'

.1.vi,~~~--~~-JJJL .

~-h.

. f\'-1\ ~~

~-- ~-~-----~~------~*-~-~.- --

6eVlT""' -t '1 tJU ~

stand up for themselves~ The mandatesystem

thus meant that natioss who were given
~
's eolonies had to ensurethatthey l()ok.ed.after the peoplen.their care; they
o be nswerable to fhe League ofNatiortsfot thir actions. 'A' mndate tortttes
g Palestne, Iraq an.d Tra.nsjordan. (give11.io Britain) and Syria arn:l the Lebanon
to France) - were to beceme irrdependentJn the near future, Colonies that were
ered to be less developed and therefore n.ot ready for irnmediq.te indepemlen~e
were
'n1andates. These induded the Cameroons, Togoland and Tanganyika., and were also
en to Britain and Ftante. Belgillrn also received a 'B' manda.te~ .Rwanda~Utundi. 'C
date areas were considered to be very backw;l\rd a.nd were handed over to the powers
had originally cenqnered them in the war. Thus the North Padficlslands went to
, New Guinea to Australia, SouthWest Afrka to the Union of South Africa and

sparatlons
rrnany's 'war gult' provided ju$titication for the Allied demanda for reparations,
The
les wanted to rnake Gertnany payfor the material
done to them durngthe war.
damage
y also preposed to charge Germany for the fnture costs of pensiona to war wdows
and
ar wounded, There wasJnuch argument between fue delegares at the cofrence on
the whok issue of reparations. Althnugh ,l'lrance has ttaditionally been blamed fqr
pushitJg for a hgh reparations sum, and thus stoppinga practical reparations deal, in
fact mote
recent aceounts ofthe negotatiens at Versailles bla.me Brtain for malci.ng the most
extreme

Punishment ot war crlminals

'fhe Treaty ofVersailles also called fot the extradition and trialof the Kaiser and oilierwar
~tilllinals'; flowevef,.the Dutch government refused to hand overthe Kaiser and the

Allied ders found it diffi.cultto identify and find theIesser war criminals, Eventu;:i.Oy; a
few rman rn:illtary commandets and su.bmarine captain.s were ttied by a Gertnan
nlllitary
t

at Leipzjg, aud: receved fines or shortterrn:s of hnprisonment. These wer~ light

ces, butwhatis importantabout the whole p:rocess is that the conceptof 'crmes

n~t h'Q}ani.ty'was given legaL$1l.nction for the fttst time.

hat was the contemporaryresponse to the

.reaty of VersaiU.es?

ead through the documents belowand then ddtess the. que.stionsin the
following dent Study Section.

THE RESULTS OF WORLD WAR 1

DocumentA

... thefutre life of Europe was not their concern: its means oflivelihood was no: ther anxiety.
Their preoccupations, good and bad alike, related to frontiefs and nauonaluie to the
balance of power, to imperial aggrundisements, to thefuture enfeeblement of a strong and
dangerous
enemy, to revenge, and to the shifting by
unbearable financia/ burdens onto
thevictorsofther
the shoulders
of the
defeated.
Frotn
John Mayard
Keynes,
The Eciinomic Ccmsequences of the Peace, 1919. Keynes was a British
econotnist who worked at the l'reasury during World Wlll" I and was a chi~ representative at
negotiations prior to the Ireaty ofVetsailles, although heresigned from the fitish d.elegation.
Oocument.B

Now that we see [the terms] as a whole, we realise that they are much too stiff The real
crime is the reparations and indemnity chapter, which is immoral and senseless ... There is
not a single pers<>n among the younger people here who is not unhappy and disappointed
with the
terms. The only people who approve are the old fire-eatere .... If I were the Germans, I
shouldn't
sign tfor a moment.

Documente
'Maybe we should let t stand ...
up'. a cartoon by David Low.

....

Documento

The las: time I had the

of ad:dressingthe House upon this Treaty its main. outlines
had
been settied: 1 veniured then to call it a 'stern but just Treaty'. 1 adhere to that
opportunity
description. The terrns are in many respecte, terrible term to impose upon a ceuntry. Terrible
deeds
that it recudes. Terrible were the conseqences tha: were inflicted upon the world. StU
were the
more terrible would have been the consequences had they succeeded. What do these.
terms mean to Germany?
Take the territorial terms. In so far as terrttories have been taken awayfrom Germany, i.t is
a restoration. Alsace-Lorraine was forcbly token from the land. to whidi its population were
deeply attached. Is it an injustice to restare them to their country? Schleswig-Holstein, the
meanest of the Hohenzollern frauds; robbing a small, poor, helpless country, and then retaining
that land against the wishes ofthe populationfor 50 to 60 years. 1 am gJad the opportunity
has come far restoring Schleswig-Holstein. Poland, torn to bits to feed the carnvorous greed
of
Russian, Austrian and Prussian autocracy. This Treaty has re-knit the torn flag of Poland.
Speech by Lloyd. George to House of Commons, 1919

entE
ay in the Hall of M.irrors of Veriailles the disgraceful Treaty is beingsigned. Do not
forget
The German people will with unceasing labour pressforward to teconquer the place
among
newspaper, DeutscheZeitung, 1919

'1

lsrns ofthe Treaty of Versailles

5a11 see from the sources above, there was already strong criticism of the Treaty
esattl1e ~~ethatit was signed, not just from.the Germans but also from
the Allies.1."}Ie_se.c:dticisms became stronger in the 1920s, forcefully expressed by
porary observers like Harold Nicolson and Norman H. Davies, and economist
eynes. Mlilyiq~t~~~s today also support these criticisrns, which are summarized

