Lets Play a Game

What is the common inference that

binds these four pictures?
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Clementi Town Secondary
Secondary 3 Express

Unit 2: Topic- League of Nations

1920-1939

Point 14-
“A general association of nations must be formed
under specific covenants for the purpose of
affording mutual guarantees of political
independence and territorial integrity to great
and small states alike”
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 Objectives
By the end of the lesson you will learn….
1. Reasons for its formation
2. Aims of the League of Nations
What the league had, to accomplish its aims.
1. Structure of the League of Nations
2. Membership in the League
3. The League’s powers
Did it work?
1. Successes/Failures of the League of
nations
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Reasons for The League of Nations
• The League of Nations (LON) is an
intergovernmental organization
established on the 10th of January
1920
• It was the predecessor of the United
Nations and has its offices in
Geneva, Switzerland.
• The LON operates on a covenant
centered around Wilson’s 14points
• The idea of a League of Nations was
not new, but struck a cord with the
peoples of Europe after the
devastation of World War 1

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 Aims of the League of Nations
(KEEPP)
Keep world peace by discouraging
aggression from any nation.
Encourage co-operation between
countries to boost trade and
Consider the aims of the
commerce
league of nations, Were
Enhance living and working they realistic in light of the
conditions recent war?
Persuade nations to disarm
Peace Treaty of Versailles, to uphold
its terms
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx
hlpDktAMI
Lyrics:
The League Of Nations was made to try and keep the peace Aims.
The USA didn't join causing plenty of grief
Mussolini tried to break the rules Weakness.
Then Italy left the League and they lost control Italy to be
They wanted their empire to grow
Then the League chose to do the wrong thing, blamed?
They did nothing to stop Italy's King, w-o-o-o-oh
League of Nations, yes their plan did fail
Why Why, did it all go off the rails?
League of Nations, they had no success The league fail.
Why Why, did it turn into a mess?
Yes, they had no army No Army was the
Oh, It was all quite barmy cause?
Why Why shorten German Payment hours?
League of Nations, now we really know, Allowed Germany
My my, Your plan was just as strong as dough lighter punishment.

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 An Artist’s impression on the
League of Nation. What is
the artist trying to say about
the LON?

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“The secret diplomacy of the
old order would be replaced
by...open discussion”

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 Structure of the LON
COUNCIL
1) The Council (consisted of 4
S
permanent members) E
C
2) The Assembly (consisted of R
all the other members) E
T ASSEMBLY
A
3) The Secretariat (consisted of R
a Secretary General and is I
responsible for the day-to-day A
running of the LON) T

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 Structure of the LON
• The council is made of the four Implications?
strongest members of the LON
they are the victors of World War 1
COUNCIL
• The council met 4-5 times a year or
periodically to settle international
disputes. A total of 107 public
sessions from 1920-1939.

• Decisions had to be unanimous

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 Structure of the LON
• The Assembly consisted of all
the other member nations of
the LON.
ASSEMBLY
• The Assembly met once a year
to debate on international
affairs. Smaller nations had a
forum for which to voice their
opinions.

• Decisions had to be unanimous

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… decisions had to be UNANIMOUS

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 The League’s Powers
The League’s Powers. (When a nation acted
illegally the league could..)
Condemn Arbitration Sanctions

Tell a country Offer to Impose a trade

that it has mediate embargo to
done wrong in between the push the
the open two conflicting country towards
Assembly. countries. bankruptcy .
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 The League’s Powers
When a nation needs help the LON could:
Organize Aid Give Smaller
nations a voice

Send supplies The Assembly

and expertise is used as a
to ailing forum for small
countries. nations to have
Send volunteer speak their
forces. views.
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 The League’s Powers
The league however had no real army to enforce
their rules.

LON FIGHTING STRONG

Since 1920

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Membership of the League of Nations

During the establishment of

the LON the League had 42
members. At its peak the
League had 60 members.
However, the League was not
a firm unit as the league
suffered frequent
membership changes.

Why?
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 Membership of the League of Nations
 Germany, Russia and 1945
China were
France
disallowed 1919
membership. 1945
Germany was only Britain
given membership 1919
when they showed
Italy
willingness to abide 1919 1937
by the treaty.
Japan 1933
1919
 The membership of
the LON was always Germany 1933
1926
changing. (WHY?)
USSR 1939
1934
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Membership of the League of Nations

• Important: Although
the LON operated
along the 14points and
the ideas of President
Wildrow Wilson. USA
was never a part of the
LON!

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The League of Nation was like…

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 But…

How strong was the

League without the
most powerful
nations?

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 Homework

1. Identify the strength and weaknesses

of the LON
2. Read up on the successes and failure of
the LON, fill in the timeline worksheet.

