The League of Nations

(Secession 1930)

AGENDA:
Rewriting the provisions of the
Treaty of Versailles for economic and
developmental welfare of Associated
Powers and Germany during the
Great Depression.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

• AFTERMATH OF THE GREAT WAR

• PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE
• TREATIES
• THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
• STRUCTURE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
• THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
• CODE OF CONDUCT
 AFTERMATH OF THE GREAT WAR
The end of the Great War looks over the death of a dreadful number of lives. It is estimated that 17 million
of people died or disappeared during the conflict and 20 million were seriously injured or maimed. The
population was further reduced by the Spanish flu, which in 1918 infected about one third of the planet’s
population and killed from 20 to 50 million people.

After the Great War, a crucial factor was the dismemberment of four Empires (the Ottoman, the Austro-
Hungarian, the German and the Russian ones) that brought to the creation of new political entities:

• - from the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire: the creation of the Anatolian peninsula, Syria,
Palestine, Arabia and Egypt and Armenia, which became independent;
• - from the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: the inception of the Republic of Austria, the
Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Czechoslovakia and the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes;
• - from the dismemberment of the German Empire: Alsace and Lorraine returned to France, the Republic
of Poland arose, and Germany became the Republic of Weimar;
• - from the dissolution of the Russian Empire: the new states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

The years following the Great War were also characterized by a general economic and financial crisis,
mainly involving the States which took part to the conflict, both winners and not. This recession was caused
by many factors such as:
• - the enormous amount of money invested in military materials such as weapons and munitions during
the war;
• - the loans granted by the United States to many European States, which were unable to give the money
back;
• - the abandonment of the countryside and therefore the importation of a large quantity of goods that led to a
rise in prices and a consequent inflation;
• - the transformation of the factories from a war function to their original one, requiring large sums of
money.

Below you can find some of the main instances of the aftermath:

• • REPUBLIC OF WEIMAR After the armistice of Compiegne in November 1918, a meeting of the
National Assembly is held in January 1919 in the town of Weimar. The Assembly draws up a Constitution
which comes into force on 11th August 1919. On that date Germany declares itself the “Republic of
Weimar”. The president of the Republic is Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the Social Democratic Party. The
situation of the Republic is aggravated by the war reparations demanded by the winning powers (Italy,
France, England, USA). The Republic of Weimar had to pay 269 million of German Marks in gold. Failing
to meet this demand, the government asks for the payment to be postponed, receiving the firm refusal of the
winners. The situation of the Republic is disastrous from both an economical and a social point of view, due
to popular malaise caused by the loss of the war and the enormous amount of deaths after it.
• • REPUBLIC OF GERMAN - AUSTRIA The loss of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is caused by an
internal economic crisis within the empire and the decisive Italian counterattack. The independence forces
lead to the dismemberment of the Empire in the independent Republics of Austria, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The new republics continue to have serious
internal economic crisis, as the previous Austro-Hungarian Empire. The landlocked Austria is barely able
to sustain itself with food and lack developed industrial bases. In addition, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the
new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and Italy impose a trade ban and refuse to sell food and coal
to Austria.

• • KINGDOM OF SERBS, CROATS AND SLOVENES Formed on 1st December 1918 by the
dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this new kingdom includes the previously independent
Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro, and the South territories belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire
like: Dalmatia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Vojvodina. The unification proves to be
complicated. The most important issues are the ethnical and cultural differences between each population

• • REPUBLIC OF FRANCE French post-war society has to face the consequences of a mass death
experience on an unprecedented scale. Reintegrating the demobilized soldiers into civil society also
constitutes a major challenge in the immediate context of the post-war economic reconversion. War
expenses were financed almost exclusively by loans granted by citizens, banks and allied states (that is, by
Great Britain and especially by the United States). The country therefore leaves the conflict heavily
indebted.
• • KINGDOM OF ITALY Many workers, peasants, socialists and trade unionists are bothered by the costs
of the conflict and inspired by the revolutions that occurred in Russia and Germany. The general and
widespread malaise is emphasized also by veterans, who, returning from the front, expected the land that
they had been promised in 1917–18. The banks gave loans to industries during the conflict and are now
unable to recover them. In general, Italy is beset by a high level of unemployment, leading to emigration,
an economic crisis due to the conversion of industries, the abandonment of the countryside and the
reparation of the loans requested from the USA during the conflict.

• • THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE The armistice of Mudros of 31st October 1918 ends the fighting between
the Ottoman Empire and the Allies but does not bring stability or peace to the Empire. The British are in
control of Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia (Iraq), and British, French and Greek forces stand ready to
march across the Bulgarian border and occupy Ottoman Thrace and Constantinople. The Ottoman
government will sign the Treaty of Sevres in August 1920, which creates Entente zones of influence and
occupation in most of Anatolia, the independent state of Armenia, and the British and French mandates of
Iraq, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.