"'""nn bythe

Gerrnans, who felt that all countres

of war in 1914. It was

eipecially harsh

wasatrea dy 1~tttrgg.ln~ for ""'"'''""'"'

1

THE RESULTS OF WORLD WAR l

was able to play oh the resentment and anger feltby the German population towards
the
war guiltdaU.Se, an.d also'towards thefact thal it was a diktat.
Disarmamentclauses

These were hard for the Germansto accepLAn anny of 100,000 was small for a couhtry of
Germany's size .. German.y was also very pro.ud of .its army. Germany's anger grewwhen,
despite Wlsort?s call fr disarmament in his Fourteen Points, efforts by the othet
European powers to disann carne to n:othing infe 1920s and l93Qs,
Reparations and

fossof kftY r~soyr~s

Keynes (see Document. above} led the .criticisms of the treaty in the area ofreparations.
In The Economic Conseqeru:~ .of the Peac~, he argued that 'the treatyighores the
econornc of Europe andby aimingatthe destruc.tion of the ecoiomic life of Germafl.yit
solidaritg
threatens the health and prospetity of the Allies thems.elves? Not ohly could Germany
not bill, but by takifl.g away Germany's coal andJron resources1 t
pay the hge reparatior1s
also meant that Gertnany's econotny would be unableto recover, Keynes:.argued .thatthe
real prohlem of the settlement lay not ini.ssues ofbcundaries 'but rather in questions
offood,
toal and co:tnmerce'. The fo.et that Germany was to face hyper~infiti<>nin the e.arly

l920s
Territorial changes to satisfy the issue of se 1f~determination

On this is:sue, Germanyw<:1:s treated unfairly. Thus while the Danes were given the chance
ofa plebiscite in .northern S.chleswig, the Germans in theSudetenland and Austria were
not al'ly sqch choite.Many German-'speakingpeoples were nowtul.ed by non-Germans.
given
Historian W.H. Dawson claimed in 1933,inh.is hook Germany un4er the Treaty, that
Germany1s bctders'are litetallybleeding. From them oozes out thelfe-blood, physical,
.spiritual and material of largepopi,dations.'

Remova! of colenies
Wilsort?s reason fr removing regions.like South-West 1\frka and Rwanda., Urundi. from
German adrninistration was to rernove them from the harsh nature ofGerman rule. Yetthis
action was: cle.arly }iypocriti<:al . States th;,tt .received German rolonies- Smith Aftica and
Belgiu:tn,Jor example ~ couldnotthernselves daim to be model colonial rulers.
League of Nations
'I'he fall,re of the peacemakers to invite

Grma.ny to joiil the League of Natiol1s not only

ins:ulted Ge!many and added toits sense of grievance, butmade itlesslikely thllt the
Leagtie

Alternative views of the Treaty of VersaiHes

M<111y historianstake a different v-iew of the Treaty ofVersailles and its mpact on the events
of Euro pe a.fter 1910. In fact, its now argued by many that the treaty was in fa.et
'telatively lenient'(NiaU Fergl:.lson) aml tbat, .given the huge problemsfadng the
peacemakers, it
would have been diffkult for them to have. acheved a mote sa.tisfactoty setilement.. The
key arguments of histotians 1;uch as Sally Matks, Anthony Lentin, Alan Sharp and Ruth
Henig can. be stitnmarized as follows.

ompared to the treaties that Germany had imposedon Bussia and Romana earlier in
1918,
Treaty of Versailles was quite moderase: Germany's war aims were far-reaching and,
shown in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, indicatethat Germanywould have sought huge
areas of land from the Allies if it had won. Thus, the Allies can be seen to have exercised
considerable<restraint. The treaty deprived Germany of about 13.5 per cent of its territory
{much of this consisted of Alsace-Lorraine, which was returned to France), about 13 per
t of its economic productivity and just over 1 O per cent ofits population. In additon,
jtcan be argued that France deserved to he compensated for the destruction of so much of
i.ts Iand and industry. German land had not been invaded and its farmland and industries
erefore remained intact,

11le treaty in fact left Germany in a relatively strong position in the centre of Europe, Germany
remained a dominant power in a weakened Europe. Not onlywas itphysically undamaged,
it had gained strategic advantages, Russia remained weak and isolated at this time, and
Qentral Europe was fragmented. The peacemakers had created several new states in
dance with the principie of self-determination (see below), and thls was to create a
r vacuum that would favour the expanson of Germany in the future. Anthony Lentin
pointed out the problem here of creating a treaty that failed to weaken Gennany, but at
same time left it 'scourged, humliated and resentful;

'Ihe huge reparations bill was net responsible for the economic crisis that. Germany faced in
the early J 920s. In fact, the issue of banknotes by the German government was a major
factor in using hyper-inflation, In addition, many economic historians have argued that
Germany
uld have paid the 7.2 per cent of its national income that the Reparations Schedule
quired in the years 1925-29, if it had reformed its financial system or raised its taxation to
h levels, However, it chose not to pay the reparatons as a way of protesting against the
ce settlement.
s it can be argued that the treaty was reasonable, and not in itself responsible, for the
prevalent, and why is it so often cited as a key factor in the cause ofWorld War m The
t issue is that while the treaty was not in itself exceptionally unfair, the Germans thought
andthey directed all their efforts into persuadng others of their case. German
aganda on this issue was very successful, and Britain and France were forced into
ral revisions of the treaty, while Germany evaded paying reparations or carrying out the
mament dauses.
second ssue is that the USA ami Britain lacked the will to enforce the terms of the
/. The coalition that put the treatytogether at Versailles soon collapsed. The USA
sed to ratify the treaty., and Britain, content with colonial gains and with strategic and
itime security from Germany, now wished to distance itself from many of the treaty's
orial provisions. Liberal opinon in the USA and Britain was infiuenced not only by
an propaganda, but also by Keynes's arguments for allowing Germany to recover
mically.
ce was the only country that still feared for its security and which wanted to enforce
es in full. This factex.plains why France invaded the Ruhr in 1923 in order to secure
n payments. Itreceived no support for such actions, however, from the USA
at Britain, who accused France of 'bullying' Germany. As the American historian,
m R. Keylor, writes,'itmust infairnesshe recorded that the Treaty ofVersalles proved
failure less because of theinherent defects it contained than because it was never put
effecf (Te 'F
World a,nd Beyond, 2006).
guaranteed peace and the security o~
the treatystipulated that the troop$ ~o

