‘The organisation and structure of the League meant that it was always going to fail’.

YES:

• A complex structure confused many people. Also, there weren’t enough people to carry out decisions that were made.
• For example, major powers such as America were not involved. Despite the League being one of Wilson’s 14 points (the President of the USA), the USA did not join due to a new Republican government. It was the most powerful and influential country at the time, but could not help out in the League! Other powerful countries like Germany and the USSR were not allowed to join – how could it claim to be solving international conflict if many key countries were not involved?
• The Assembly always had to come to a unanimous decision to deal with issues. This made decision-making a slow process as every country had to agree. Undecided rulings were passed onto the Council. The council could also veto proposals, sending everyone back to square one, with no solution.
• Also, the League’s Assembly only met once a year, prolonging the time to act in solving a problem.
• Permanent Court of International Justice – disadvantages were that the Court could only do so much as to advise countries on how to deal with conflicts. It wasn’t a compulsory ruling and as the League had no army, it was difficult to make countries agree unless they fully wanted to.
• The League had no army, which meant it couldn’t force people to obey it – led to the Abyssinian Crisis and Manchurian Crisis.
• Moral condemnation didn’t scare countries – it was pointless.

Examples of failure:

• The Abyssinian Crisis – the League failed to close the Suez Canal, meaning Mussolini could move troops and supplies through the canal to Abyssinia. Britain and France didn’t act as they were scared of Mussolini uniting with Hitler, so they tried to…