• • THE RED BIENNUM From a social point of view, the power of the workers increases day by day: they
are stronger and better protected by trade unions, and more involved in politics. After the Russian
Revolution of 1917, which showed the power of workers and peasants against the old empire, European
working classes hope for a same destiny for their countries: they want to abolish private property and to
establish a dictatorship of the proletariat. In Russia Lenin tries to export communist parties and revolution
all over the world.
. This makes industrialists and landowners fear a possible subversion of the social order in their countries
and worry about the safety of their properties and affairs. The first two years after the end of the Great War
are known as the Red Biennium and are characterized by strikes of the working classes, in order to demand
reforms. Workers’ assemblies, based on the model of Russian soviet, spread. There is a widespread fear
against socialists and revolutionaries. Heads of State, Kings, dynasties, fear that what happened in Russia,
the Bolshevik revolution, can happen in their country too.

• • THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The Country emerges from the Great War as a dominant
power thanks to the loans granted to European countries to support the war effort through munitions.
The President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, on January 8th 1918 issued the so called
“Fourteen Points”, in order to ensure a long-lasting peace and provide security, underlining the
importance of international cooperation between nations. Among these points, which included the right
to national self-determination, the freedom of the seas and the restoration of territories conquered during
the war, there is also the idea of establishing the League of Nations, which will be created on 28th April
1919. The United States of America never joined the conference for three main reasons: first because in
the U.S. there are many German immigrants that hate the Treaty of Versailles; to join the League the
country should accept the Treaty and German Americans do not accept this. The second main reason is
that U.S do not want other Americans to die in a European war; the third reason is that the granting of
women’s voting rights brought a new voting block that expressed the desire to turn inward
(isolationism).
 PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE
The Paris Peace Conference was an international meeting whose aim was to establish the condition of a
worldwide peace after the Great War. It was held on 18th January 1919 in Paris by the Allied Powers,
who won the war. It actually involved diplomats from 32 countries but it was controlled by the five major
powers (the Republic of France, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Italy, Japanese Empire and the
United States of America), and in particular by the so called “Big Four”, whose delegates were:
• - for the Republic France: The Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau
• - for the United Kingdom: The Prime Minister David Lloyd George
• - for the United State of America: The President Woodrow Wilson
• - for the Kingdom of Italy: The Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando.

Other countries who took part in the conference, among the others, were Belgium, China, Japan, Poland,
Portugal, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. However, some countries were excluded from the
conference.

The Weimar Republic, the Republic of German-Austria, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, Hungary and the
Ottoman Empire, the countries that lost the Great War, were not allowed to attend the conference until the
details of all the peace treaties had been elaborated and agreed upon. These countries will suffer massive
territorial losses and will be forced to pay huge war debts.

TREATIES
During this Conference five major treaties were prepared, one for every nation that lost the conflict:
• 1. Treaty of Versailles for Germany;
• 2. Treaty of Saint-Germain-end-Layer for the republic of German-Austria
• 3. Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine for the Kingdom of Bulgaria;
• 4. Treaty of Trianon for Hungary;
• 5. Treaty of Sevres for the Ottoman Empire.

• The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28th June 1919, imposes punitive and harsh clauses to Germany. The
treaty causes the reduction of the population and the territory by about 10 percent. Germany is
deprived from:
• - Alsace and Lorraine, which return to the Republic of France; - the Saarland, which is placed
under the control of the League of Nation;
• - the cities of Eupen and Malmedy, which are given Belgium;
• - the city of Schleswig, which is returned to Denmark;
• - Danzig, which is declared a free city;
• - all colonies in China, in the Pacific and in Africa which are taken by United Kingdom, the Republic
of France and Japanese Empire.

• In addition, Germany is considered responsible for the Great War and the destruction of Allied Powers,
according to Article 231 of the Treaty:
"The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her
allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their
nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of
Germany and her allies.“

The war guilt clause makes Germany responsible for making reparations to the Allied Powers in payment for
the losses and damage they have sustained in the war. Germany has to pay around 12.5 billion dollars for
reparations.

The German army is restricted to 100,000 men. The manufacture of armored cars, tanks, submarines,
airplanes, and poison gas is forbidden; and only a small number of specified factories can make weapons or
munitions.

During the drafting of the Treaty of Versailles, it was agreed that its task should include the establishment of
the League of Nations, capable of enduring future peace. The United States President, Woodrow Wilson,
insisted that this should be among the first questions to be dealt during the conference. As a consequence,
Part I of the treaty, as per all the treaties signed during the Paris Peace Conference, is the Covenant of the
League of Nations.
 THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The League of Nations is an international diplomatic organization founded by