THE RESULTS OF WORLD WAR 1 -

only be there for 15 years. In fact, the last Allied soldiers left in 1930, five years
agreed and just as Germany was recovering .its strength,

earlier than

The settlement of Eastern and South... Eastern

Europe
Four separate peace treaties were signed with Austria (Treaty of St Germain), Hurtgary
(Treaty ofTranon), Bulgaria (Treaty of Neuilly) and Turkey (Treaty ofSevres, revised by
the Treaty of Lausanne). Pollowing' the format of the Treaty of Versailles, allfour countries
were to disarrn, to pay reparati ons and to lose territory.

The Treaty of St Germain (1919)

By the time the delegares met atVersailles, the peoples of Austria-Hungaryhad alrea.dy
broken away from the empire and were setting up their own states in accordance with the
principie of self-determination. The conference had no choice but to agree to this
situation and suggest minor changes. Austria was separated from Hungary and reduced to
a tiny
land-locked state consisting of only 25 per cent of its pre-war area and20 per cent ofts
pre-war population, It became a republic of seven million people, which manynicknamed
'the tadpole state' due to its shape and size. Other conditions of the Treaty of St

Germain were:
0l Austria lost Bohemia and Moravia - wealthy industrial provinces - to the new state of
111

ll
<ll'

Czechoslovakia
Austria lost Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina to a new state peopled by .Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes, a state that became known as Yugoslavia
Poland gained Galicia
Italy received the South Tyrol, Trentino and Istria.

In addition, Anschluss (union with Germany) was forbidden and Austrian armed forces
were reduced to 30,000 men. Austria had to pay reparatons to the Allies, and by 1922
Austria was virtually bankrupt and the League of Nations took over its financial affairs,

The Treaty of Trianon (1920)

independence of the new states of Czechoslovakia,
Poland, Yugoslavia and Austria. In this treatyt lost75 per cent of its pre-war territory
and 66 per cent of its pre-war_population:
'111 Slovaka and Ruthenia were gven to Czechoslovakia
w. Croara and Slovenia were given to Yugoslavia
l!l Transylvania and the Banat of Temesvar were given to Rornania.
Hungary

had to recognizethe

In addition, the Hungarian Army was limited to 35,000 men and Hungary had to
pay
reparations.
Hungary complained

bitterly that the newly formed Hungarian nation was much

smaller than the. Kingdom of Hungary that had been part of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, and that.more than three millon Magyars had been put under foreign rule.

The Treaty ot Neuilly (1919)

In the Treaty of Neuilly, Bulgaria Iost tetritory to Greece and Yugoslavia. SignificaI1tly, it
lost its Aegean toastline and therefore access to the Mediterranean. However, it was the
only

.The Treaty ot Sevres (1920)

The disintegtatbn of fhe Ottomart Empite had been long expected and both Britain
and
Prance hoped to make sorne gains in the regien. In the Treaty
ofS~vres:
<>
Syria went to Pranc as a manda

te

Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan and Cyprus went to Great

Britain

Eastern Thrace went to Gteece

Rhodes and the Dodecanese Islands went to Ita.ly
Smyrna was occpied by the Greeks forfive-years nd thea
aplebiscitewas held
The Straits (ext fronr t}ie Black Sea) were fbecome a
denilimhed Z<>ll~ athninistered pythe Leage of Natio11s,
and Britain, Prance and Ita.ly were to keep troops in Turkey.

e treaty wasaccepted by Sultan Muhammad VI. Yet there

fieree resentm.eIJ,tto the terms. The nationalistleacir
Mustapha Kemal leda National Assembly at Ankara
topledge

.the unification of Muslim Turks and the rejecton of

Svres,
Greece, ambitiousfor mbte lhd, attemptedto ta.k:e advantagc;:
11ded to attack the British s.olq~c;:r~ ~
pf Chanak.. A
promise wasagreed upop,ho

reaty of Sevres being revis.etlaf

The Treaty of Lausanne (1923)

The provisions of the Treaty of Lausann.e ran as follows;
@
Turkey regained Eastern Thrate, Scyrna, sorne territory alortgthe Sytian bordet and
several Aegean isla.nds
Turkish soveteignty over the Sttaitswas recognized, but the area rernained demilitarized
~ Foteign troops wete WithdtaWn froJ:ll Turl<ish territory
@. Tvrkey no longedrad to pay reparations or haveits .anny.reduced.

