The destruction of the First World War led the scholars and Governments in the world to think seriously about the foundation of International Organization to prevent the wars. In various conferences the discussions continued on how wars can be prevented in the world. The foundation of League of Nations was one of the main issues included in the 14-points programme declared by President of America Woodrow Wilson. In the treaty of Versailles, Woodrow Wilson focused the need of League of Nations. Accordingly on 10th January 1920 at Geneva in Switzerland the League of Nations was founded. In the beginning only 32 countries were the part of League of Nations, but later on the number increased.
What were the Aims and Objectives of League of nations?
The objectives and the purpose of foundation of the League of Nations are mentioned in the constitution of the League of Nations. According to the constitution the principal objectives can be stated as below:
- To establish peace and security in the world.
- To establish friendly and cooperative relations between the nations.
- To solve the international issues with peace avoiding the wars.
- All the member nations are secular and independent and for the sake of National security all should follow the rule of League of nations.
- Obeying the International Law.
- To achieve these objectives the League of Nations was founded.
Structure of League of Nations:
The administration of the League of Nations was to be run through three main parts. These three parts were:
- The Assembly,
- The Committee and
- The Secretariat.
The Head office of League of Nations was at Geneva in Switzerland. The working system of these three sections of the League of Nations was as follows:
1) The Assembly: –
The assembly of the League of Nations was like an Assembly of a Nation. All the representatives of the member nations were the members of the Assembly. Each nation had right of one vote. Out of all the representatives one was being elected as the president of the Assembly. The Assembly looked after the plans and programmes of the League of Nations, control over the other branches of the League of Nations and discuss the issues that disturb international peace etc.
2) The Committee: –
The Committee means executive body of the League of Nations. The Assembly was sending its recommendations to the Committee; thus, it was an important part of the League of Nations. The Committee included 5 permanent and 4 non- permanent members. England, France, Italy, Japan and Germany were permanent members. Along with these 5, others 4 were elected by the Assembly from the representatives of the member nations. The meetings of the Committee were held as per the needs. The main task of the committee was to implement the decisions of the League of Nations, to solve the crisis among the nations, control the secretarial office. The committee could handle any issue related to world peace. But it had restriction to pass every decision by majority.
3) Secretariat: –
The Secretariat was the office of the League of Nations at Geneva in Switzerland. The chief of this office was known as the Secretary General or the Secretary. The Secretary had other officers to work under him. With permission of the Assembly, the committee was appointing the Secretary. The responsibility of administration of the League of Nations was on the secretary. The principal tasks of the Secretary were to register the complaints coming to the League of Nations, to collect the information about the grievances, to keep the documents of the administrative works, to pass the information of the decisions of the League of Nations to all the nations, to execute the decisions of the committee and to look after the regular administration of the League of Nations.
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The International Court and Other Organizations:
Along with above 3 main parts of the League of Nations, there were other 2 international organizations existing. There was a permanent international court at Hague and the other was international workers Union. To study and give justice to the crisis among the member nations of the League of Nations, it had established an international court. There was a panel of 15 judges from different countries for 9 years tenure. The court was providing legal advice to the League of Nations and solving the critical crisis among the nations. Among the international workers unions of the League of Nations, there were International Workers Organizations, International Intellectual and Educational Organization, Economic Committee etc. and they were working according to the area of work. League of Nations also established a committee to look after the administration of the defeated nations in the First World War.
The tasks of the League of Nations:
The work of League of Nations began in January 1920 and it ended with the beginning of Second World War. The League of Nations worked for nearly 20 years. The administration of the League of Nations can be studied as the political and the social parts.
The Political Work:
To avoid the wars and establish the peace in the world was the main political work of the League of Nations. In this work the League of Nations partially fulfilled its goal. During 1920-1930, the League of Nations was successful in handling political issues. It solved nearly forty international complaints among the nations. Among these the main were the issue of Sweden-Finland and Aland Islands. The border issue between Turkey and Iran, the border issue between Albania and Yugoslavia, to take vote in Saar province and hand over it to Germany, the war issue of Greece and Bulgaria, attack of Italy on Kaifu island etc. All these issues were solved by peacefully by the United Nations. But here it should be noted that all these issues were among the small nations.
The among the powerful European nations went out of the hand of the League of Nations. The attack of Italy on Ethiopia of Africa in 1935, Hitler’s attack on Austria, Japan’s attack on Manchuria and the attacking policy of the Dictators were out of control of the League of Nations.
The Social works:
The League of Nations did mentionable work in the social fields. But it has been shadowed by the failure in the political field. The League of Nations organized a conference in 1925 against slavery and compelled all the nations to ban slavery legally in all the countries of the world. The Economic Committee of the League of Nations controlled the duplicate international currency and determined gold-based currency value, The International Health Organization of the League of Nations started movement against the diseases like leprosy, malaria, cancer etc. and provided health related assistance to many countries. International Workers Union organized, an international workers conference to frame rules for improvement of workers conditions. The Intellectual, Educational and Literary Organization of the League of Nations organized conferences on knowledge, Arts, Literature and promoted research. The International Transport Organization formed international rules for transportations.
This was the international organization working for humanity, education and social welfare of the world in the form of the League of Nations.
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What was the reasons of the failure of the League of Nations:
Right from its formation the League of Nations brought nations together and established friendly relations among them. The extreme nationalism and imperialism of a few leaders of European nations pulled the world into the destruction of the Second World War. The League of Nations had to close its office. If we consider the basic reasons of the failure of the League of Nations, we find in it the selfish, strong and contrary to each other policies of the member nations and not in the basic idea of forming the League of Nations.
Other reasons for the failure of the League of Nation:
- The lack of faith in International Co-operation.
- Lack of coordination between principal nations like France and England.
- Rejection of membership by America.
- The most important is the lack of Arm power to punish the member nations denying to obey the clauses in the agreement and many other reasons caused the failure of the League of Nations.
Conclusion:
Due to the failure of the League of Nations the aggressive nations became more aggressive and the world once again divided into 2 groups. The international crises thus became inevitable.
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