League of Nations Société des Nations | |||||||||
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| 1920–1946 | |||||||||
.svg) Semi-official flag (1939)
.svg) Semi-official emblem (1939)
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 Anachronous world map showing member states of the League during its 26-year history | |||||||||
| Status | Intergovernmental organisation | ||||||||
| Headquarters | Geneva[a] | ||||||||
| Common languages | French and English | ||||||||
| Secretary-General | |||||||||
• 1920–1933 | Sir Eric Drummond | ||||||||
• 1933–1940 | Joseph Avenol | ||||||||
• 1940–1946 | Seán Lester | ||||||||
| Deputy Secretary-General | |||||||||
• 1919–1923 | Jean Monnet | ||||||||
• 1923–1933 | Joseph Avenol | ||||||||
• 1933–1936 | Pablo de Azcárate | ||||||||
• 1937–1940 | Seán Lester | ||||||||
• 1940–1946 | Francis Paul Walters | ||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||
• Treaty of Versailles becomes effective | 10 January 1920 | ||||||||
• First meeting | 16 January 1920 | ||||||||
| 18 April 1946 | |||||||||
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The League of Nations (LN or LoN; French: Société des Nations [sɔsjete de nɑsjɔ̃], SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace.[1] It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. The main organisation ceased operations on 18 April 1946 when many of its components were relocated into the new United Nations. As the template for modern global governance, the League profoundly shaped the modern world.
The League's primary goals were stated in its eponymous Covenant. They included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament and settling international disputes through negotiation and arbitration.[2] Its other concerns included labour conditions, just treatment of native inhabitants, human and drug trafficking, the arms trade, global health, prisoners of war, and protection of minorities in Europe.[3] The Covenant of the League of Nations was signed on 28 June 1919 as Part I of the Treaty of Versailles, and it became effective with the rest of the Treaty on 10 January 1920. Australia was granted the right to participate as an autonomous member nation, marking the start of Australian independence on the global stage.[4] The first meeting of the Council of the League took place on 16 January 1920, and the first meeting of the Assembly of the League took place on 15 November 1920. In 1919, U.S. president Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the leading architect of the League.
The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and depended on the victorious Allied Powers of World War I (Britain, France, Italy and Japan were the initial permanent members of the Council) to enforce its resolutions, keep to its economic sanctions, or provide an army when needed. The Great Powers were often reluctant to do so. Sanctions could hurt League members, so they were reluctant to comply with them. During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, when the League accused Italian soldiers of targeting International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement medical tents, Benito Mussolini responded that "the League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out."[5]
At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. After some notable successes and some early failures in the 1920s, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis powers in the 1930s. Its credibility was weakened because the United States never joined. Japan and Germany left in 1933, Italy left in 1937, and Spain left in 1939. The Soviet Union only joined in 1934 and was expelled in 1939 after invading Finland.[6][7][8][9] Furthermore, the League demonstrated an irresolute approach to sanction enforcement for fear it might only spark further conflict, further decreasing its credibility. One example of this hesitancy was the Abyssinia Crisis, in which Italy's sanctions were only limited from the outset (coal and oil were not restricted), and later altogether abandoned despite Italy being declared the aggressors in the conflict. The onset of the Second World War in 1939 showed that the League had failed its primary purpose: to prevent another world war. It was largely inactive until its abolition. The League lasted for 26 years; the United Nations (UN) replaced it in 1946 and inherited several agencies and organisations founded by the League.
Current scholarly consensus views that, even though the League failed to achieve its main goal of world peace, it did manage to build new roads towards expanding the rule of law across the globe; strengthened the concept of collective security, gave a voice to smaller nations; fostered economic stabilisation and financial stability, especially in Central Europe in the 1920s; helped to raise awareness of problems like epidemics, slavery, child labour, colonial tyranny, refugee crises and general working conditions through its numerous commissions and committees; and paved the way for new forms of statehood, as the mandate system put the colonial powers under international observation.[10] Professor David Kennedy portrays the League as a unique moment when international affairs were "institutionalised", as opposed to the pre-First World War methods of law and politics.[11]
- ^ Christian, Tomuschat (1995). The United Nations at Age Fifty: A Legal Perspective. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 77. ISBN 978-90-411-0145-7.
- ^ "Covenant of the League of Nations". The Avalon Project. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
- ^ See Article 23, "Covenant of the League of Nations". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2009., Treaty of Versailles. Archived from the original on 19 January 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2010. and Minority Treaties.
- ^ Rees, Dr Yves (2020). "The women of the League of Nations". www.latrobe.edu.au. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
- ^ Jahanpour, Farhang. "The Elusiveness of Trust: the experience of Security Council and Iran" (PDF). Transnational Foundation of Peace and Future Research. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
- ^ Osakwe, C O (1972). The participation of the Soviet Union in universal international organizations.: A political and legal analysis of Soviet strategies and aspirations inside ILO, UNESCO and WHO. Springer. p. 5. ISBN 978-90-286-0002-7.
- ^ Pericles, Lewis (2000). Modernism, Nationalism, and the Novel. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-139-42658-9.
- ^ Ginneken, Anique H. M. van (2006). Historical Dictionary of the League of Nations. Scarecrow Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-8108-6513-6.
- ^ Ellis, Charles Howard (2003). The Origin, Structure & Working of the League of Nations. Lawbook Exchange Ltd. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-58477-320-7.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Pedersen2007was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Kennedy 1987.