The League of Nations had been a partially successful organization in the 1920s. During the 1930s the situation became worst, and the League had been bypassed and ignored by powerful nations. The long term and short term weaknesses of the League had been exposed. The League had depended on Britain and France for support in times of crisis. However neither France nor Britain was willing to abandon their self-interests, and spend more of their time supporting the League. During the 1930s, it became a known fact that Britain and France had other priorities. Throughout the existence of the League, it always had a problem with its members.
Germany had not been allowed to join until 1926 because of the treaty of Versailles, but it left in 1933. Japan also left in 1933 after the Manchurian Crisis, and Italy left in 1937 after the Abyssinian crisis. Russia did not join until 1934. When Italy, Japan, and Germany left the League, Britain and France were left as the only permanent members of the League. Also most importantly, the USA had never been a member. Without the major powers, the Leagues ability to enforce sanctions was almost none existent. If the trade sanctions failed, the League was left with no choice other than using military force.
Yet as in the 1920s the League did not have an army of its own, and its members were not willing to commit their troops. The League was never able to use this option to enforce its rules. One of the Leagues problems was the way that it had been structured. The League was meant to act quickly, however in many cases the League met infrequently and took a very long time to make decisions. The first test for the League, during the 1930s, was when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931. Japan had been a very powerful nation, and a permanent member of the League.
The Essay on Britain & France
Britain was engaged in a series of battles with France and under pressure of keeping its large empire together and working properly. British people had come to view their colonies as subordinate followers of their great nation and therefore the Revolution came as a shock to many. Britain was as the superpower of very concerned with validating its power and prestigious status through expansion ...
Japan had been seriously weakened due to the 1929 Depression; the country was going through on economic and political crisis. China appealed to the League, and they ordered Japan to leave but were ignored. Japan told the League that it was there to settle disputes, and not there as an aggressor. The League sent the Lytton committee in the area to assess the problem, and report back to the League. The Lytton report took a whole year to be made. They suggested imposing trade sanctions against Japan, but they needed a unanimous vote. Japan voted against it, and nothing was done. The Manchurian crises made the League seem weak and ineffective. People began to realize that the League was not able to deter a powerful nation from becoming aggressive.
After the Manchurian crisis Mussolini and Hitler envied the Japanese dictator, and would soon follow his example. During 1936-1937 Italy, Germany and Japan formed the Axis alliance and the Anti-Comintern pact. Another reason why the League failed was the disarmament issue, in the 1920s the League failed to bring about disarmament. In the 1930s there was another disarmament conference, this conference also failed for many reasons. One reason was that no one was really serious about disarmament. The British and French were divided on this issue. By 1933 the British people thought the treaty of Versailles was unfair, the British went behind the back of the League and signed an agreement with Germany to build up its navy as long as it stayed under 35% of Britains navy. Britain had not consulted the League, it seemed that each country was looking after itself and ignoring the League. In 1932 Germany proposed the principle of equality, meaning that all nations would disarm to the level of Germany or Germany should be allowed to re-arm to a level closer to that of the other nations.
Germany left the conference and after that Britain suggested the naval Re-Armament Pact, Germany accepted this, thus joining the conference again. Soon after Hitler became chancellor, and started to re-arm secretly. To have an excuse Hitler suggested that in five years all nations should destroy their arms. As expected no one agreed so Hitler left the League and conference in 1933, after this Hitler began to rearm openly. In 1935 the final and major crisis for the League was the Abyssinian crisis. Mussolini (Italy) wanted to distract people from internal problems, and to rebuild the Roman Empire.
The Essay on Aims Of Germany And Japan
The 1930s were a tumultuous time. After World War I, the Allied powers seemed determined to preserve peace, but Germany and Japan held a shared goal of world domination. In two memorandums about the plans of Germany and Japan, U.S. officials make the position that the United States should take plain: mobilize and be ready for war, but do not provoke it. In other words, Speak softly but carry a big ...
In 1896 Italy has suffered a humiliating defeat by the Abyssinians. In 1934 Italian and Ethiopian Soldiers were fighting at Wal – Wal oasis (in Abyssinia).
Mussolini claimed the Oasis was Italian property; he demanded an apology and began preparations to invade. Abyssinia appealed to the League, but Britain and France did not take the situation seriously. In early 1935 Britain and France and Italy signed the STRESA Pact, all three countries ignored Germanys invasion of Austria. Due to elections in Britain they were more concerned about security rather than Abyssinia being invaded. The League imposed sanctions on Italy but they did not work since the USA still continued to trade and since Britain and France did not handle the situation correctly. In 1935 the British and French without the League created a secret pact which allowed Italy to keep 2/3 of Abyssinia, if they stopped the invasion.
This never took place, and the Leagues reputation was weakened further. In 1936 Hitler invaded the Rhineland, and the French were desperately trying to stay on friendly terms with Italy. In conclusion why the League failed in the 1930s was that the Leagues reputation and authority was weakened. Most of the world had lost their confidence in the League, and many people have said that if the Manchurian crisis had been handled well there would not have been as many problems leading up to World War Two. Furthermore some other reasons for the League failure were because of its members self interests, the lack of troops to enforce applied sanctions, the failure to disarm its members, the inability to make quick decisions, and because some important nations never joined or withdrew..
