Essay about The Main Reason for the Failure of the League of Nations
In theory the League of Nations was a good idea and did have some early successes in the 1920’s. But ultimately it was a failure, when it hit a crisis in the 1930’s.
The whole world was hit by a depression in the late 1920s. When a countries economy falls, this is called a depression. Businesses lose income, trade is reduced, and unemployment rises and prices fall.
In 1931, Japan was affected badly by this sort of thing. People lost faith in the government and turned to the army to find a solution. The army invaded Manchuria in China, an area rich in minerals and resources. China appealed to the League for help. The Japanese …show more content…
When Hitler began to break the Treaty of Versailles in the 1930s, the League was powerless to stop him (this is the next topic you will study).
The league failed, and the only way to stop Hitler was to have a Second World War.
In October 1935, Italy invaded Abyssinia. The Abyssinians did not have the strength to withstand an attack by Italy and appealed to the League of Nations for help.
The League condemned the attack and called on member states to impose trade restrictions with Italy. However, the trade restrictions were not carried out because they would have little effect. Italy would be able to trade with non-member states, particularly America. Furthermore, Britain and France did not want to risk Italy making an attack on them.
In order to stop Italy's aggression, the leaders of Britain and France held a meeting and decided that Italy could have two areas of land in Abyssinia provided that there were no further attacks on the African country. Although Mussolini accepted the plan, there was a public outcry in Britain and the plan was dropped.
Here are the main reasons why the league failed:
* The League’s ‘powers’ were weak.
· America - the strongest nation in the world - never joined.
· The League was muddled, so it took a long time