TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > History > The Achievements and Weaknesses of the Leage of Nations
The Achievements of the League
- The agencies did a lot of good work. It was very successful in settling the disputes like the Aaland Islands dispute between Finland and Sweden also the Greek attack on Bulgaria in 1925.
- In the 1920's, its membership increased most notably when Germany was included in 1926.
- The league's presence gave a platform for situations to be dealt with in discussion instead of force.
The Weakness of the League
- All of the victorious great powers had joined after the war except America, only France and the United Kingdom had been with the League from start to finish. The league could not really act on the big nations who could ignore the league's "collective security" which was their act on aggressors instead of deploying an army. So it could not enforce its decisions.
- In 1923 the Corfu incident demonstrated to the world that the League could not deal at all with acts of aggression. In 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria, all the league could do was condemn Japan who left the league and continued the aggression against China.
- When Italy attacked Abyssinia all the league could do was condemn Italy and place sanctions on it, but they didn’t put sanctions on the oil, which would have been an effective option. Britain and France didn't give the league proper support. The league could not prevent Italy from completing the invasion of Abysinnia.
The Manchurian Crisis
Japan was not happy with the peace settlement at the end of World War 1. The Wall Street Crash and the increase of population in Japan meant that there was a reduction in markets for Japanese goods.Many people including the Japanese army thought that expanding into Manchuria would help.
- 1904 - Japan was allowed to have soldiers guarding the South Manchurian Railway.
- 1931 September - The Japanese claimed that they were sabotaged by the Chinese when there was an explosion on the railwayline at Mukden.
There was no proof of this since the there was no interruption in the railway.
But the Japanese army invaded and took control after easily defeating the Chinese at Mukden.
The army had not taken permission from the goverenment but it was so popular that the Japanese army was now in contol of policy in Japan.
Comments
Its Abyssinia, not Ethiopia.
