Preview

Was the League Doomed to Fail?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
467 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Was the League Doomed to Fail?
Chap 1 (Unit 1.2)
Factors that contribute to the League of Nations' weakness

(Point) Limited membership
(Eg/Evidence) USA did not want to join (most Americans were isolationist), Russians refused to join (they were Communists and hated Britain and France) and Germany was not allowed to join until 1925
(Elaborate) USA was the strongest and most powerful country in the world and commanded great respect and political clout. Its inclusive in the League of Nations would have enhanced the league’s credibility, reputation and enforcement power. Its absence was a crucial missing link in the cornerstone of establishing peace in the 1920s. This was not a problem in the 1920s, when the League dealt mainly with small countries like Sweden and Finland (Aaland Islands, 1921) and Bulgaria and Greece (1925). But, without the three world powers, the League was too weak to make a big country do as it wished for instance, in the case of Lithuanian & Polish dispute in Vilna, LON was unable to force withdrawal of Polish troops & eventually Polish annexed Vilna. Also, Italy invaded Greece because of Corfu incident. The LON had to accede to Italy's request for reparations & an official apology from Greece before Italy agreed to pulling troops out of Greece.
(Link) This showed that the League was powerless against big nations as they could not command sufficient authority without the support of a big nation's military backing. Additionally, limited membership resulted in the League being weak because it did not represent the interest of the whole world, and hence it could not enforce actions if it had to on the world community.

(Point) Structural weakness of the LON
(Eg/Evidence) The parts of the organization did not contribute towards congruent functioning of the League.
(Elaborate) The Assembly could only make a decision by a unanimous vote and as because the unanimity impeded efficiency, the Assembly thus hardly never made any decision. The Council was the executive body
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Progressive Woodrow Wilson's Foreign Policy After World War I
    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Progressive Woodrow Wilson's Foreign Policy After World War I

    Coming out of World War I, the United States emerged as the most powerful nation in the world. The president at this time was the Progressive Woodrow Wilson. Wilson came up with a plan for long lasting peace at the conclusion of the war called the Fourteen Points. One of these points was the League of Nations which was Wilson's favorite thing. This part of Wilson's plan stated, "A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike." However, the United States never signed the Treaty of Versailles and never became a member of the League of Nations. Opposition against Wilson's plans…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    League Of Nations Dbq
    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages

    League Of Nations Dbq

    There was much debate if the United States was going to join the League of Nations…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Futile Search for Stability after WWI
    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Futile Search for Stability after WWI

    * The peace settlement at the end of World War I had tried to fulfill nineteenth century dreams of nationalism by creating new boundaries and new states. President Woodrow Wilson placed many of his hopes for the future in the League of Nations. This however was not very effective. One major reason it failed is that the United States didn’t want to join the league. They didn’t wish to be involved in European affairs. The U.S. senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles. Between 1919 and 1924 desire for security led the French government to demand strict enforcement of the treaty. Inflation then led to workers going on strike and the government paid their salaries by printing paper money.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Triple alliance and The Triple Entrente
    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Triple alliance and The Triple Entrente

    Britain joined because they were worried about the German Navy. Finally Russia joined because they were worried about attacks from Germany and Austria-Hungary who both had growing armies. Russia also promised Serbia help if they were attacked.…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Compare And Contrast The Paris Peace Conference And The Treaty Of Versailles
    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Compare And Contrast The Paris Peace Conference And The Treaty Of Versailles

    Secondly, at the Paris Peace Conference, many of the nation's didn’t attend. Because of this, the Treaty of Versailles weakened. “Russia had fought as one of the Allies until December 1917, when its new Bolshevik Government withdrew from the war. The Bolshevik decision to repudiate Russia’s outstanding financial debts to the Allies and to publish the texts of secret agreements between the Allies concerning the postwar period angered the Allies”(Milestones:1914-1920). To clarify, though Russia was part of the Allies in the beginning, this nation angered the Allies when the Bolshevik removed themselves from the war. Finally, the U.S. signed a treaty with Germany. “This separate peace treaty with Germany stipulated that the United States would enjoy all “rights, privileges, indemnities, reparations or advantages” conferred to it by the Treaty of Versailles, but left out any mention of the League of Nations,…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Foreign Policy Between 1920 and 1940
    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Foreign Policy Between 1920 and 1940

    Woodrow Wilson’s idea to make a “league of nations” failed within his own country because the United States did not want to join it. “The League strikes a deadly blow at our constitutional integrity and surrenders to a dangerous extent our independence of action”, this exemplifies the way most people in the U.S. felt about the league, that it would tangle the United States in to more foreign affairs. Because the United States was changing its foreign policy to more of an isolationist one, it wanted no part of this league.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Which was more important as a reason for the failure of the League of Nations in the 1930's? The absence of the USA or Britain and France's self interest
    • 559 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Which was more important as a reason for the failure of the League of Nations in the 1930's? The absence of the USA or Britain and France's self interest

    Firstly, the absence of the USA. The League of Nations was thought up by the American president Woodrow Wilson it was one of his 14 points. He had come up with the idea, the League was in a sense his child, yet he was allowed no part in it. The American congress had refused to become members of The League and this caused all sorts of problems. America had the biggest trade industry and without them agreeing to economic sanctions they would be no use at all. That is what happened when Mussolini invaded Abyssinia, the League imposed sanctions but America continued to trade with Italy, this meant that the sanctions were useless. Another sanction that did not work without the help of the USA was military sanctions. Britain and France 's armies had both been weakened by the war and the rest of the league was relying on them to provide the troops. If America had been part of the League, they could have produced lots of troops for the army and the military sanctions would be more effective. Another thing is that the USA is a very powerful and rich country, the moral condemnation would have been more effective if the USA had been part of the League.…

    • 559 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Why was the League of Nations doomed to fail?
    • 1265 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Why was the League of Nations doomed to fail?

