League of Nations

Background

The League drew on four main inspirations. The first was the 19th-century European concert system. This consisted of European powers meeting to arrange peace treaties, to agree on international rules on matters such as slavery and piracy, and to solve questions such as the division of Africa. The idea of international relations being managed by great powers survived World War I. Second, in the late 19th century, the international community was widened to include non-European states such as Japan and the Latin American states so that international rules were accepted more widely by states being included in their formulation. Most states attended the two Hague conferences convened in 1899 and 1907 to discuss matters such as disarmament. These set up arbitration panels for disputes. Third, during the 19th century, international economic and social organizations were established that broadened cooperation in functional areas such as post, weights and measures, and public health. Fourth, World War I saw cooperation between the Allied Powers. Ministers met together in the Inter-Allied Committee, and a multinational Supreme War Council was serviced by a permanent secretariat.

Covenant and Institutions

The 1919 Versailles Peace Conference concluded the peace treaty for World War I and created the League of Nations. The covenant, which established the League to maintain international peace and security, reflected the earlier experiences and the lessons of the drift to war before 1914. Article 8 of the Covenant of the League of Nations recommended reducing arms and limiting private armaments manufacture. Article 10 required states to respect and preserve each other's territorial [Page 1055]integrity, and Article 11 declared any threat of war a matter for the whole League, which would act to safeguard peace. Articles 12 to 15 outlined peaceful means to settle disputes: arbitration, conciliation, mediation, and judicial settlement. Article 16 stated that countries resorting to war in disregard of these processes would have violated agreements with all League members and would face trade and financial sanctions. Article 18 required international agreements to be negotiated openly. Article 23 asked colonial powers to ensure just treatment of native inhabitants. Article 22 dealt with international economic and social issues and established organizations dedicated to fair labor conditions and to the control of trafficking.

The League of Nations Council consisted of the great powers as permanent members plus elected nonpermanent members. Its main task was upholding peace and security. All sovereign states could become members of the General Assembly, the duties of which were less clear. The League of Nations Secretariat provided the League's administration.

Activities

The Council prevented conflict between Bulgaria and Greece in 1925 and between Finland and Sweden over the Aaland Islands in 1924. It solved the Mosul dispute between Turkey and Iraq in 1925. However, it could do little about Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1933 and of China in 1937, and sanctions were ineffective against Italy after its invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. It failed to take action against Hitler's attacks on Austria and Czechoslovakia. In 1939, it expelled the Soviet Union for its invasion of Finland.

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