What were the eritlcisrns of the peace settlernents in

Eastern and South-Eastern Europe?
It was very diffi:cult to apply the principie of selfdetetrnination c(Jnsistently and fairly.
"

Bec.q.se
Czt:cholova.kia, needed a rnountq.inous, defensible border and because the new state lacked
cettain minerals and industty, itwasgiveitthe ex'"-Austrian Sudetenland1 which contained
around three a:nd a half million Gerrnan speakers. The new Czechosfovakia set up on
racial contained .ti.ve man radal.groups: Czechs, Boles, Magyars, Ruthenians and
lines therefore
Gerfuanspekers. R<tcl:ll prQbl{!nts were aj.so rife i11 the newYugoslavia., where the..re.were
at least a. dozen nationalitie.s within..its borders. 'Ihus the historian Alan Sharp writes that
'the 191.9 minorities w-et p.tobably mote discon:tented than those of 1914' (Modern History
Review, N'oveniber 1991).

As well as ethnic strife., the n.ew states were 111eakpolitically and economieally. Both Hungary
ancLAustria su.ffered economiccollapse by 1922. Theweakm~ss ef these new st;1tes WM
to ere.ate a powe.r v:a.cuum in this partoflater
Europe
thus the area became an easy target
and
Gertnan dominatcn,

for

The
treaties.cresented.
aused muchbitterness:
~ Hungary
the Ioss ofits terrltnries, partcu.larly Transylvania. Czecloslovakia,
R;()tn'!11ia and Xug{)slav~aliter formed the Lttle Entente, with the aim of p.rotec.ting one
another fr.om any Hungarian attempt to regain controlover their tetritories.
;,. Turkey was extreniely bitterabout the settlement, and this bitterness led t() a takeover by
Kermil and the resision of the Treaty of Sevres ..
!lii Italy was also distorttnted. It referred to the settlement as 'the mutilated peace' hecause
it had 11ot receivl;}.qthe Palmatian coast, Fiun1e aud certain colonies. Jn 1919, Gabriele
D'Annunzo,a leader in ltaly's fastistrnovement, occ.upied Fiume witha forceof
supporters in thename ofltalian n<}.ti.011a1,ists, and in 1924 theYugpslavians gave Fim;ne
to theitalans,

;Jlt was the impact of the war andthe pea.ce

ies by the early 1920s?
al .issues
~iht:mgh.'\y;tt~te:rn Europewas still familiar on the map irt l92D, this was notthe case
m'$a$tern E.urope, where no fewertban nine .new or revived states came intl)
ezj:stell.cer
~Ffuland1gstonia:,l.;atvia, Lithnania,.Poland,.Czechoslovakia,.Austda,Hungary.and

r-,
'.

slavia. Me<Jnwhilt\ Rl,lssia's gQVernment was new a Bolshevik dictatorship that was
uraging revolution abroad, The frontiers of new states thus becamethefrontiers of
the pe.fecm whkh Russia was ex1:lded. R.ussia was not invited to theVersailles
Conferenee was not a member of the League of.Natons until 1934.
e new Europe remained divided not only between the 'victors' and the 'defeated~ bm
between those who wanted to maintain the peacesettlement and these who wa,nted to
it revised, Not only Getn1any, but also Hungary and ltaly, were active in putsuing theit
s of getting the treates changed. Despite Wilson's hopes to the contrary, international
s' developed, such as thatformed by the Little Entente. The peacemakers had hoped

ot an:d. encouraged democtaq in the new states, Yet the people in Central Burope had only
erience with autocraey, and governments were undermined by the rivalry between the
'fferent ethnic groups and by the economic problema that they faced,
ough Britain and France still had their empires.and continued ther same colonial
des, the. war saw the startofthe decline of these powers on theworld stage. The role
of eriea in the war had made it clear that Btitain and Ftance were going to find it hard
to on their own to deal with Internarcnal disputes; the focus of power in the world had
d away from Enrope, Furthermore,
the war encouraged movements for
independence

ench and British colonies in Asia and Africa, As P.M.H. Bell writes, 'Empires were
widet

nomic issues
h~rve seen, the wat caused severe econemic disruption in. Europe. Germany
suffered ady badly, but all couritries>ofEurope faeed rising prices, 'the i:hlpact
ofinflation ations whch had grown accustomed to stable prces anda reliable'
currency was
s. and was as much psyt:hological as econornic. The lost landmark of a

stable

much harder
to restore.
than the ruins 9ffarnilies.
mwnsand
vilfages' (~M.H.
Rell,
, proved
which destroyed
the wealth.
of manybourgeois
In GermaJ,ly,
for example,
oollapse of the currency rneant thatthe.savings of nriddle-dass famlies were made
Jely worthless.

and South~Eastern Europe, the new fra.gmentation of the area.h.indered

e recovery. There was now serious disruption in what had been a free trade atea
of rnillion inhabit<Jnts.,From 1919, each country tried to bl1H<f up its econ()my,
which rce tompetition and high tariffs .. Atte:rnpts at economk
coopetationfundered

c:cess was wrecked by the Gr~t.Depr~siQl'l.. As note<l, only Af]lerka and

Ja.pan
econrnically fro'11 thewat, and theywent on. to experien~ economic prosperity
:'.etJ:'<ld~tional structuresin stiety. Aro5s.Europe, thelanded
.01nentbefore 1914,lstmuch ofits power and
>JTidthe countty ofits atstoctacy completely. fo the
tates were hroken up; many
govemments,sch and distributedland
outtothe peasants. In
lands butlostmuch of their ......,'""''"',..

1'111111

".

