the 1920s the League assimilated new members, helped settle minor
international disputes, and experienced no serious challenges to its
Successes and failures in peacekeeping during the 1920s
The League and Disarmament
League in the 1920s
were the successes and
failures of the League of
Nations in the 1920s?
the League stop wars in the 1920s?
main aim of the League of Nations was to stop wars.
In the 1920s, there were many small disputes between countries,
which the League tried to solve - for example:
Italian general was killed while he was doing some work for the League in
Greece. The Italian leader Mussolini was angry with the Greeks. He invaded
Greek island of Corfu.
Greeks asked the League to help.
What the League did:
Council of the League met. It condemned Mussolini, and told him to leave
told the Greeks to give some money to the League.
refused to accept its decision. He refused to leave Corfu.
League changed its decision. It told Greece to apologise to Mussolini, and
to pay the money to Italy.
Greeks did as the League said. Then Mussolini gave Corfu back to Greece.
Greek soldiers were killed in a small fight on the border between Greece
and Bulgaria. The
Greeks were angry. They invaded Bulgaria.
asked the League to help.
What the League did:
Council of the League met. It condemned the Greeks, and told them to leave
Bulgarian government told its army not to fight back.
Greeks did as the League said. They left Bulgaria.
the League successful in Corfu?
Was the League successful in Bulgaria?
This spread looks at only two disputes.
Click this link for more information about the League's successes and failures in peacekeeping during the 1920s.
Did the League manage to stop wars in the 1920s?
Decide if you think the League was a success or a failure.
◄ Source A
British cartoon of 1925 shows Greece and Bulgaria fighting –
like Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee in the story Alice in Wonderland.
League, like a dove of peace, stops the fight.
poem under the cartoon reads:
'Just then came down a monstrous dove
Whose force was purely moral
Which turned the heroes' hearts to love
And made them drop their quarrel.'
Click here for the interpretation
In 1925, Greece complained that there seemed to be one set of rules for small countries such as Greece, and a different set of rules for big countries such as Italy.
Do you agree
other Work in the 1920s
its aim to
League of Nations had three other aims:
you study what the League did, you
will be able to decide if you think the League was a success or a failure.
a. Commission on Armaments (1921)
The League set up an
independent commission, but it failed to get agreement on disarmament
because Britain objected.
International Labour Organisation failed to persuade countries to adopt
a 48-hour week.
b. Poland (1920)
took land from Russia, breaking the Treaty of Versailles. The Poles
ignored the League’s order to stop.
i. Economic problems
The League sent economics experts
to help Austria and Hungary.
The League attacked slave traders
in Africa and Burma and freed 200,000 slaves.
Sixty-five countries signed the
treaty to end war – but
then they just ignored it.
The League worked to prevent
malaria and leprosy.
k Refugees (1922)
The League set up camps and fed
e. Disarmament Commission (1926)
The League set up a Commission to organise a
conference (but when it eventually met in 1932, it failed because
Germany demanded equality of armaments with everybody else).
l. SS Wimbledon case (1923)
The Court of International Justice ruled that
Germany was wrong to refuse right of passage through the Kiel
Canal (given in the treaty of Versailles) to a French ship.
f. Prisoners of War
The League took home half a
million World War One prisoners of war.
The League closed down four big
Swiss companies which were selling drugs.
g. Reparations (1921)
When the Germans refused to pay,
France and Britain invaded Germany and made them pay (as the Treaty of
n. Invasion of the Ruhr (1923)
invaded the Ruhr in 1923 to force the Germans to pay
Reparations (as the Treaty of Versailles said).
Divide boxes a–n up into ‘successes’ and ‘failures'.
Divide up the 'successes' into the four kinds of 'other work' done by
a. Improving lives and jobs;
c. Enforcing the Treaty of Versailles.
Now divide up the 'failures' into the four kinds of work done by
was the League
a success or a failure in the 1920s?