China asked League for help - sent Lord Lytton to investigate
- Took Lytton a year to investigate - reported Japan to blame and must leave Manchuria
- Japan refused to listen and left the League
- Japan announced invasion of China
- League handled crisis poorly - looked weak to other countries
What was the Abyssinia Crisis 1934?
- 1934 - “incident” took place at Wal-Wal in Ethiopian territory - Italians attacked
- Mussolini used this as excuse to invade
- Britain and France had armies in colonies around Abyssinia and controlled Suez Canal - route Mussolini was taking so could have stopped him
What happened as a result of the Abyssinia Crisis 1934?
- Secret Hoare-Laval Pact - Italy gets ⅔ Abyssinia in exchange for support against Hitler - leaked to press
- Humiliated Britain and France - destroyed the League
- Mussolini signed alliance with Hitler - Rome-Berlin Axis
- Hitler used Abyssinia as a distraction to remilitarise Rhineland
What was the Covenant of the League?
Based on the idea of collective security but this would only work if member countries enforced it
What were the League’s 3 main organisational bodies?
- Council
- Assembly
- Secretariat
What was the Assembly?
- Debating chamber - only met once a year in an emergency
- Based on equality - each state allowed 3 representatives so everyone could have a say and be heard
What was the Conference of Ambassadors and who dominated it?
- Committee of Allied Powers responsible for enforcing Versailles and other treaties
- Dominated by Britain, France and Italy
How did Britain want to enforce Versailles through the Conference of Ambassadors?
Ensure balance of power by making sure France and Germany couldn’t dominate
How did France want to enforce Versailles through the Conference of Ambassadors?
Stuck between economic cooperation with Germany and applying forceful measures to weaken Germany
What happened at the Washington Naval Conference 1922?
- Almost naval race between US and Japan
- Britain publicly announced naval programme to aid Japan - privately admitted to USA they couldn’t afford arms race and negotiated settlement = preferable
- Naval treaty stopped large battleships being built for 10 years, and provided ratio of warships allowed for US, Britain, France, Japan and Italy
- Move towards disarmament
What happened at the London Naval Conference 1930?
- France felt threatened by Italian power in Mediterranean so wanted to increase number of warships allowed
- France and Italy refused to agree with other powers to limit non-battleship construction
- Led to naval race between France and Italy
- Japan disliked London Naval Treaty - weakened Japan. PM assassinated in 1932 and military took over
- US and Britain celebrated Treaty as it saved huge sums of money during economic depression
