http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations
League of Nations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Table of contents [showhide]
1 Structure of the League
2 General Secretaries of the League
3 Reasons for perceiving the League as a failure
4 External Link
The League of Nations was an international organization
established on January 25, 1919 by part I of the Treaty of Versailles, founded
with the intention of reducing armaments, settling disputes between countries
and maintaining living conditions. This was largely motivated by the bloodshed
during World War I. While the League failed to prevent World War II, it was
successful in dealing with minor conflicts throughout the 1920s. The League
held its first meeting on January 10, 1920 and on the same day ratified the
Treaty of Versailles thus officially ending World War I. The first general
assembly of the League was held in Geneva on November 15, 1920. The League
formally dissolved itself on April 18, 1946 and transferred its mission to the United
Nations.
Structure of the League
The League had a Council, which began with four permanent
members, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan and non-permanent members. It
had an Assembly in which each member was represented. Both of these required unanimous
votes for any action to be taken; the members were not always represented in
Geneva. The League was also involved in many other agencies and the Permanent
Court of International Justice which later became the International Court of
Justice.
General Secretaries of the League
Sir James Eric Drummond (U.K.) 1920 - 1933
Joseph Avenol (France) 1933 - 1940
Seán Lester (Ireland) 1940 - 1946
Reasons for perceiving the League as a failure
It lacked any armed forces.
Unanimous vote was required.
Major countries not included. Even though president
Woodrow Wilson had been a driving force behind the League of Nations, the
United States never joined, after its Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of
Versailles and on January 19, 1919 voted not to join the League. Italy and
Japan began as permanent members, but left in 1937 and 1932, respectively.
Germany was only a member between 1926 and 1933. The USSR joined in 1934, it
was expelled for aggression in 1939 when it invaded Finland.
The exclusion of the Japanese proposed Racial Equality
Clause from the League's Covenant crippled the League's moral authority in the
view of most historians.
Previous failures showed it to be ineffectual: Italy's
invasion of Abyssinia was one of the most significant (the Abyssinia crisis).
A non-permanent council and assembly made for slow
decisions.
Self-interest of most-important members.
Atatrk, Kemal