At the close of World War I, United States President Woodrow Wilson proposed his fourteen point plan for extended peace in Europe. Part of his plan was to create a League of Nations, an international platform for countries to come together and negotiate their relations diplomatically in order to maintain peace and avoid another catastrophic world war (1). While the United States never formally joined the League of Nations, many European countries embraced the idea and instituted the League, successfully resolving several minor international issues (2). When Japan, Germany, and Italy, who would become the Axis powers in World War II, began violating the Treaty of Versailles by taking or invading new territory, refusing to pay war reparations, and remilitarizing, the League of Nations took little action. Despite the initial success which created high hopes for participating countries, the League of Nations is often considered a failure due to this disastrous lack of preventative action in the years leading to World War II.
The first to break the Treaty of Versailles was Japan. In 1931, Japanese military forces swiftly captured a southern portion of Manchuria, a recognized territory of China (3). Alarmed, the United States government quickly reminded both China and Japan of their obligation to uphold the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, an international agreement signed by many countries to outlaw war. The United States Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, urged the League of Nations to use all influence necessary to maintain peace between Japan and China (4). When the Japanese moved further south, continually invading and claiming new territories in China, the League continued to condemn the actions of the Japanese. In 1933, Japan left the League of Nations. Throughout the following agreements made within the League of Nations, Japan’s military forces grew only stronger and more confident that the League would remain docile (5).The United States was the first to take action, though outside the League of Nations. They placed a complete oil embargo on Japan (6). As an island nation with a scarcity of natural resources such as oil, Japan at the time was highly dependent on oil from the United States. The trade embargo is believed to be the primary cause of the seemingly unprovoked Japanese attack on the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (7).
Just before the turn of the century in the 1890s, Italian forces attempted and failed to take over the North African nation of Ethiopia in a conflict known as the first Italo-Ethiopian War (8). Bordering Somaliland, an Italian controlled African territory, a border dispute between Somaliland and Ethiopia became the pretense under which Italian dictator Benito Mussolini invaded and took control of Ethiopia (9). This would become a vital stronghold for Italy, the weaker of what would become the Axis powers, and the stage on which the three day battle to push back Italian and German forces, known as United States Operation Torch, would be conducted (10). While the League of Nations opposed Italy’s actions and sought to place economic sanctions on the country, no agreement could be reached on the details of the embargo, and the tactic remained ineffective (11). Though Great Britain controlled a sizeable portion of Africa and therefore increased tensions between Mussolini and the rest of Western Europe, most nations overlooked the conflict and allowed Italy to maintain its imperialistic interests in North Africa (12).
Meanwhile in Germany, Chancellor Adolf Hitler of the Nazi party spread his vision of a united German nation throughout the northwestern part of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland (13). A large percentage of the Sudetenland’s population was German, and while Germany under Hitler’s rule rose out of the Great Depression to a state of order and full employment, surrounding regions which were once German welcomed the same prosperity from Hitler and agreed to become part of Germany (14). In the case of Sudetenland, the League of Nations continued their appeasement policies, hoping that Hitler would settle back into Germany’s international agreements and become docile once again. They did not take action until Hitler used force to invade Poland, breaking the Treaty of Versailles as well as the Nazi-Soviet Pact, staging a border incident and declaring war on innocent Poland (15).
As a result of the inaction of the League of Nations, these smaller conflicts, let unhindered, escalated and allowed the unprecedented scale of the Second World War. The systematic devastation of the Jewish community, the rise of prejudice, Pearl Harbor, the cannibalism of the Pacific Theater, the first use of the atom bomb – all of these are indirectly a consequence of the inaction and failure of the League of Nations in their attempt to maintain peace (16).
The primary and core purpose of the League of Nations was to prevent conflict through diplomatic negotiation. In the end, the inaction of the League of Nations was an indirect cause of the Second World War. As Germany, Italy, and Japan blatantly broke a plethora of international laws and agreements, remilitarizing and invading territories, the League was not only ineffective, but showed through their weak and minimal response that breaking these international laws would have no consequence from other nations. While they voted on peace agreements and begged habitual offenders to halt aggression and work towards diplomatic resolution, international tension grew, and the world started down the path to war.
End Notes
Bibliography
Encyclopedia Britannica. "Italo-Ethiopian War: 1935-1936." Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.britannica.com/event/Italo-Ethiopian-War-1935-1936.
Encyclopedia Britannica. "League of Nations: International Organization." Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.britannica.com/topic/League-of-Nations.
Ferraro, Vincent. "Italian Conquest of Ethiopia 1935-1936." Mt. Holyoke College. Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/italy.htm.
Ferraro, Vincent. "Japanese Conquest of Manchuria 1931-1932." Mt. Holyoke College. Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/manchuria.htm.
Mt. Holyoke College. "Hitler's Foreign Policy and Appeasement.” Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~rapte22p/classweb/interwarperiod/hitlersforeignpolicy.html
United States Department of State: Office of the Historian. "Milestones: 1937-1945: Japan, China, the United States and the Road to Pearl Harbor, 1937-41." Accessed March 24, 2016. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/pearl-harbor.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Operation Torch (Algeria-Morocco Campaign)." Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007303.