!HE RESULTS OF WORLD WAR 1 -~~. --~---

France, standards of'health and welfarealso rose during thewar, thus.mprevingthe lives of
the poorest citizens. Measures were introdueed to i.mprove the health of'children. In Britain,
social legislaton eontinued after the war with the Housing.Act of 1918, whidr snbsidzed
the building of'hceses, and the Unemploymertt Insurance Acts ef 1920 and 1921, whieh
increased benefits for unem.ployed workers an.d their-families,
After the war, women gained rights in society to which they had prevously been denied.
Such changes were reflectad in a growing fernale cenfidence and changas in fashion and
behavieur, In Britan and.America the so-called 'flappers' wore plain, short dresses, had
short hair, srnoked cgarettes and drank cocktails, This kind of behaviour would have
been considered unacseptable before the war. In Britain, sorne professions also epened up
to women after the war; they could now train to become archtects and lawyets and were
allowed to serve on a jury.
The endof thewar also saw women gettingthevote in a number of countries;Russia in 1917,
Austria and Britain.in 1918, Czechoslovakia, Germany, theNetherlands, Poland and Sweden
in 1919 and Ameriq. and Belgium in 1920. The role thatwomen played in the war effort
was a contributory facterm this shift in sorne countries, though irwas not the only factor,
In Britain, for instance, the pre-war work of the suffrage movements in raisingawareness of
womensrightsissues was also importan t. Yetthe new employment opportuntes that wornen
had experienced duting: the war did not continu after the war, with mest women giving up

their work and returning to their more traditional roles in the home.

Examine,;s hint
lt is very easy wth the scond
essay queston at the bottcm to
be too \i~e br general in
your ansvvec The probern with
soci:al, politltaf and econornk
effects is that it is hard'to make

sweeping generaliz9~ions; they

varied from country to

tuntry

and riot ali were cau?ed by

the: waronly. Yothsneed

to ensure tha.t
ve!)!

y6 gi\ie

spectc examples frm

range of coutrtrles
{Europeanand

he causes of World War II are complex, and so we have divided the key themes into two
hapters. In this chapter we will look at the failure of collective security in preventing the
outbreak of war, along with the impact of the Great Depression in Europe in the l 930s. In
the next chapterwe will look more specifically at Hitler's policies as a cause of war, and how
the European powers responded to the threat that Nazi Germany posed to Europe.

e faUure of 'ccllective security'

e have seen, one ofWilson's Fourteen Points Ied to the creation of the League of
911s, an otganizatior1 that sought to prevent another war breaking out between states.
aJriye writes:

he Lea~eofta[~~n$Covenant] proposedanalternative to the conventionai

internaiional
r, _which 'Wi~f1I'!!f4SfnV-inced, had been sustained by force.
This had created a
dangerous
Srace
a..fl~J"
.~f;iC(Jl,f,tivities abroad. Now military power and expansionism were
. ',~n;'l1/hich 'world pubfic opinion' rather than alliances and
repla._ceq)'
o int rnattonal order:

a11enges. Altlougliit was success

w()rk collctl:y~lythfough
cause ofWorld War IL

tJ:i~

---

'THE CAUSES OF WORLD WAR 11 IN EUROPE: THE FAILURE OF OOLLEOTIVE SECURITY ~.......,...,,..~

Collective security and the League ot

Natons
The principle of eollective security was theidea thatpeace could be presetved by
countties acting tQgether- c-0llectively- to prevent one country attacki11g am:ither.
Collectivesec(
was to be made practkally possble by the machnery of the Leage of Natiens, When there
.
was a dispute between cmmt;ries theywald refer the iSsue( s) to the League's Asserl)bly.
If thatbodycouldnot fiad a resohrtion, the Councl could then apply'collective security:te.

The Covenant of the League of Nations

"

The League met for the firsttime in Geneva in December 1920. Its key objective was to
keep the peace and avoid roture conftict by advising on and settlng international disputes.
It also amed to premote disarmarnent, supervise the mndated territeries nd pr:om.ote
international good will and soeperation thtough.its varens otganizaons dedicated to
soci\tl and ecenomic.develepment, 'Ihe initial membership ef'the League was 32 Allied
states.and 12 neutral states; however, by 1926 all ex-enemj' states had jeined, The USSR
was
notadtPitted t.liltl 1934, and the USA neverjome.d.
There were 26 articles inthe League's Covenaet (induding amendments made in December

1924), which prescribed when and how the League was to oprate.
. Artklesl~7 were concemed
and orgariization oftheLeague, its
withthememhership
Assembly, Council and Secretarat,
ofwar.
Artides
8-17
were
<;:o,~tcrne4
with
t.he
preventon
Artitles 1s~21 concerned treaty obligations and the League's e}t}'ectations of itll

member

states,
Arde 22 eoneemed the mandated trritores,
Attide ~3 cencemed humantaran issues such as labour conditions,the trafficking of
wornen. chldren and dn1gs, health Issues and the affu tra(ie,
Artide 24 eoncerned the cornmissions,
Artide 25 promoted the .Red Cross,
Artide 26 s.etdown how amendments to the Covenantwere made,

Deafing with international disputes

lt was set clownin the Covenant that member states should refer theit disputes to one of
the
following:
..
The PermanentCourtofinternation~ Jtistice
Arbittation (having a neutral pers.on or group of people listi;ning to and judging
a
dispute)
Art.investigation
or enquiry
by thedispute
Council.
Ifmember
states failed
to refer their
to the League, or failed to follow its
recommendations, the League could then impose economic si'j.nctions., the maintool
for the League against aggtess<lts. In the aftetmath ofWotld War I, in whkh the
econoi:uic blockade of GermanY had been effective, this economk weapon appe(lred to
have the potential to be effective in fo.rdng compliance with fe Lea.gu.~'s decisions.
In theory, the League could call for milita:ry ction as a last restt a.gainstan aggressot. Yet
the Le~e did .not have it.s own armed forces, and in. re.Uity memberstates <lid no~
wantto put theit sovereign forces under international .con.trol. In addition, the
Covena:ntwas rather a!albigu(n.ts as to when andl1ow such anned forces should be used ..
Francehad wanted

