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= = =In what ways, and with what success, did one 20th Century international organisation try to improve social and economic conditions?=  The League of Nations was created in 1919 after WW1 as a result of the treaty of Versailles. Its primary European founders, Britain and France, though weakened by the First World War, tried their very best at solving the world’s dilemmas and disputes in the most peaceful manner possible. Were these effects realistic enough though to have a positive effect on the European people?

 The League of Nations, founded by the “Big Three”, France, Britain and Japan, was created as an attempt to solve international disputes without the need to start another world war. Instead of making war, they would impose economic sanctions or attempt to come to a fair agreement between the countries in question. The League of Nations was primarily the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson’s idea. Unfortunately, for the league, the US senate voted against the US’s participation the 19th of November 1919. Without the United States, the league lacked the financial backbone and authority it needed to impose its peace ideals. France and Britain, who ended up taking the joint position of authority were much too weak economically and morally to take upon the responsibility at that time. Despite the bumpy beginning the league began with the grand total of 42 members and ended with 58. Though the League had a huge following, there were enough economic and social dilemmas alone to lead to the Leagues demise.

 The strong economic plunge du to the devastating results of WWI, the Wall Street crash and numerous loans and reparations had a huge impact upon the decisions and impact of the League of Nations. World War one left Europe in a horrible economic state. The United States intervened and gave out loans, but in 1929 Wall Street crashed leaving both the US and Europe buried in debt. The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay regular reparations to a vast amount of countries, but because of her own economical problems she was unable to keep up with payments. This led not only to an increase in poverty but also to numerous international disputes and later the unauthorized invasion of Germany by the French and Belgium troupes. By 1932, 50% of Britain’s budget was spent on welfare payments and 30% of the German population was unemployed. The Japanese economy diminished by 8% between 1929 and 1931. One attempt at salvaging their countries was the conversion of their previous economic policies to the “gold standard”. The gold standard is a system where paper money is associated to an actual quantity of gold. This system was created in order to prevent deflation, but was abandoned by all in 1936.

 Socially the League created a great deal of organizations, such as the International Labour Organization and Health organization as attempts at saving lives and solving numerous problems that arouse du to the spread of diseases and poverty. The International labour system was founded with the goal to promote a higher standard of living, a better form of social justice, a fair regulation of work hours and salary and as a protection of workers against disease and injury. Another important organization would be the committee for the study of the Legal Status of women. This committee, possessing members from Yugoslavia, Great Britain, Sweden, United States and Hungary, sought to improve the status of women all over the world; thus helping many women gain the right to vote among other accomplishments. One of the most important organizations was most probably the League’s health organization. This organization focused on ending the existence of yellow fever, leprosy, typhus epidemics and malaria.

 While the League of Nations was trying its very best at keeping peace, numerous international disputes arose during its short reign. This was mainly because poor conditions in Europe made people want stronger governments, which led to the rise of dictators. There were several other factors in the rise of dictators, for example the Depression and Communism which was seen as a threat through all of Europe, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, which lead to people looking for strong leaders to fight the threat of World Revolution. Other factors were the fact that disarmament failed, which gave Germans the desire to build up their armed forces again, and isolationism, which was a big problem as Britain and France weren’t strong enough to stand up to foreign dictators and the Usa stayed out of World Affairs, and this was an obvious weakness. Therefore due to all these problems, and the rise of dictators, aggressive countries started taking advantage of the League’s weaknesses.

 The League attempted to resolve these issues, with international disputes, and at first, the League had some early successes. It resolved several difficult situations where countries argued over territorial claims, and it did this without fighting. It resolved the dispute in 1921 between Germany and Poland over Upper Silesia; the dispute between Sweden and Finland over the Aaland Islands in 1921, and the conflict when Greece invaded Bulgaria in 1925. These successes gave the league a good reputation. However the League wasn’t always successful, especially when dealing with other world powers like Italy and Japan. For when the Italian leader Mussolini occupied the Greek Island of Corfu in 1923, after the murder of an Italian diplomat, Mussolini demanded financial compensation and an apology from Greece. The League demanded that the money should be paid to them; however Mussolini managed to get the money and the apology he wanted, this showed the League as week.

 During the 1920’s, the political situation seemed to be getting better as countries worked hard to cooperate usefully. There were a whole string of important agreements over issues of arms reduction and economic aid as well as a treaty where Germany accepted her new Western borders, important agreements such as the Washington Conference in 1921, where the USA, Britain and France reduced the size of their navies, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, where 65 nations agreed not to use force to settle arguments. There seemed to be a real chance of peace, as the Washington Conference showed that some countries were determined to begin a process of weapons reduction. The Geneva Protocol seemed to be strengthening the League. The Dawes Plan and the Young Plan were helping Germany to recover, which would be able to increase trade and cooperation. The Locarno Treaties also suggested that Germany was at last prepared to accept the terms of the Versailles Treaty, as the Germans joined the League of Nations in 1926, and finally, the Kellogg-Briand Pact that really seemed to be a step forwards to long lasting peace.

 However, all of these agreements also had their problems. After the Washington Conference, nobody wanted to reduce arms further, and the League had failed in disarmament plans. Defeated countries were angry they had been forced to disarm. The benefits of the Dawes and Young Plans were wiped out by the Depression, several countries also started making decisions without the League as there was a lack of trust, and moreover, no one knew what would happen if the Kellogg-Briand Pact was broken.

 In conclusion, the League of Nations was not the best decision at keeping world peace and improving the lives of the European people as it had real problems from the start. Firstly, the fact that the USA didn’t join the League, which meant that the League wasn’t powerful enough, as Britain and France were in charge, but neither country was strong enough after the War to do the job properly. Secondly, economic and military sanctions could only work if a powerful nation like the USA was applying them, but most countries were still rebuilding after the War. Thirdly, Germany and Russia weren’t allowed to be members when the League was first formed which was a disadvantage. Fourthly, the League had no army of its own, and most members didn’t want to commit troops to war. Some countries like Italy were quite prepared to ignore the League if they wanted to, and finally, the organisation was a disaster. In the Assembly and the Council everyone had to agree before anything could happen therefore it was hard to reach decisions, moreover the Court of Justice had no powers to make a country act. The League had several strong successes, especially in social terms, yet I believe that the League’s failures exceed the League’s successes.