the Allied Powers in 1919, with the aim of peacefully manage disputes between
States in order to avoid future wars. The League of Nations is mentioned for the
first time by Woodrow Wilson during a speech to the U.S. Congress on 8th
January 1918 as a “general association of nations”. During this presentation,
Wilson introduced the idea of the “Fourteen Points”, a plan to ensure a long-
lasting peace and provide security, underlining the importance of international
cooperation between nations. The points included the idea of freedom of the seas
(point 2), equal trade conditions (point 3), arms reduction (point 4), the right to
national self-determination (point 5) and the restoration of territories conquered
during the war (points 8 and 9). The last one of these points underlined the
importance of the establishment of the League of Nation.
 STRUCTURE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
The main bodies of the League of Nations are the Secretariat, the Assembly and the Council:
• • The Secretariat is appointed by the General Secretary. One of its main tasks is to manage the
administrative part of the organization: preparation of the agenda for the Council and the Assembly,
publication of the reports and treaties between states.
• • The Council consists of four permanent members (United Kingdom, the Republic of France, the
Kingdom of Italy and Japanese Empire) and up to 10 non-permanent members which are elected by the
Assembly for a three-years mandate. The task of the Council is to manage international disputes.
• • The Assembly consists of all member states which meet in Geneva in September of each year.
Furthermore, in order to settle international problems, the League consists also in committees, aiming
at managing specific sectors and divided into 3 main departments:
• - Department I (or Department of General Affairs), which includes the
Political Section, Minorities Section, Mandates Section, Disarmament
Section;
• - Department II, which is composed of the Economic and Financial Section as
well as the Transit Section (Secretariat of the "Communications and Transit
Organization”);
• - Department III, which includes the Health, Social Questions and Opium
Traffic Sections.
 THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
The League of Nations starts taking form during the Paris Peace Conference, specifically during the drafting of the
Treaty of Versailles. All the countries involved in the conference agree on the establishment of an international
organization whose main objective is to maintain universal peace through diplomacy. A special commission chaired
by Woodrow Wilson is in charge of drafting the “Covenant”, which is the charter of the organization. The commission
is formed by: ( information regarding the same is provided on the next page.)

The Covenant is made up of a list of “rules and regulations” shared by all the members, which include all the
proposals that came out during the first month of preparation: disarmament, international cooperation, control in
economic and social affairs, security, diplomacy. The final document, which includes 26 articles, is published on April
28th 1919 and became part of the Treaty of Versailles as well as of all the other treaties signed as a result of the
Conference of Paris. These are the main features of the Covenant:

• Article 1 deals with the members of the organization, that is composed by the 32 signatories of the Treaty of
Versailles and 13 additional states which have been neutral during the war, and the conditions of admissions
of new members;
• - Articles 2 to 5 describe the powers of the two main bodies of the organization: the Assembly and the
Council;
• - Articles 6 and 7 deal with the establishment of a Secretariat, the headquarter of League in Geneva and the
budget of the organization;
• - Article 8 and 9 underline the importance of the disarmament in order to provide a long-lasting peace;
• Articles from 10 to 21 underline the importance of international cooperation to ensure collective security and specify
the use of economic sanctions in case of violation of the Covenant;
• - Article 22 establishes the mandate system;
• - Articles 23 and 24 discuss the importance of economic and social cooperation;
• - Article 25 promises the support to the Red Cross; - Article 26 explains the procedure for the amendments to the
Covenant.

Despite the strong popular support regarding the idea of joining the League, The United States never joined the League
of Nations as the opposition within the Congress considered that the commitment of the US in this expensive
organization would reduce the US ability to defend its interests. Given that, the United States of America preferred to
adopt an isolationist policy. The US isolationism had consequences on the League, and it is considered that the failure of
this organization was caused also by the absence of the United States. Their presence would have given more power to
the organization, especially in preventing conflicts.
United States of America
United Kingdom
Republic of France
Kingdom of Italy
Japanese Empire
Kingdom of Belgium
Republic of China
Portuguese Republic
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovens
Woodrow Wilson (president), Edward M. House (diplomat and
adviser of the president Wilson)
Robert Cecil (assistant secretary of state for foreign affairs), Cecil
Hurst (Principal Legal Adviser of the Commonwealth)
Léon Bourgeois (former French Prime Minister), Ferdinand
Larnaude
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (Prime Minister), Vittorio Sciajola
(Minister for Foreign Affairs)
Makino Nobuaki (Minister for Foreign Affairs), Chinda Sutemi
(diplomat)
Paul Hymans (Minister for Foreign Affairs)
Wellington Koo (politician and diplomat)
Batalha Jaime Reis (diplomat)
Milenko Radomar Vesnić (politician and jurist)
CODE OF CODUCT

As a League of Nations committee, our session will begin in January 1930. Therefore, our discussion will rely on the
events that have occurred starting from this session. For this reason, shall you act in an innovative and original
manner in response to the semi-open agenda this Council entertains.

Its rules of procedure are slightly different from those of other MUN committees and so this Booklet is necessary to
future delegates to understand them well.

1. How will the League of Nations Committee work?

A League of Nations Committee is a committee focused on historical events, which occurred in past times. For this
reason, throughout the conference, delegates will have to pretend they are taking a step back into the past.

The discussion will cover the period after the end of the Great War, from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919
until the world began to experience the effects of the Great Depression.

Delegates will discuss about real crises that endangered the stability of our world in the above mentioned period. The
crises discussed occurred in different years and, during the debate, they will be discussed following their
chronological order.