THE RESULTS OF WORLD WAR 1

DocumentA

... thefutre life of Europe was not their concern: its means oflivelihood was no: ther anxiety.
Their preoccupations, good and bad alike, related to frontiefs and nauonaluie to the
balance of power, to imperial aggrundisements, to thefuture enfeeblement of a strong and
dangerous
enemy, to revenge, and to the shifting by
unbearable financia/ burdens onto
thevictorsofther
the shoulders
of the
defeated.
Frotn
John Mayard
Keynes,
The Eciinomic Ccmsequences of the Peace, 1919. Keynes was a British
econotnist who worked at the l'reasury during World Wlll" I and was a chi~ representative at
negotiations prior to the Ireaty ofVetsailles, although heresigned from the fitish d.elegation.
Oocument.B

Now that we see [the terms] as a whole, we realise that they are much too stiff The real
crime is the reparations and indemnity chapter, which is immoral and senseless ... There is
not a single pers<>n among the younger people here who is not unhappy and disappointed
with the
terms. The only people who approve are the old fire-eatere .... If I were the Germans, I
shouldn't
sign tfor a moment.

Documente
'Maybe we should let t stand ...
up'. a cartoon by David Low.

....

Documento

The las: time I had the

of ad:dressingthe House upon this Treaty its main. outlines
had
been settied: 1 veniured then to call it a 'stern but just Treaty'. 1 adhere to that
opportunity
description. The terrns are in many respecte, terrible term to impose upon a ceuntry. Terrible
deeds
that it recudes. Terrible were the conseqences tha: were inflicted upon the world. StU
were the
more terrible would have been the consequences had they succeeded. What do these.
terms mean to Germany?
Take the territorial terms. In so far as terrttories have been taken awayfrom Germany, i.t is
a restoration. Alsace-Lorraine was forcbly token from the land. to whidi its population were
deeply attached. Is it an injustice to restare them to their country? Schleswig-Holstein, the
meanest of the Hohenzollern frauds; robbing a small, poor, helpless country, and then retaining
that land against the wishes ofthe populationfor 50 to 60 years. 1 am gJad the opportunity
has come far restoring Schleswig-Holstein. Poland, torn to bits to feed the carnvorous greed
of
Russian, Austrian and Prussian autocracy. This Treaty has re-knit the torn flag of Poland.
Speech by Lloyd. George to House of Commons, 1919

entE
ay in the Hall of M.irrors of Veriailles the disgraceful Treaty is beingsigned. Do not
forget
The German people will with unceasing labour pressforward to teconquer the place
among
newspaper, DeutscheZeitung, 1919

'1

lsrns ofthe Treaty of Versailles

5a11 see from the sources above, there was already strong criticism of the Treaty
esattl1e ~~ethatit was signed, not just from.the Germans but also from
the Allies.1."}Ie_se.c:dticisms became stronger in the 1920s, forcefully expressed by
porary observers like Harold Nicolson and Norman H. Davies, and economist
eynes. Mlilyiq~t~~~s today also support these criticisrns, which are summarized

"'""nn bythe

Gerrnans, who felt that all countres

of war in 1914. It was

eipecially harsh

wasatrea dy 1~tttrgg.ln~ for ""'"'''""'"'

1

THE RESULTS OF WORLD WAR l

was able to play oh the resentment and anger feltby the German population towards
the
war guiltdaU.Se, an.d also'towards thefact thal it was a diktat.
Disarmamentclauses

These were hard for the Germansto accepLAn anny of 100,000 was small for a couhtry of
Germany's size .. German.y was also very pro.ud of .its army. Germany's anger grewwhen,
despite Wlsort?s call fr disarmament in his Fourteen Points, efforts by the othet
European powers to disann carne to n:othing infe 1920s and l93Qs,
Reparations and

fossof kftY r~soyr~s

Keynes (see Document. above} led the .criticisms of the treaty in the area ofreparations.
In The Economic Conseqeru:~ .of the Peac~, he argued that 'the treatyighores the
econornc of Europe andby aimingatthe destruc.tion of the ecoiomic life of Germafl.yit
solidaritg
threatens the health and prospetity of the Allies thems.elves? Not ohly could Germany
not bill, but by takifl.g away Germany's coal andJron resources1 t
pay the hge reparatior1s
also meant that Gertnany's econotny would be unableto recover, Keynes:.argued .thatthe
real prohlem of the settlement lay not ini.ssues ofbcundaries 'but rather in questions
offood,
toal and co:tnmerce'. The fo.et that Germany was to face hyper~infiti<>nin the e.arly

l920s
Territorial changes to satisfy the issue of se 1f~determination

On this is:sue, Germanyw<:1:s treated unfairly. Thus while the Danes were given the chance
ofa plebiscite in .northern S.chleswig, the Germans in theSudetenland and Austria were
not al'ly sqch choite.Many German-'speakingpeoples were nowtul.ed by non-Germans.
given
Historian W.H. Dawson claimed in 1933,inh.is hook Germany un4er the Treaty, that
Germany1s bctders'are litetallybleeding. From them oozes out thelfe-blood, physical,
.spiritual and material of largepopi,dations.'