    One of the main reasons why the League of Nations could not succeed in its aims of global harmony was the fact that the country that first proposed the idea of the organisation did not join in the end. The U.S. Senate forbade America from joining on the grounds that they did not want to forsake national sovereignty, they didn't want to police the world, and many German-Americans, a significant percentage of the population at the time, resisted the idea of the States as a League of Nations member because of their indignance with the US' role in the Treaty of Versailles. Because the US did not join the League of Nations, the League lost much credibility in the eyes of other nations. Furthermore, the US was a trusted nation because of its relative newness and apparent flexibility, and the loss of them as a mediator was a blow to the League's effectiveness in negotiations with other countries. Nations would have trusted the League more if the US was part of it, as other countries leading the League were considered to be only looking out for their own interests, and the US did not have that image. Also, the economic and political weight of the League would have increased exponentially had the US joined, as they were a financial superpower with even more influence after World War 1. Without them, the League was automatically less effective, both in terms of economic…

    • 1265 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Explain Why The League Of Nations Was Weak
    • 316 Words
    • 1 Page

    Explain Why The League Of Nations Was Weak

    weaknesses. Various parts of the league did not work well together due to their conflicting…

    • 316 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Why Did the League of Nations Fail?
    • 14500 Words
    • 58 Pages

    Why Did the League of Nations Fail?

    The economic and political instability of the interwar period and the rise of authoritarian regimes are often seen as extensions of World War I and the Great Depression. The League of Nations, in turn, is usually seen as an organization that failed to act adequately during the various political crises of the period, beginning with the Japanese aggression in Manchuria. But, I would argue that its failure has to be seen in the larger context of the failed disarmament processes of the interwar period.…

    • 14500 Words
    • 58 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Two Main Causes of World War Ii Essay Example
    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Two Main Causes of World War Ii Essay Example

    One of the main causes of World War II was the failure of the League of Nations. The League of Nations was an international organization that resulted from Wilson’s fourteen points, to help keep world peace. Unfortunately, the League of Nations failed in maintaining peace and could not prevent the breakout of another World War. The League of Nations proved a failure for many reasons. They could not resolve the worldwide economic crisis, the Great Depression in the late 1930's. Also, they were unable to control wars after World War I. For instance, Japan was one of the members of the League of Nations; it declared war against Manchuria in 1931. The League of Nations tried to solve Japan’s war issues. As a result, Japan quit the League of Nations, creating a lack of unity. Countries like Britain and France abandoned the concept of collective security for the appeasement, which let Adolf Hitler build a German military. Also due to the lack of an armed force, the League of Nations could only rely on economic sanctions. These were the League's main weapon and used occasionally, but the sanctions could not be forceful enough without the help of the USA. Perhaps the biggest source of weakness of the League of Nations was the absence of the superpower of the United States. Without the United States, a major economic and military power, the decisions made by the League were less effective. The greatest failures of the League was not stopping Hitler's…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    was the league of nations doomed from the start
    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages

    was the league of nations doomed from the start

    Appearing weak and taking years to come to a conclusion, stronger countries started invaded weaker ones as they knew that the League wouldn’t be able to stop them. The League of Nations had no real power.…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Were the Successes and Failures of the League of Nations in the 1920s?
    • 683 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What Were the Successes and Failures of the League of Nations in the 1920s?

    The League of Nations aimed to stop wars, improve people’s lives and jobs, encourage disarmament and enforce the Treaty of Versailles.…

    • 683 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Weaknesses and Successes of League of Nation
    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Weaknesses and Successes of League of Nation

    The most important and noticeable weakness of League of Nation is limited membership. The US Senate had rejected the Treaty of Versailles and the League as it supported the policy of isolationism. It did not want the USA to become involved in world affairs that might require its young men to fight another war. The USA was the strongest and most powerful country in the world and commanded great respect and political clout. Its inclusive in the League of Nations would have enhanced the league’s credibility, reputation and enforcement power. Its absence was a crucial missing link in the cornerstone of establishing peace in the 1920s. Germany was not allowed to join the League in 1919. As Germany had started the war, according to the Treaty of Versailles, one of her punishments was that she was not considered to be a member of the international community and, therefore, she was not invited to join. This was a great blow to Germany but it also meant that the League could not use whatever strength Germany had to support its campaign against aggressor nations. Russia was also not allowed to join as in 1917; she had a communist government that generated fear in Western Europe. Therefore, three of the world’s most powerful nations played no part in supporting the League. The limited membership resulted in the league being weak because it did not represent the interest of the whole world, and hence it could not enforce actions if it had to on the world community. In other words, the league of Nation was not a united body.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Importance Of Imperialism In Europe
    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Importance Of Imperialism In Europe

    Italy had left Germany and Austro-Hungary for the Allies, and other countries such as Romania joined the allies in the war. America had joined due to Germany’s deadly Unrestricted Submarine war doctrine, which involved German U-Boats sinking any ship that wasn’t German, including passenger ships. After a British passenger ship was sunk and 100 Americans lost their lives, the civil unrest in America that was brought on by the war reached the tipping point, and American president Woodrow Wilson led us into the war. Also in 1917, the Russians were forced out of the war after the Communist Revolution that took place in October of that year, where the Bolshevik party, lead by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Czar of Russia and took over the country that would be known as the Soviet Union 5 years from…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics