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League of Nations during 1930 - 1939
Formation, successes, weaknesses and failures of the League of Nations
The failure of the League of Nations
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Recommended: League of Nations during 1930 - 1939
Through my studies and research I have come to the
following conclusion about the League of Nations: despite
all of President Woodrow Wilson's efforts, the League was
doomed to fail. I feel this was so for many reasons, some
of which I hope to convey in the following report. From the
day when Congress voted on the Fourteen Points, it was
obvious that the League had a very slim chance of being
passed in Congress, and without all of the World powers, the
League had little chance of surviving.
On November 11, 1918 an armistice was declared in
Europe. Wilson saw the opportunity to form an international
organization of peace to be formed. He acted quickly. On
January 18, 1919 he released his fourteen points. The
Fourteen Points consisted of many things, but the most
important was the fourteenth-the establishment of a league
of nations to settle international disputes and to keep the
peace. After congress had voted, only three of Wilson's
fourteen points were accepted without compromise. Six of
the others were rejected all together. Fortunately the
League was compromised.
Wilson then went to Europe to discuss the Treaty of
Versailles. Representatives from Italy, France, and Britain
didn't want to work with the nations they had defeated.
They wanted to hurt them. After much fighting and
negotiating, Wilson managed to convince them that a league
of nations was not only feasible, it was necessary.
The Senate supported most of the Treaty of Versailles
but not the League. They thought it would make the U.S.A.
too involved in foreign affairs. Wilson saw that the League
may not make it through Congress, so he went on the road and
gave speeches to sway the public opinion. Unfortunately,
Wilson's health, which was already depleted from the
negotiations in France, continued to recede. Wilson's battle
with his health reached its climax when Wilson had a stroke
on his train between speeches.
After Wison's stroke, support of the League weakened,
both in Congress and in the public's opinion. In 1920 G.
Harding, who opposed the League, was elected as president.
The League formed but the U.S. never joined.
The first meeting of the League was held in Geneva,
Switzerland on November 15, 1920 with fourty two nations
represented. During twenty-six years the League lived, a
total of sixty-three nations were represented at one time or
ano...
... middle of paper ...
...to effect its own dissolution,
whereupon much of its property and organization were
transferred to the United Nations which had resently been
founded. Never truly effective as a peace keeping
organization, the lasting importance of the League of
Nations lies in the fact that it provided the groundwork for
the United Nations. This international alliance, formed
after World War 2, not only profited by the mistakes of the
League but borrowed much of the organizational machinics of
the League of Nations.
The League of Nations and its impact on world peace
John James
Mrs. Hippe
History
March 7, 1996
Bibliography:
Mothner, Ira. Woodrow Wilson, Champion of Peace. New York
Watts Inc., 1969
Mason, Lorna; Garcia, Jesus; Powell, Frances; Risinger,
Fredrick. America's Past and Promise. Boston
McDougal Littell, 1995
Albright, Madeleine. "America and the League of Nations,
Lessons for Today" Speech
United States Department of State 1994
McNally, Rand. Atlas of World History. New York
Reed International Books Limited, 1992
Microsoft. "The League of Nations."
Excarta 95. 1995
Woodrow Wilson, our 23rd president, became involved in a war that he did not want any part of. Wilson wanted to remain neutral and have peace as in his first term of office. During World War I Wilson’s roles in the war became well known in all countries. Wilson wanted peace more than anything else. In seeking for peace Wilson asked Congress for the U.S. to enter World War I. which may not sound like a peace strategy but Wilson felt it was the only way to stop Germany and gain peace. Wilson wrote his speech for world peace, Fourteen Points, that he was probably most famous for. He attended and played an integral part in The Treaty of Versailles. He was the founder of the League of Nations, which he talked about in his Fourteen Points speech. .
... to be President afterwards. His unwillingness to compromise with the Senate caused the Treaty of Versailles along with the League of Nations never to be ratified by the United States. The notion of the League of Nations that won Wilson a Noble Peace Prize in 1920 was never joined his own country.
Following World War I, President Woodrow Wilson became the mastermind for the creation of an international organization (Dudley 72). Eventually he was successful in the creation of the League of Nations and fighting for it to become a part of the Treaty of Versailles (Dudley 72). Although the League became a point in the Treaty of Versailles, the United States still had to ratify the Treaty to become a part of the League themselves (Dudley 76). Americans became split about whether the United States should have a place in the League or not, and the U.S. Senate had a decision to make (Dudley 76). On one side of the argument was a Democratic senator of California, James D. Phelan (Dudley 74). Mr. Phelan believed that the United States should join the League of Nations because it is the duty of the U.S. to uphold our ideals and support Democracy (Dudley 76). However, on the opposing side of this argument was people like Lawrence Sherman, a Republican senator from Illinois (Dudley 76). Mr. Sherman felt that the United States should not join the League of Nations because that would go against the policies of isolationism he felt the U.S. should follow, and he believed that the League of Nations would bring America too much into the conflicts of Europe (Dudley 76).
Link’s book was published in 1979 and was written based upon privet manuscript collections, government archives from the U.S, Brittan, France and Germany, as well as newspapers. Link also reaches from monographs, biographies, and articles from numerous colleagues. (Link.pg 129) Each of these sources are solid and reliable sources, and were well used to put together a book packed with information on Woodrow Wilson’s life. Link uses many firsthand accounts from Wilson himself, but seems almost suspicious of accounts that were not presented first hand. Though Link is extremely selective in what he chose to present, the book clearly presents these facts, but has a very bias opinion of Wilson as discussed earlier. Link’s evidence, though selective, fits nicely in the monograph and makes the aspects of Wilson that he does cover clear and easy to read
The war reached an end on Nov. 11, 1918. The German proposition for peace came amidst the Congressional races. Against the guidance of those near him, the president chose to go to the peace gathering in Paris and battle for his beliefs face to face. Wilson not being present during congressional races shows how determined he was to keep peace in the World and finish what he started. “On December 13 he arrived in Europe. Probably no man has ever been given such an ovation. Wherever he went enormous crowds gathered, sobbing, cheering, shouting his name. (World War One Woodrow Wilson)” When the treaty of Versailles was created in 1919 many of his ideas were implemented in the treaty. However getting the Senate to agree with the Treaty was a whole nother can of worms. In search for support to overwhelm the senate WIlson started campaigning around the United States. Wilson was working extremely hard until late september in Colorado where Wilson suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed. Wilsons hard work and dedication is an example for everybody, his will to make the world a better place is unmatched and will be remembered in
once a year. The power of the league was very weak as there was no
The League of Nations was created shortly after World War One and had a similar purpose to the Treaty of Versailles - to keep peace between the countries. However, the League was too apathetic and in the long run, was full of failures. The League had many instances in which they weren 't able to keep the peace between countries. Examples of these failures are when Italy attacked the port of Fiume which was given to Yugoslavia, or when France and Belgium invaded Germany’s biggest industrial zone, Ruhr. For both of these
The League of Nations had officially been set in motion on January 10, 1920. However, the idea of an international peace keeping organization was brought forth far before this. For it was the President of the United States of America, Woodrow Wilson, who delivered his famous Fourteen Poi...
The Versailles treaty had an amazing affect on the future of all the countries in Europe that were a part of World War One. However, the treaty had the most devastating affect on the future of Germany. The treaty of Versailles essentially made the German people entirely responsible for the First World War. This blame that was put on Germany was one of the main factors responsible for Germany's economic and political future, leading up to World War Two.
&., 2005, p. 67) , the United States Congress refused to cooperate with America joining the League and viewed Woodrow Wilsons idea of the League and his foreign policy as too ‘ideational’. With the absence of the US rendering the League without access to Americas forceful military and economic power- which left the Covenants ability stated within Article 16 to “institute economic or military sanctions against a recalcitrant state” (Orjinta, 2010, p. 10) considerably weaker- German, Japanese and Italian dictatorships rejected the sovereignty of the League (Wilkinson, 2007, p. 86). Yet although it can be agreed the League failed in regards to its main purpose of maintaining peace and security, it did however provide a desire among states for an Intergovernmental Organisation (IGO) to ‘recognise that it is in their [governments] national interests to obtain multilateral agreements and pursue actions to deal with threats, challenges, or problems that cannot be dealt with effectively at the unilateral level’ (Wilkinson, 2007, p. 79). From this perspective, the League of Nations opened up a place for the United Nations to thus continue on a path of maintaining peace in an improved and effective manner. It is true that the UN Charter commandeered elements of the Leagues
The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty created at the end of World War I, in hopes of establishing peace among nations. Although it sought harmony, the United States’ Senate refused to ratify the treaty due to the distasteful idea of the United States’ involvement in the League of Nations, and Woodrow Wilson’s unwillingness to compromise with Henry Cabot Lodge’s revisions of The Treaty of Versailles. The President of the United States after World War I was Woodrow Wilson. Wilson was an idealist who longed for peace among nations. After the war he left for Europe to attend a peace conference where he, the prime ministers of Britain, Italy, and France met to discuss what provisions had to be taken in order to weaken Germany (Tindall and Shi 2013, 1008).
The League of Nations sounds like a superhero team and in a sense, the goal that The League was trying to achieve could have been something straight out of a comic book. Originally proposed by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I, The League was born after some alterations. The League of Nations’ main intention was to bring an end to the war and prevent another one of the same atrocious proportions from happening in the future. Forty zealous countries joined this fight, but the most powerful country of all was not among them: The United States of America. While many Americans agreed with the goal of The League, many did not and those that did not were ones in power. The portion of the “mission statement” for The League that caused
I do agree with Wilsons 14 Points, to some extent. Some of the points are strong and a necessity, but others are unrealistic and naïve. Points nine through thirteen illustrated Wilson’s approval for self-determination. These points granted many ethnic groups their own countries and supported national sovereignty (1). Point number four exhibited Wilson’s inexperience as he called for countries to shrink their militaries—something that would never work. It is in one’s human characteristics to defy rules, and some countries will just not follow it. In essence this is a powerful point, but in reality it will not function (3). To some extent, I do believe that Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points can work. As some clearly will not work, others have potential. Ultimately, the real challenge to determine legitimacy will be the execution of the points.
United States President Woodrow Wilson was horrified by the crimes committed by “civilized” nations and set idealistic goals for peace in his “Fourteen Points Address” (which included the League). President Wilson was willing to bargain with hostile Great Britain and France to ensure that the League would be created, resulting in the War Guilt Clause (Germany would take blame for the War and would pay a debt of thirty-three billion dollars). Ironically, the United States would vote against entering into the league.
The League originally had forty-two members. All forty-two members made up the assembly, who met once a year. As incidents occurred more often there was a smaller group of nations who made the council. The council had four permanent members Britain, France, Italy and Japan. From the beginning the league had a major weak point, which was the USA’s refusal to join, ironically it was Woodrow Wilson’s idea to form the League of Nations.