The League of Nations was founded in 1920 with the goal of maintaining world peace. It was established through the Treaty of Versailles and other peace treaties after World War I. The League operated through an Assembly of member states and a Council of permanent and rotating members that made decisions on issues to be voted on. However, key countries like Germany, the US and Soviet Union were not members, and all decisions required unanimity. As a result, the League struggled to resolve disputes and enforce collective security, contributing to its inability to prevent the start of World War II.

1. The League of Nations

2. Our aims this term
• Learn the aims of the League of Nations, and
explain how the League was founded
• Explain how the League of Nations operated
• Identify some key weaknesses in the League
of Nations
“Why was the League of Nations
unable to ensure world peace?”

4. Important Facts
• League of Nations was founded January 10, 1920
with 42 founding members (incl. Peru)
• The League Covenant was part of the Treaty of
Versailles and other 5 Peace Treaties after the
Great War. The League on Nations began at the
same moment that the Great War ended
• Germany, Austria, Hungary and Russia were not
allowed to join the League. The US chose not to
join
• All decisions in the League were made not by all
League members, but the League Council

5. Covenant of the League of Nations
“THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,
In order to promote international co-operation and to achieve
international peace and security
by the acceptance of 1obligations not to resort to war,
by the prescription of 2open, just and honorable relations
between nations,
by the firm establishment of the understandings of
3international law as the actual rule of conduct among
governments, and
by the 4maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for
all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples
with one another, agree to this Covenant of the League of
Nations…”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp

6. http://www.enotes.com/topic/League_of_Nations

7. Collective Security
• Article 10, Covenant of the League of Nations:
“The Members of the League undertake to
respect and preserve as against external
aggression the territorial integrity and existing
political independence of all Members of the
League”
• How is collective security different from an
alliance?
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp

8. What were LoN responsibilities?
• Permanent Court of International Justice
• International Labor Organization (ILO)
• Colonial “Mandates” – Mandates Commission
• Global Disarmament - Disarmament Commission
• Health Organization
• Permanent Central Opium Board
• Commission for Refugees
• Slavery Commission
• International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation

9. How did the League of Nations work?
• The League Council – made of permanent
members (Great Britain, France, Italy, and
Japan), and non-permanent members
• The Assembly – made of all participating
countries
• The League Council decided what issues were
to be voted on by the League Assembly
• The League Council and Assembly almost
always had to vote unanimously

10. …and the US?

11. …and the US?
• Isolationism – the US intended to stay out of any
problems in Europe, as they were for European
countries to solve.
• This idea had existed before WWI, but only the sinking
of the Lusitania and the fear of war with Germany and
Mexico convinced Americans to fight in Europe.
• After the war, a new president in 1920 – Warren
Harding – promised to “return to normalcy”, meaning
back to isolationism in the US
• The League of Nations was never ratified in the US, and
the First World War technically ended in 1927 in the US

12. • http://eh.lenin.ru/english/7or/un/xln.htm
• http://jlf207.wix.com/mr-jason-history-wik

13. 5 important questions about the
League of Nations
1. Was the League really just a “European club”?
2. How important were the missing countries in the League?
3. How did Britain and France see the League differently?
4. How did the League utilize the 4 weapons of “Collective
Security”?
5. What did critics of the League say, and were they correct?
REMEMBER –
– Be organized
– Be creative
– Are you IDEALISTIC or REALISTIC?
– Did you ANSWER THE QUESTION?