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League of Nations

How Successful was the League in thee 1920’s?

The Birth of the League

-The League of Nations was meant to be a league that could solve international problems without resorting to war. Wilson wanted the League to be a world parliament where representatives of all nations could meet together regularly to decide on any matters that affected them all. Whilst Britain thought it should act in emergency situations and France thought it should be a strong league with it’s own army. Wilson’s version of the league prevailed, and the League also became a major part of the peace treaties (Treaty of Versailles).

-USA didn’t join   because the nation didn’t agree due to:
-The League being part of the Treaty, many Germans lived in America and didn’t want the USA to have any part in it
-Troops getting sent in to settle every conflict, they wanted USA to stay out of war
-economic cost of joining the league, the USA following the isolationism policy made them affluent so they should remain that way and stay out of European affairs
-Ant-British & French, didn’t want to defend empires, opposed colonies and empires
This lead to the USA never joining the League making it much weaker

How did the League of Nations work?

Aims of the League were to:
-discourage aggression from any nation
-encourage countries to co-operate, especially in business
-encourage nations to disarm
-improve the living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world

Membership of the League

-Britain and France were the most powerful nations in the league, Italy and Japan were also permanent members of the council

-Britain and France were both weakened by WW1, were not a major power anymore, nor did they have resources to replace the gap left by USA. Without USA the league did not have the power, influence, resources (meaning trade sanctions would only work with USA agreement)

-Britain and France had other personal priorities coming before the...