Peacemaking and the league of Nations

• The big 3 were: Wilson for the USA, Lloyd George for Britain, and Clemencau for France
• The Parris Peace conference began in 1918 and lasted a whole year.

Clemencau:

• Wanted to cripple Germany
• France suffered huge devestation during the war and felt threatened by Germany
• Wanted to remove all their armed forces and make Rhineland demilitarised - buffer zone

Lloyd George:

• Wanted to punish Germany justly, knew UK public wanted Germany harshly punished:
• Remove all navy and airforce
• Remove all colonies and empires
• Wanted to continue trading with Germany

Wilson:

• Wanted German to be lightly punished - they were not as badly affected by the war
• 14 points and League of nations
• Wanted to strengthen democracy
• Wanted US to be major power of the world

The Assembly:

• League's parliament, every country in league sent a representative to assembly
• Met once a year and decisions had to be unanimous
• Could vote on: admtting new members to league, temporary members of council, budget

The Council:

• Smaller group, met more often usually 5 times a year and in cases of emergency
• Included permanent members + temporary members voted by Assembly, 3 year periods
• Each permanent meber had a veto to prevent a decision
• Sanctions included - moral condemnation, economic sanctions, military force

The Permanent court of International Justice:

• Made up of judges of member countries
• Provided legal advice to assembly and council and gave decisions on disputes
• No way of making sure nations followed its rulings

The international labour organisation:

• Worked to improve standards of living and working conditions around the world

• Wall street crash in 1929 affected all major countries
• China and USA put up tariffs
• Japan could not afford to trade, had no resources of their own
• They relied on the Manchurian railway to import and export goods
• In 1931 incident occured in Manchuria giving Japan oppertunity to invade and expand empire
• September 1931 they claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged part of the railway which they controlled
• In retalliation they overran Manchuria and threw out all Chinese forces and set up a puppet government in Manchuria
• China appealed to league
• Japan claimed they were settling a local difficulty
• League's officials travelled to Manchuria to investigate situation
• After 1 whole year they presented their report and decided that Japan had acted unlawfully and Manchuria should be returned to China
• In 1933 instead of withdrawing troops from Manchuria Japan claimed they were going to invade more of China arguing it was necessary in self defence
• 42 votes to 1 in assembly, Japan left league and invaded more of China - Jehol

• Germany complained it was the only country disarming 
• The league could not get other member countries to agree to disarm 
• Germany left disarmament conference then left the league and began to rearm openly

• December 1934 dispute between Italian and Ethipian soldiers at Wal-Wal oasis
• Mussolini took oppertunity to expand empire and revenge for the humiliating defeat in 1896
• He claimed this was Italian territory and began preparing for an invasion of Abyssinia
• Haile Selassie appealed to the league for help
• Mussolini pretended to be negotiating with the league to solve the dispute while shipping supplies and large army to Africa 
• At first Britain and France failed to take situation seriously - desperate to keep good relations with Italy as they believed Italy was the next most powerful ally against Hitler
• Signed Stresa pact in 1935 to stand united against Germany
• 4 September after 8 months of deliberation the league decided the incident at Wal-Wal was neither side's fault and that some of Abysssinia should be given to Italy
• Mussolini rejected offer and continued to send supplies through suez canal
• Britain and France never closed the canal - could have ended campaign very quickly
• The league impose sanctions on Italy - coal, rubber + deliberated for 2 months on oil
• Secret treaty - B+F without consulting league proposed to give 2/3 Abyssinia to Italy if they called off invasion
• Plan leaks, Mussolini obtains Abyssinia, Italy leave league, sign Rome-Berlin axis with hitler

War guilt clause - Germany had to accept full responsibility for the outbreak of WW1 

Reparations- France and Britain had suffered huge devestation during the war and were in states of poverty. A payment of£6,600million was agreed

Armed forces- 

• Germany's army was limited to 100,000 men and no conscription
• No air force
• 6 battleships

Germany's land- 

• Germany lost 13% of its land
• Rhineland was demilitarised
• All overseas territories were taken away from them, given to the LoN or Britain or France

The League of Nations was set up- proposed by Wilson, he designed it

• Aim was to create everlasting peace
• Countries would report to the league to settle disputes

The war guilt clause: 

• They believed all the countries should share the blame
• The old government had been responsible for the war so now they had a new government they believed they should get a fresh start
• Punished the wrong people - the public were not responsible for WW1

Armed forces:

• 100,000 men was very small for a country the size of Germany
• No other countries were disarming
• Germany's army was a symbol of pride
• Caused major unemployment

Land and territory:

• Demilitarisation of the Rhineland which was a buffer zone left them feeling insecure
• Lost whole empire which was a symbol of Germany's power and also income
• Lost 12.5% of population and lots of industry and resources

Not allowed to join the league of Nations

• Humiliating and unfair not be trusted to wanting to keep peace

Strengths:

• Established peace in Europe
• Was not as harsh on Germany as the Germans would have have been if they had won or as Germany were to USSR in Bolshevik treaty
• League of Nations was created to keep peace
• Germany was weakened

Weaknesses:

• Was harsh enough to make Germany feel strong resentment but left them strong enough to one day seek revenge
• Should have eother been more harsh or less harsh
• Created a temporary peace in which war was inevitable
• Targeted the wrong people
• Caused economic chaos in Germany

Looking back with hindsight we can see that the treaty clearly had many flaws and problems however historians are likely to point out how hard a task it was to make the peace settlement. It was the best that could have been hoped for in the specific circumstances

• After WW1 no one wanted to repeat the horrors of war
• To avoid war Wilson wanted to set up a world parliament where representatives of all nations would get together to decide on matters that affected them all
• The main aim was to create everlasting peace
• British leaders wanted a league which just met in emergencies and France wanted a league with a strong army of its own
• However Wilson got his way and took personal charge in drawing up plans for the league

• In February 1919 Wilson had produced a very ambitionus plan:
  • All major nations would join the league of Nations
  • They would disarm
  • If a country had a dispute with another they would bring the matter to the league 
  • They promised to protect each other if they were invaded by collective security

• Aims of league:
  • Discourage agression from any nation
  • Encourage countries to co-orperate especially in business and trade
  • Enforce the Treaty of Versailles
  • Improve living and working conditions around the world

• Britain and France: 1919-1945
  • They were the only powerful countries in the league throughout

• Italy and Japan: Italy 1919-1937 + Japan 1919-1933
  • Both left the league after disputes over land which the league failed to resolve

• USA and USSR: USA never joined + USSR 1934-1939
  • Congress refused to allow the USA to join the league -
  • Bitter disappointment to Wilson and a body blow to the league
  • USSR were not allowed to join until 1934 because they were communist

• Germany: 1926-1933
  • Not allowed to join until they had proven they were a peace loving nation
  • Hitler pulled Germany out of the league after the league failed to get others to disarm