League of Nations

Global intergovernmental organization created after World War I to provide a stable postwar order. Predecessor to the United Nations, the League of Nations largely failed in its goal, due in part to the unwillingness of the United States to become involved in the international organization.

Wilson and the Fourteen Points

In a speech to the U.S. Congress on January 8, 1918, near the end of World War I, President Woodrow [Page 426]Wilson outlined Fourteen Points for a program for peace. In the speech, Wilson mentioned the idea of “peace without victory” and expressed his hopes for a postwar world order centered around an organized common peace. The causes of the war were believed to have been secret diplomacy and treaties, as well as the rivalries created by the balance-of-power system. Wilson outlined the idea of an international organization, a League of Nations, that would foster open diplomacy and mutual protection from external aggression.

Wilson's ideas appealed to both the Central Powers (Germany agreed to peace on the basis of these points) and the Allies (who sought a more stable order and national security). Moreover, it was believed that the League of Nations and its sister organization, the International Labor Organization (ILO), would represent a stabilizing response to an emerging communist threat.

Wilson presented the draft of the Covenant of the League of Nations at the Paris Peace Conference on February 14, 1919. The document established provisions for protecting sovereignty, resolving disputes, administration of the Central Powers' colonies (which were taken from them at the end of the war), and defending fellow member states against aggression. These points became part of the final covenant, which was born out of the Treaty of Versailles (1919).

Although Wilson's idealism and zeal helped shape the League of Nations and bring it into being, the United States never became a member of the international organization. Facing opposition at home, led by Republican senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Wilson attempted to get the treaty ratified by Congress. Opponents, however, were wary of Article 10 of the League's covenant, which provided for joint protection from external aggression, believing that this provision might drag the United States into a future war. The motion for U.S. participation in the League was defeated in Congress on November 19, 1919.

The League Convenes

The League of Nations first convened, without the United States, on January 10, 1920, in its new headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, a site that was chosen because of Swiss neutrality. The new organization consisted of three main organs. The Council, the main body of the League, consisted of five permanent members—France, Great Britain, Japan, Italy, and the United States (even though the United States never took its seat)—and four nonpermanent members (this number was later increased). Germany and the Soviet Union became permanent members of the Council for short periods during the life of the League. The second organ of the League was the Assembly, which represented all nations and functioned on a one-nation, one-vote principle. Both organs were supported by a Secretariat.

The new League of Nations did much to shape the postwar world and create precedents in international affairs. For example, a League resolution in 1920 created the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), or World Court, at The Hague in the Netherlands. With the World Court, nations now had an international judicial body that could resolve disputes. Although the PCIJ lacked jurisdictional and enforcement powers, it was a great step forward for the rule of international law.

...