Remova! of colenies
Wilsort?s reason fr removing regions.like South-West 1\frka and Rwanda., Urundi. from
German adrninistration was to rernove them from the harsh nature ofGerman rule. Yetthis
action was: cle.arly }iypocriti<:al . States th;,tt .received German rolonies- Smith Aftica and
Belgiu:tn,Jor example ~ couldnotthernselves daim to be model colonial rulers.
League of Nations
'I'he fall,re of the peacemakers to invite

Grma.ny to joiil the League of Natiol1s not only

ins:ulted Ge!many and added toits sense of grievance, butmade itlesslikely thllt the
Leagtie

Alternative views of the Treaty of VersaiHes

M<111y historianstake a different v-iew of the Treaty ofVersailles and its mpact on the events
of Euro pe a.fter 1910. In fact, its now argued by many that the treaty was in fa.et
'telatively lenient'(NiaU Fergl:.lson) aml tbat, .given the huge problemsfadng the
peacemakers, it
would have been diffkult for them to have. acheved a mote sa.tisfactoty setilement.. The
key arguments of histotians 1;uch as Sally Matks, Anthony Lentin, Alan Sharp and Ruth
Henig can. be stitnmarized as follows.

ompared to the treaties that Germany had imposedon Bussia and Romana earlier in
1918,
Treaty of Versailles was quite moderase: Germany's war aims were far-reaching and,
shown in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, indicatethat Germanywould have sought huge
areas of land from the Allies if it had won. Thus, the Allies can be seen to have exercised
considerable<restraint. The treaty deprived Germany of about 13.5 per cent of its territory
{much of this consisted of Alsace-Lorraine, which was returned to France), about 13 per
t of its economic productivity and just over 1 O per cent ofits population. In additon,
jtcan be argued that France deserved to he compensated for the destruction of so much of
i.ts Iand and industry. German land had not been invaded and its farmland and industries
erefore remained intact,

11le treaty in fact left Germany in a relatively strong position in the centre of Europe, Germany
remained a dominant power in a weakened Europe. Not onlywas itphysically undamaged,
it had gained strategic advantages, Russia remained weak and isolated at this time, and
Qentral Europe was fragmented. The peacemakers had created several new states in
dance with the principie of self-determination (see below), and thls was to create a
r vacuum that would favour the expanson of Germany in the future. Anthony Lentin
pointed out the problem here of creating a treaty that failed to weaken Gennany, but at
same time left it 'scourged, humliated and resentful;

'Ihe huge reparations bill was net responsible for the economic crisis that. Germany faced in
the early J 920s. In fact, the issue of banknotes by the German government was a major
factor in using hyper-inflation, In addition, many economic historians have argued that
Germany
uld have paid the 7.2 per cent of its national income that the Reparations Schedule
quired in the years 1925-29, if it had reformed its financial system or raised its taxation to
h levels, However, it chose not to pay the reparatons as a way of protesting against the
ce settlement.
s it can be argued that the treaty was reasonable, and not in itself responsible, for the
prevalent, and why is it so often cited as a key factor in the cause ofWorld War m The
t issue is that while the treaty was not in itself exceptionally unfair, the Germans thought
andthey directed all their efforts into persuadng others of their case. German
aganda on this issue was very successful, and Britain and France were forced into
ral revisions of the treaty, while Germany evaded paying reparations or carrying out the
mament dauses.
second ssue is that the USA ami Britain lacked the will to enforce the terms of the
/. The coalition that put the treatytogether at Versailles soon collapsed. The USA
sed to ratify the treaty., and Britain, content with colonial gains and with strategic and
itime security from Germany, now wished to distance itself from many of the treaty's
orial provisions. Liberal opinon in the USA and Britain was infiuenced not only by
an propaganda, but also by Keynes's arguments for allowing Germany to recover
mically.
ce was the only country that still feared for its security and which wanted to enforce
es in full. This factex.plains why France invaded the Ruhr in 1923 in order to secure
n payments. Itreceived no support for such actions, however, from the USA
at Britain, who accused France of 'bullying' Germany. As the American historian,
m R. Keylor, writes,'itmust infairnesshe recorded that the Treaty ofVersalles proved
failure less because of theinherent defects it contained than because it was never put
effecf (Te 'F
World a,nd Beyond, 2006).
guaranteed peace and the security o~
the treatystipulated that the troop$ ~o

THE RESULTS OF WORLD WAR 1 -

only be there for 15 years. In fact, the last Allied soldiers left in 1930, five years
agreed and just as Germany was recovering .its strength,

earlier than

The settlement of Eastern and South... Eastern

Europe
Four separate peace treaties were signed with Austria (Treaty of St Germain), Hurtgary
(Treaty ofTranon), Bulgaria (Treaty of Neuilly) and Turkey (Treaty ofSevres, revised by
the Treaty of Lausanne). Pollowing' the format of the Treaty of Versailles, allfour countries
were to disarrn, to pay reparati ons and to lose territory.

The Treaty of St Germain (1919)

By the time the delegares met atVersailles, the peoples of Austria-Hungaryhad alrea.dy
broken away from the empire and were setting up their own states in accordance with the
principie of self-determination. The conference had no choice but to agree to this
situation and suggest minor changes. Austria was separated from Hungary and reduced to
a tiny
land-locked state consisting of only 25 per cent of its pre-war area and20 per cent ofts
pre-war population, It became a republic of seven million people, which manynicknamed
'the tadpole state' due to its shape and size. Other conditions of the Treaty of St

Germain were:
0l Austria lost Bohemia and Moravia - wealthy industrial provinces - to the new state of
111

ll
<ll'

Czechoslovakia
Austria lost Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina to a new state peopled by .Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes, a state that became known as Yugoslavia
Poland gained Galicia
Italy received the South Tyrol, Trentino and Istria.

