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Why did the league of Nations fail ?

The League of Nations was set up by the Treaty of Versailles.

The League was Wilson's dream for a new world order - a new way of conducting foreign affairs that would abolish war and keep the world safe, but less than a quarter of a century later Wilson's dream lay in ruins.

Its aims

· to stop wars

· to encourage disarmament

· to make the world a better place by improving people's working conditions and by tackling disease

Its organisation

· an assembly, which met once a year

· a council, which met more regularly to consider crises

· a small secretariat to handle the paperwork

· a Court of International Justice

· a number of committees such as the International Labour Organisation and the Health Committee to carry out its humanitarian work

Its main strengths

· set up by the Treaty of Versailles, which every nation had signed.

· 58 nations as members by the 1930s.

· to enforce its will, it could offer arbitration through the Court of International Justice, or apply trade sanctions against countries that went to war.

Its main weaknesses

· set up by the Treaty of Versailles (which every nation hated)

· aims were too ambitious

· Germany, Russia and the USA were not members

· no army

· organisation was cumbersome

· decisions had to be unanimous

ailures of the League of Nations in the 1930s

The failures of the League in the 1930s were not only because of aggressor nations undermining its authority, but also down to its own members.

Britain and France, the two most influential members, ignored the League in their efforts to appease Hitler - actions that arguably led to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Significant failures

In the 1930s, the world economic depression encouraged nations to be more aggressive towards each other. Fascist dictatorships took power in Germany, Italy and Japan, which were intent on empire-building and these countries defied the League.

· Japan conquered Manchuria in 1932. The League objected, but could do little in response. When the League supported China's sovereignty, Japan left the League in March 1933.

· Hitler announced that Germany was leaving the League in October 1933.

· Italy invaded Abyssinia in 1935. Although the League officially condemned the Italians, France and Britain were caught making a secret agreement to give Abyssinia to Italy.

These crises destroyed the authority of the League, and it was powerless to stop Germany after 1935. By the time of the Sudeten crisis of 1938, Britain and France were ignoring the League, and were trying appeasement instead.