League failures during the 1930s

    Aside from the achievements of the committees and organisations of the League and settling disputes over the Chaco (Bolivia vs. Paraguay) and Leticia (Peru vs. Colombia), League was a big failure in 1930s



    It's failures included...



    The Manchurian Crisis

    Japan's reasons to invade Manchuria

    • Manchuria had many raw materials and areas for agriculture
    • Encouraged to invade Manchuria as it did was not self-resourceful of food, and depended on traded food imports to feed population


    Japan's economy

    • Japan's economy depended on silk exports. Silk is a luxury item, and could not be afforded by countries, causing a decline in market. Therefore, Japan's economy was in a bad position
    • Japan had a growing surplus population, and needed land for them


    Mukden Railway Incident

    • Japan staged a situation in which Chinese soldiers bombed the Mukden railway, and Japanese soldiers were invading Manchuria in response to that
    • China appealed to the League, and the Japanese government agreed to stop the aggression. However, the Japanese government was no longer in control and the army began to take power and seize Manchuria


    Response of the League

    • No economic sanctions imposed as Europe did not want to cut off their trade with the Far East
    • No military sanctions imposed as there was little chances of success since a navy force would have to be sent to the other sides of the world
    • Britain and France did not want to upset Japan, as they were scared of their colonies in the Far East (eg. Hong Kong and Singapore) to be invaded
    • Sent Lytton Commission of 4 people to investigate whether or not the invasion was justified
    • After six weeks, they came to the conclusion that the invasion was not justified
    • Voted on the Lytton Report 18 months after original action of the invasion of Manchuria (at this point, Japan was already in control of Manchuria)
    • Japan left the League


Failure of the Disarmament Conference (1932-34)

  • Met in Geneva to discuss disarmament
  • 54 states were present
  • France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia feared German invasion and did not want to rely on a failing system of collective security
  • France was willing to disarm with British and American guarantees, something they were incapable of doing at the time
  • Hitler claimed that France did not consider disarmament seriously, and used that as an excuse to not disarm. Germany left the League following this event
  • After Japan left the League in response to judgement of Manchurian crisis, it was clear that disarmament was unfeasible
  • Germany announced the violation of disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles in 1935, with Italian and Japanese rearmament following soon after


Invasion of Abyssinia
  • Reasons to invade Abyssinia (even though Abyssinia had little economic value)
    • Mussolini invaded Abyssinia for popular by taking revenge against Abyssinia after their defeat in Adowa (northern Abyssinia) in 1896
    • Seemed like an easy way to gain territory, as Abyssinia had little military force and weapons
    • Mussolini attacked without any declaration of war with 250K men
  • Response of the League
    • Quickly condemned the action and imposed limited economic sanctions
    • Economic Sanctions were not effective as war materials such as oil and coal were not restricted, and the Suez Canal supply line was left open as Britain feared Italian invasion of British colonies Gibraltar and Malta
    • Britain and France tried to sign a secret deal with Mussolini, allowing him to have 2/3 of Abyssinia in exchange for stopping the action
    • Mussolini originally planned to accept deal, but after information about this was exposed to the public, the invasion continued, with sanctions ending in July
  • Consequences of the invasion of Abyssinia
    • Britain and France had conflicting objectives to carry out collective security and to keep Italy an ally
    • They were unable to reach either goal
    • Italy was upset about economic sanctions and left the League in 1937, and then become an ally of Germany
    • The reputation of the League of Nations was tarnished and it was not relied on after the invasion of Abyssinia
    • Countries turned to rearmament and alliances instead
    • There were no meetings until the final meeting in April 1946
    • Permanent Court of International Justice and International Labour Organisation became part of the United Nations


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