As A.J.P Taylor said, the League was a “useless fraud.” They League of Nations was established in order to maintain global peace. However, countries within the League of Nations ignored the rules and regulations decided by themselves and pursued their own selfish interests. The countries weren’t willing to sacrifice a little for the greater good of the world. They wouldn’t give up their desires as many countries were still expansionist. You could even argue that the Articles of the League of Nation’s Covenant were useless. As Benito Mussolini stated: “The League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out,”[1] is in fact very true. Most countries that followed their own interests and actually accomplished them were main members of the League of Nations and these led to the downfall of the League. So the statement “The pursuit of national interest…between 1919 and 1936” is very valid as it can be proven from three major events involving the main members the League of Nations: The Occupation of Ruhr, the Abyssinian Crisis and Mukden Incident.
The Occupation of the Ruhr occurred between 1923 and 1924, and was carried forth by the French and Belgium military. This was a direct response to Germany’s inability to paying the reparations for World War One. So on January 11, 1923, the invasion of Ruhr commendced under the certification of French Prime Minister Raymond Poincare.[2] Belgium and French aims were to occupy this region where Germany’s production of coal, iron and steel is most prosperous and furthermore cripple the German economy. But could this also understood as a French attempt to quickly get back on its feet. With the invasion German heartland, its industry did come to a halt. During the process 150,000 Germans were deported, 400 were killed and 2,000 wounded. SOURCE? The French were aggressive and ruthless and being a major member of the League of Nations it had defied its own rules of for maintaining peace. Britain being an ally also didn’t do anything to prevent the invasion of Ruhr Ally. They disobeyed Article Eleven of the League of Nations covenant: “Any war or of war is a matter of concern to the whole League and the League shall take action that may safe guard peace.”[3] Britain didn’t go to defend Germany as it had promised in Article Eleven and didn’t apply Sanctions or utilize any of the four powers of the League against France. This would be the first example of pursuance of national interest. In this case, France a major member of the League of Nations violating the League’s rules in order to weaken Germany and attain the reparations. The Occupation of Ruhr Valley marked the downfall of the League of Nations as even France; a member of the Security Council would act with such inconsideration for other countries. Who knows what other members of the League of would do? Even though the French did leave the Ruhr region on August 25, 1925, the consequences of the Occupation of Ruhr were devastating. Leading to economic collapse, hyper inflation and high unemployment, resulting in a state of emergency. [4] This was one of the early events which hindered the work of the League of Nations and marked a failure because of national interests.
The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, between 1931 and 1933 is also a good example which demonstrates the pursuit of national interest.[5] In this case it is also a member of the Security Council, Japan, a more powerful nation invading a weaker country. Their intensions were to place the blame of sabotaging of a section of Japan’s South Manchuria Railway in an area near Liutiao Lake, in order to gaining an excuse for invasion of the country. The Japanese occupied the whole region of Manchuria and renamed it Manchukuo.[6] In 1932, the Japanese air force and navy bombarded Shanghai and a short war was initiated on the 28th of January. The Chinese Government called to the League of Nations for help and in response an investigation set off. The Lytton Report was created and it declared that Manchuria was to be returned to China. When the assembly voted, Japanese was the only one to vote against the Lytton Report and it withdrew from the League on March 27, 1933.[7] As the Occupation of Ruhr, nothing happened to Japan. No sanctions were opposed and there was no assembling of an army to fight Japan. This would more likely be due to Britain and France self interest as well as those of other countries in the League.. For France and Britain, they were occupied by maintaining control over their colonies. France occupied with keeping control over Syria as it has in past years used militant strength to do so. As in July, 1920, French authorities disbanded nationalist organizations in Damascus and sentenced the leaders to death. As for Britain they had to deal with their own colonies such as Palestine which is extremely nationalistic. For example, during the Great Revolt, Britain sent 20,000 troops into Palestine to keep order. [8] Britain and France in dealing with their own self interests has lost concern for China and other nations. As for Japan, it has followed its own interests in annexing Manchuria. Because of Japans invasion of Manchuria, and the withdrawal of them from the League, it has further deteriorated the League of Nations power. It hads lessened the League’s capability to control and enforce peace and order between countries which have disputes. In other words this event which is a clear demonstration of national interests has weakened the League of Nations and foreshadowed its future collapse.
A third and perhaps most infamous ? event which demonstrates selfishness and inconsideration for other countries would be the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, 1935 to 1936. In other words, this event shows how both the League of Nations as well as the aggressor, Italy, pursues their own interests in a case as such. In October 1935, Mussolini ordered General Pietro Badoglio and 400,000 troops to invade Abyssinia.[9] The Abyssinian army was easily defeated and they called to the League for help. In November 1935, the League of Nations imposed sanctions, but this was ineffective. So in December 1935, Britain Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Hoare and French Prime Minister came up with the Hoare-Laval Pact which consisted of dividing Abyssinia into two sectors. However the information had leaked out and their was protest in Britain and France. Hoare and Laval lost their jobs and Italy added Ethiopia into their ‘collection’ of colonies. [10]This was a major failure of the League of Nations but it also shows their egotistic nature. They weren’t willing to protect Abyssinia against Italy. Between 1923 and 1924 France sent troops to invade Germany because Germany was unable to pay the reparations. Britain during the Great Revolt sent 20,000 troops to Palestine. But here the French didn’t send troops to Abyssinia; same for Britain. It is understandable why they wouldn’t send troops to Manchuria because it is on the other side of the world. But here British and French actions are simply incomprehensible. And from the Hoare-Laval Pact we see how Britain and France had no consideration for what happened to Abyssinia, it wasn’t of their interests. On the other hand, Italy was expansionist and their aim was to conquer Abyssinia. They weren’t willing to turn back and sacrifice little for the bettering of the situation. From this event we can notice selfishness of Italy as well as France and Britain as they all had their own interests and had no concern for other countries but themselves.
By reviewing these three events carefully we can notice that in fact all major leaders of the League of Nations were disobeying their promises to maintain peace and security. If the members of the Security Council were pursuing their own interests, the League was bound to fail. So without doubt the national interests did hinder the work of the League and prevented success between 1919 and 1936. If the ‘programmers’ of the League were disobeying their own rules, what is their to be said about other countries of the world.
RESEARCH- 4/5 (mostly Wikipedia)
EVIDENCE-4.5/5 Lots, but nothing really pertaining to the question
ORGANISATION- 5/5
EXPLANATION -3/5- All too often was forced to ask how it involved the work of the League
16.5
[1] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations
[2] http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERruhr.htm
[3] http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/leagcov.htm
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr
[5] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Incident
[6]http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations#Demise_and_legacy
[7] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lytton_Report
[8] http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-17162655.html
[9] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyssinia_Crisis
[10] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations
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