History of The League of Nations

Today we have the United Nations, but it wasn’t always this way.

After World War One, the League of Nations was set up so that countries could solve their quarrels by diplomatic means, rather than military.

The idea was put forward by US President Woodrow Wilson, as part of his 14 point program for peace after WW1.

Unfortunately, the USA actually never joined the League of Nations even though it was a US President who originally had the idea.

The League of Nations had targets for disarmament, preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation diplomacy and improving global welfare.

However the League of Nations was ultimately a failure as it did not stop conflict and most importantly did not stop the second world war and the conflicts that happened during the great depression.

The main reason why the League of Nations failed was because the USA was never a member, so any sanctions that were implment of aggressive nations suchas Italy and Japan were useless and the USA did not go along with them.

For example, although the League of Nations banned exporting arms, oil, rubber and many other things to Mussolini, the USA continues to supply him and so he built up his war machine.

The United Nations replaced the League of Nations but perhaps this is also destined to failure and the USA again, does not always pay attention to what the organisation says.

For example, the USA invaded and bombed Iraq without UN support.

Why do you think the League of Nations failed?

Is the UN going to fail as well as the USA is not conforming to its rules?