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How much successful was The League of Nations in the 1920s?

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How successful was The League of Nations in the 1920s? “Merely to win the war was not enough. It must be won in such a way as to ensure the future peace of the world” President Woodrow Wilson, 1918 Introduction In front of the US Congress on January 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson enumerated his Fourteen Points created to ensure a more peaceful world. In the last point, the American president expressed the need to form a “general association of nations…formed on the basis of covenants designed to create mutual guarantees of the political independence and territorial integrity of states, large and small equally”. In order to succeed, Wilson’s ideas were in need of some kind of regulation or enforcement which fostered international …show more content…

In 1923, contrary to League rules, the French and the Belgium’s invaded the Ruhr – Germany’s most important industrial zone. Within Europe, France was seen as a senior League member – like Britain – and the anti-German feeling that was felt throughout Europe allowed both France and Belgium to break their own rules as were introduced by the League. Here were two League members clearly breaking League rules and nothing was done about it. For the League to enforce its will, it needed the support of its major backers in Europe, Britain and France. Yet France was one of the invaders and Britain was a major supporter of her, so nothing was to be done about it. This incident was crucial, as these two countries were involved in breaking their own rules and consequently set this example for others in future years. c) The Geneva Protocol Another clear failure was the Geneva Protocol in 1924, which said that if two members were in dispute they would have to ask the League to sort out the conflict and afterwards accept the council’s decision. Before the Protocol could be signed a new conservative government appeared in Britain and refused to sign it, as it feared that Britain would be forced to agree to something that was not in its own interests. The Protocol, which was made to strengthen the League, ended up weakening it and, once again showing how countries were only worried about their problems and not in solving the ones of other countries. d)

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