League of Nations: Organisation, Achievements and Causes of League of Nation

League of Nations: Organisation, Achievements and Causes of League of Nation are as follows:

Objects of the League of Nations:

The League of Nations aimed at preventing wars forever, maintaining world peace and promoting the feeling of security and co-operation amongst its members. It also shouldered the responsibility of implementating the Treaty of Versailles In order to attain these aims the League of Nations made attempts to prevent the race of armaments. It accepted the principle of Collective Security and for this purpose it supported Brain-Kellogg Pact and Locarno Treaty which guaranteed the territorial integrity of France and Germany. If a nation committed an aggression on any other nation, the League of Nations declared it aggressor and took steps to penalise it.

Organisation of the League of Nations:

Membership of the League of Nations:

When the Assembly met first the number of its members was only forty-two. It increased up to fifty-five by 1932. But the U.S.A. could not become the member as its senate had already derecognized the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and the Covenant of the League of Nations in 1920.

Germany became the member of the League of Nations in 1926 but later on Hitler left its membership. The U.S.S.R. could become its members as late as in 1934. A new nation could become the members of the League of Nations only when the Assembly permitted it by two-third majority. And a member-nation had to give it a notice of two years in advance in order to leave its membership. The League of Nations in the opinion of Gettell “was not a state, nor was it a super state. It was an organised association of sovereign states, created by treaty, a confederation worldwide in scope”.

It is an organisation consisting of four main organs:

(1) The Assembly;

(2) The Council;

(3) The Secretariat; and

(4) The Permanent Court of International Justice,

Achievements of the League of Nations:

The League of Nations survived for the period beginning from the First World War to the Second World War. During this period it made admirable efforts. For example, it succeeded in resolving the disputes of Aland and Upper Silesia at that critical moment when all the efforts had failed. It saved Albania from becoming extinct in 1921. In 1923, it resolved the dispute between Italy and Greece. After that it shouldered the heavy responsibility or rehabilitating the refugees from Asia Minor in Greece.

It helped a lot in building the economy of Austria and Hungary- In 1925 the efforts of the League of Nations bore fruit in resolving the territorial disputes between Bulgaria and Greece. The Government of Bulgaria was ordered to withdraw its troops from the Greek front and Bulgaria had to compensate the loss. The League of Nations made satisfactory provisions for the administration of the free city of Danzig and Saar Valley.

The Permanent Court of International Justice resolved twenty-seven disputes and expressed its legal opinion on twenty-seven. The impartiality of the Permanent Court of Justice was so well-known among the members of the Assembly that they unanimously accepted its judgments.

The League of Nations aimed at promoting the common welfare of the people and for that purpose it made untiring efforts. It prevented the selling of women and made provisions for the protection of refugee children. With the help of Locarno treaty the League of Nations declared wars against the International Law.

Conferences were called by the League of Nations to prevent the race of armament, gut they could not prove a success. On the whole, the achievements of the League of Nations were admirable.

Causes Responsible for the Failure of the League of Nations:

Aggressions Committed by the Powerful Countries:

The League of Nations aimed at preventing wars. It succeeded in achieving its aim so there were disputes between smaller nations. But as soon as big countries got involved in wars, it failed in achieving its aim. Japan was the first nation which disobeyed the League of Nations. In 1931 it committed an aggression on Manchuria. After that, Mussolini, the Italian dictator followed in the footsteps of Japan and committed an aggression on Ethiopia in 1935. Chancellor Hitler of Germany did the same. In 1933, he left the membership of the League of Nations and acted against the Treaties of Versailles (1919) and Locarno.

(a) On March, 1938, Hitler conquered Austria and after that Czechoslovakia. Then he committed aggressions on Poland, Belgium and France. As a result the Second World War broke out and the League of Nations proved a failure.

(b) Since the League of Nations did not possess sovereignty, its decisions were not a binding on the member-nations.

(c) Unanimous support was required for the decisions of the League of Nations. If any of the members did not agree, no decision could be taken.

(d) The Disarmament policy of the League of Nations could not prove a success.

(e) A number of nations including Japan, Germany, Italy, Alabama, Spain and Rumania left the membership of the League of Nations.

(f) America was not the member of the League of Nations, the U.S.S.R. was later on expelled and Great Britain and France did not shoulder their responsibilities properly.

(g) The League of Notions did not possess its permanent army which could be deployed against the aggressor.

(h) The circumstances which gave birth to the League of Nations could not prove favourable for its smooth-running. The purview of the League v confined by the Treaty of Versailles (1919) as it was the fourteenth section of the same treaty. Hence, the League of the Nations had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of acting in consent with the treaty.

In 1919, when Hitler continued to act against the spirit of the treaty, the League of Nations had no force to compel him not to do so. When the 1919 treaty was renounced, the Second World War broke out and the League of Nations came to an end.