Definition of League of Nations

The United Nations Organization (UN, or simply UN -United Nations- in English) is not the first international entity made up of various countries to try to guarantee the peace globally (and note that I say try, not do it effectively). Earlier, in the interwar period, there was a predecessor entity, the League of Nations.

Founded in 1919 in the heat of the Treaty of Versailles that put an end to the Great War (as it was known then what ended up being called the First World War), the League of Nations was an international organization that brought together countries in order to establish an international order and solve conflicts and disputes acting as mediator.

In fact, the current UN owes a lot to the League of Nations, as it is a precursor entity with which it was possible to see successes and errors. Unfortunately, the human being is an animal that can make the same mistake twice. And three, and up to four or more ...

At its foundation it had 42 countries. Keep in mind that, for example, Germany was banned from entering (it would do so in 1920), as well as Turkey and the USSR (both in 1934), and that most of the

continent African and much of Asia was not represented as it was divided into colonies of the Western powers.

Regarding the latter, the note that the United Kingdom allowed the entry with representation of many of its territories (such as India) to have more influence and control, since this way he could control his votes.

The League of Nations was divided into different organisms internal, which would make it look quite similar to what the UN is today.

The Assembly was made up of all the participating states; the Council, with five permanent representatives (United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan) plus four other non-permanent members elected by the Assembly for a period of three years; and, finally, the Secretariat.

As we can see, the organizations are practically the same as in the current UN with only a few tweaks. The headquarters were in Geneva, in the Palais des Nations, where the UN currently has its European headquarters (and the most important after New York).

Despite the fact that the League of Nations proved to be a useless body in dealing with the bellicose fascist powers of the Axis a beginning in the second half of the 1930s, in the period that came just after the First World War, it did assert its law, aborting some conflicts that, had such an organization not existed, would surely have come to arms, or providing solutions to conflicts that had already entered their military phase.

Among these, for example, we can count the dispute between Germany and Poland over the territory of Upper Silesia, or arbitration during the Chaco War.

Little by little, the decisions of the League of Nations were politicized, yielding to pressure from the great powers, and the entity was weakened.

It is the case of incident of Corfu in 1923, which ended up being favorably resolved to Mussolini's Italy due to pressure from the Italian dictator. Also the Japanese attack on China in Manchuria in 1931, which ends with the Society arbitrating a separation of Manchuria from the rest of China. Japan, finally, will leave the Society in 1933, along with Germany (Italy would do so in 36).

This is something that characterizes the League of Nations: that some countries abandon it and, some cases return, as is the case of Argentina, which was a founding member, left, and then went back.

The problem was exacerbated by the Italian invasion of Abyssinia and the imposition of sanctions by the Society to Italy, sanctions that were very "light" and that did not harm the country or the dictatorship fascist, which obviously did not prevent Abyssinia from being conquered.

In 1939 the Soviet Union was expelled as a result of its attack on Finland. The organization would not be able to orchestrate any major action to stop the conflict.

During the years of World War II, the League of Nations would be inoperative, only dedicating itself to helping refugees.

His primary mission, keeping the peace, had failed miserably. Thus, in 1946, it would be dissolved to make way for the organization that would inherit its functions, structure, heritage (like the aforementioned Swiss headquarters), and even the archives: the UN.

During its history, the League of Nations did something that the UN has not done in modern times since its inception: directly control various territories.

The mandates of the League of Nations included the Saarland from 1919 to 1934, and the city of Danzig from 1920 until the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939.

The UN has followed a similar path to the League of Nations, showing itself inoperative to stop certain conflicts such as wars Arab-Israelis, as well as doing what the Society had never done before: intervening directly in a conflict with its own troops, the War of Korea in 1950.

Photos: Fotolia - gpetric / laufer

Topics in League of Nations