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 Objectives for today:
Successes & Failures of the
League of Nations
What criteria should we use to judge the LON’s
successes/failures?
We judge the LON base on its
stated aims KEEPP

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Successes of the League of Nations
Enhance Living and working Conditions

200,000 slaves were freed after the The LON worked to prevent
LON attacked slave traders in Africa the spread of leprosy and
and Burma. It repatriated ½ million malaria.
prisoners of war.

The league set up a system for Organized conference to discuss

regulating opium. It closed down monetary solutions to prevent
four big companies that were selling economic collapse in 1920. Sent
drugs. experts to help Austria and
Hungary.
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Successes of the League of Nations

Politically, in its early years the LON appeared to

have made progress towards preventing war.
1)(1921) The Aaland Islands
2)(1921) Upper Silesia
3)(1925) Greece and Bulgaria

Persuade nations to disarm

Peace Treaty of Versailles, to
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 Activity
Walk a day in the shoes of the LON – Role Play activity.
Instructions:
1. In your groups number yourself 1-4.
2. Read the worksheet and your respective fact sheet.
3. Get into the persona
4. Answer the given questions in your worksheet. Due to
time constrains:
Task1: Group 1-2 Option A
COUNCIL
Group 3-5 Option B
Group 6-8 Option C
Group 9-10 Option D

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Successes of the League of Nations
Politically, in its early years the LON appeared to
have made progress towards preventing war. But…
Washington Naval Agreement (1922) Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
The LON managed to reach an Landmark agreement between 15
agreement between its 4 council
members to limit the size of their major countries, including
navies. Germany not to use “war as an
instrument of national policy” and
Treaty of Locarno (1925) to pursue their goals through
Germany signed the Treaty of peaceful means. By 1933, 60
Locarno in which it agreed to accept nations had made this promise.
its western boundaries, as set by the
Treaty of Versailles, and also, the Persuade nations to disarm
demilitarization of the Rhineland.
Peace Treaty of Versailles, to
uphold its terms (?)
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 Why the League Failed
The collapse of the
American Stock Market in
1929 heralded the start of
the Great Depression.
America was the most
powerful country in the
world and “when America
sneezes the rest of the
world catches a cold.”
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 How the depression
affected the League
Desperate people suffering terrible
economic hardship increasingly turned
to leaders offering radical solutions.
This led to the rise of militaristic
fascist governments.
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There was less international cooperation.
The USA and other nations looked to take
care of themselves instead of worrying
about world peace and humanitarian
issues.
Britain and France no longer wished
to sort out international disputes
that would cost them money and
could further damage their trade.
 Failures of the League of Nation
Keep world peace by discouraging aggression
from any nation. (?)

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Failures of the League of Nation

What is the
cartoonist
saying about
the invasion
of
Manchuria?

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 Failures of the League of Nation
 The Japanese economy relied on exporting goods to America.
This meant that the depression hit Japan very hard.
 The army decided that the best way for Japan to escape the
effects of the depression was to invade Manchuria (part of
China).
 Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931
 The League told Japan to leave Manchuria but they refused.
 Instead Japan left LON.
 Many LON countries had trade links with Japan and could not
agree on sanctions or even a ban
 France and Britain were war adverse , so in the end nothing
was done.

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 Failures of the League of Nation
The league wanted to Persuade nations to disarm.
Held a disarmament conference in 1932.

• Disarmament – dismantling of armies and breaking up of

weapons, putting oneself in the position where war is not
possible.
Problem
• Germany complained that they were the only one who
disarmed.

• LON tried to step in but could not get others to disarm.

• They were concern with individual security

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Failures of the League of Nation

‘We don’t want

you to fight,
but by jingo if
you do,
We will probably
issue a joint
memorandum,
Suggesting a
Britain mild disapproval
of you.’
Italy
France

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 Failures of the League of Nation
 The League agreed that Italy was in the wrong, but it
took months to make a decision about what to do
next.
 In the end they punished Italy with economic
sanctions.
 Crucially, they did not include oil in the list of
embargoed goods. The League knew if their members
stopped selling oil to Italy, they would just get it from
the USA instead.
 Britain continued to let Italian ships use the Suez
Canal to reach Abyssinia.

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 Effects
• The two events sent out the message that the
LON were weak, ineffective and indecisive in
taking up actions against its aggressors. In both
cases the league took months to reach a
consensus. Next the league still looked out for
their own economic interest as they were
reluctant to impose full sanctions on both
instances.

What would other nations think of the league?

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Failures of the League of Nation

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 In Summary:
There were many reason why the LON failed. It
failed primarily because it,
WAS DUMB
W -- WEAK
A -- AMERICA
S -- STRUCTURE
D -- DEPRESSION
U -- UNSUCCESSFUL
M -- MEMBERS
B -- BIG BULLIES
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