The first to break the Treaty of Versailles was Japan. In 1931, Japanese military forces swiftly captured a southern portion of Manchuria, a recognized territory of China (3). Alarmed, the United States government quickly reminded both China and Japan of their obligation to uphold the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, an international agreement signed by many countries to outlaw war. The United States Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, urged the League of Nations to use all influence necessary to maintain peace between Japan and China (4). When the Japanese moved further south, continually invading and claiming new territories in China, the League continued to condemn the actions of the Japanese. In 1933, Japan left the League of Nations. Throughout the following agreements made within the League of Nations, Japan’s military forces grew only stronger and more confident that the League would remain docile (5).The United States was the first to take action, though outside the League of Nations. They placed a complete oil embargo on Japan (6). As an island nation with a scarcity of natural resources such as oil, Japan at the time was highly dependent on oil from the United States. The trade embargo is believed to be the primary cause of the seemingly unprovoked Japanese attack on the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (7).
Just before the turn of the century in the 1890s, Italian forces attempted and failed to take over the North African nation of Ethiopia in a conflict known as the first Italo-Ethiopian War (8). Bordering Somaliland, an Italian controlled African territory, a border dispute between Somaliland and Ethiopia became the pretense under which Italian dictator Benito Mussolini invaded and took control of Ethiopia (9). This would become a vital stronghold for Italy, the weaker of what would become the Axis powers, and the stage on which the three day battle to push back Italian and German forces, known as United States Operation Torch, would be conducted (10). While the League of Nations opposed Italy’s actions and sought to place economic sanctions on the country, no agreement could be reached on the details of the embargo, and the tactic remained ineffective (11). Though Great Britain controlled a sizeable portion of Africa and therefore increased tensions between Mussolini and the rest of Western Europe, most nations overlooked the conflict and allowed Italy to maintain its imperialistic interests in North Africa (12).
Meanwhile in Germany, Chancellor Adolf Hitler of the Nazi party spread his vision of a united German nation throughout the northwestern part of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland (13). A large percentage of the Sudetenland’s population was German, and while Germany under Hitler’s rule rose out of the Great Depression to a state of order and full employment, surrounding regions which were once German welcomed the same prosperity from Hitler and agreed to become part of Germany (14). In the case of Sudetenland, the League of Nations continued their appeasement policies, hoping that Hitler would settle back into Germany’s international agreements and become docile once again. They did not take action until Hitler used force to invade Poland, breaking the Treaty of Versailles as well as the Nazi-Soviet Pact, staging a border incident and declaring war on innocent Poland (15).
As a result of the inaction of the League of Nations, these smaller conflicts, let unhindered, escalated and allowed the unprecedented scale of the Second World War. The systematic devastation of the Jewish community, the rise of prejudice, Pearl Harbor, the cannibalism of the Pacific Theater, the first use of the atom bomb – all of these are indirectly a consequence of the inaction and failure of the League of Nations in their attempt to maintain peace (16).
The primary and core purpose of the League of Nations was to prevent conflict through diplomatic negotiation. In the end, the inaction of the League of Nations was an indirect cause of the Second World War. As Germany, Italy, and Japan blatantly broke a plethora of international laws and agreements, remilitarizing and invading territories, the League was not only ineffective, but showed through their weak and minimal response that breaking these international laws would have no consequence from other nations. While they voted on peace agreements and begged habitual offenders to halt aggression and work towards diplomatic resolution, international tension grew, and the world started down the path to war.
End Notes
- Encyclopedia Britannica, "League of Nations: International Organization," Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.britannica.com/topic/League-of-Nations.
- Ibid.
- Vincent Ferraro, "Japanese Conquest of Manchuria 1931-1932," Mt. Holyoke College, Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/manchuria.htm.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- United States Department of State: Office of the Historian, "Milestones: 1937-1945: Japan, China, the United States and the Road to Pearl Harbor, 1937-41," Accessed March 24, 2016. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/pearl-harbor.
- Ibid.
- Encyclopedia Britannica, "Italo-Ethiopian War: 1935-1936," Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.britannica.com/event/Italo-Ethiopian-War-1935-1936.
- Vincent Ferraro, "Italian Conquest of Ethiopia 1935-1936," Mt. Holyoke College, Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/italy.htm.
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Operation Torch (Algeria-Morocco Campaign)," Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007303.
- Vincent Ferraro, “Italian Conquest of Ethiopia 1935-1936.”
- Ibid.
- Mt. Holyoke College, "Hitler's Foreign Policy and Appeasement," Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~rapte22p/classweb/interwarperiod/hitlersforeignpolicy.html.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Digital History, "Overview of World War II," Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=15&smtid=1.
Bibliography
Encyclopedia Britannica. "Italo-Ethiopian War: 1935-1936." Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.britannica.com/event/Italo-Ethiopian-War-1935-1936.
Encyclopedia Britannica. "League of Nations: International Organization." Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.britannica.com/topic/League-of-Nations.
Ferraro, Vincent. "Italian Conquest of Ethiopia 1935-1936." Mt. Holyoke College. Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/italy.htm.
Ferraro, Vincent. "Japanese Conquest of Manchuria 1931-1932." Mt. Holyoke College. Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/manchuria.htm.
Mt. Holyoke College. "Hitler's Foreign Policy and Appeasement.” Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~rapte22p/classweb/interwarperiod/hitlersforeignpolicy.html
United States Department of State: Office of the Historian. "Milestones: 1937-1945: Japan, China, the United States and the Road to Pearl Harbor, 1937-41." Accessed March 24, 2016. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/pearl-harbor.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Operation Torch (Algeria-Morocco Campaign)." Accessed March 24, 2016. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007303.