League of Nations - a Success or a Failure?

After the First World War everyone wanted to avoid repetition of the mass slaughter of the war that had just ended. US was horrified by such an act, therefore, President Woodrow Wilson suggested an international body whose sole purpose was to maintain World peace. Before 1920 there was no such organization or place where the national Delegates could meet up and try to talk their way through their problems. After the War with great number of deaths, this idea was liked by almost everyone. Its main task was to sort out international disputes whenever they occurred. The League aimed to discourage aggression from any nation, to encourage countries to co-operate, especially in business and trade, to encourage nations to disarm, to improve the living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world. The headquarters of the League was based in Geneva, Switzerland. There where no disputes here as this was and is a neutral country and did not take part in the WWI. This country already had an international organization running here, Red Cross. The Covenant laid out the structure and rules for each of the bodies within the organization. However, the very democratic organization of the League was a great problem. The top most element of the League was the Assembly. This was the League's Parliament. Every country in the League sent a representative to the assembly. This only met once a year and it needed the agreement of ALL member countries before taking a decision. It represented all members, states regardless of size, and they all had a vote each. The assembly did not really have power at all and most decisions were compromises. The council was a smaller group and met more often, usually five times a year and on emergencies. It included the permanent and the temporary members. It was conquered by the permanent members. These were the major powers: Britain, France, Japan and Italy in the 1920s. The temporary ones were elected by the assembly for a three year