In addition, Anschluss (union with Germany) was forbidden and Austrian armed forces
were reduced to 30,000 men. Austria had to pay reparatons to the Allies, and by 1922
Austria was virtually bankrupt and the League of Nations took over its financial affairs,

The Treaty of Trianon (1920)

independence of the new states of Czechoslovakia,
Poland, Yugoslavia and Austria. In this treatyt lost75 per cent of its pre-war territory
and 66 per cent of its pre-war_population:
'111 Slovaka and Ruthenia were gven to Czechoslovakia
w. Croara and Slovenia were given to Yugoslavia
l!l Transylvania and the Banat of Temesvar were given to Rornania.
Hungary

had to recognizethe

In addition, the Hungarian Army was limited to 35,000 men and Hungary had to
pay
reparations.
Hungary complained

bitterly that the newly formed Hungarian nation was much

smaller than the. Kingdom of Hungary that had been part of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, and that.more than three millon Magyars had been put under foreign rule.

The Treaty ot Neuilly (1919)

In the Treaty of Neuilly, Bulgaria Iost tetritory to Greece and Yugoslavia. SignificaI1tly, it
lost its Aegean toastline and therefore access to the Mediterranean. However, it was the
only

.The Treaty ot Sevres (1920)

The disintegtatbn of fhe Ottomart Empite had been long expected and both Britain
and
Prance hoped to make sorne gains in the regien. In the Treaty
ofS~vres:
<>
Syria went to Pranc as a manda

te

Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan and Cyprus went to Great

Britain

Eastern Thrace went to Gteece

Rhodes and the Dodecanese Islands went to Ita.ly
Smyrna was occpied by the Greeks forfive-years nd thea
aplebiscitewas held
The Straits (ext fronr t}ie Black Sea) were fbecome a
denilimhed Z<>ll~ athninistered pythe Leage of Natio11s,
and Britain, Prance and Ita.ly were to keep troops in Turkey.

e treaty wasaccepted by Sultan Muhammad VI. Yet there

fieree resentm.eIJ,tto the terms. The nationalistleacir
Mustapha Kemal leda National Assembly at Ankara
topledge

.the unification of Muslim Turks and the rejecton of

Svres,
Greece, ambitiousfor mbte lhd, attemptedto ta.k:e advantagc;:
11ded to attack the British s.olq~c;:r~ ~
pf Chanak.. A
promise wasagreed upop,ho

reaty of Sevres being revis.etlaf

The Treaty of Lausanne (1923)

The provisions of the Treaty of Lausann.e ran as follows;
@
Turkey regained Eastern Thrate, Scyrna, sorne territory alortgthe Sytian bordet and
several Aegean isla.nds
Turkish soveteignty over the Sttaitswas recognized, but the area rernained demilitarized
~ Foteign troops wete WithdtaWn froJ:ll Turl<ish territory
@. Tvrkey no longedrad to pay reparations or haveits .anny.reduced.

What were the eritlcisrns of the peace settlernents in

Eastern and South-Eastern Europe?
It was very diffi:cult to apply the principie of selfdetetrnination c(Jnsistently and fairly.
"

Bec.q.se
Czt:cholova.kia, needed a rnountq.inous, defensible border and because the new state lacked
cettain minerals and industty, itwasgiveitthe ex'"-Austrian Sudetenland1 which contained
around three a:nd a half million Gerrnan speakers. The new Czechosfovakia set up on
racial contained .ti.ve man radal.groups: Czechs, Boles, Magyars, Ruthenians and
lines therefore
Gerfuanspekers. R<tcl:ll prQbl{!nts were aj.so rife i11 the newYugoslavia., where the..re.were
at least a. dozen nationalitie.s within..its borders. 'Ihus the historian Alan Sharp writes that
'the 191.9 minorities w-et p.tobably mote discon:tented than those of 1914' (Modern History
Review, N'oveniber 1991).

As well as ethnic strife., the n.ew states were 111eakpolitically and economieally. Both Hungary
ancLAustria su.ffered economiccollapse by 1922. Theweakm~ss ef these new st;1tes WM
to ere.ate a powe.r v:a.cuum in this partoflater
Europe
thus the area became an easy target
and
Gertnan dominatcn,

for

The
treaties.cresented.
aused muchbitterness:
~ Hungary
the Ioss ofits terrltnries, partcu.larly Transylvania. Czecloslovakia,
R;()tn'!11ia and Xug{)slav~aliter formed the Lttle Entente, with the aim of p.rotec.ting one
another fr.om any Hungarian attempt to regain controlover their tetritories.
;,. Turkey was extreniely bitterabout the settlement, and this bitterness led t() a takeover by
Kermil and the resision of the Treaty of Sevres ..
!lii Italy was also distorttnted. It referred to the settlement as 'the mutilated peace' hecause
it had 11ot receivl;}.qthe Palmatian coast, Fiun1e aud certain colonies. Jn 1919, Gabriele
D'Annunzo,a leader in ltaly's fastistrnovement, occ.upied Fiume witha forceof
supporters in thename ofltalian n<}.ti.011a1,ists, and in 1924 theYugpslavians gave Fim;ne
to theitalans,

;Jlt was the impact of the war andthe pea.ce

ies by the early 1920s?
al .issues
~iht:mgh.'\y;tt~te:rn Europewas still familiar on the map irt l92D, this was notthe case
m'$a$tern E.urope, where no fewertban nine .new or revived states came intl)
ezj:stell.cer
~Ffuland1gstonia:,l.;atvia, Lithnania,.Poland,.Czechoslovakia,.Austda,Hungary.and

r-,
'.

slavia. Me<Jnwhilt\ Rl,lssia's gQVernment was new a Bolshevik dictatorship that was
uraging revolution abroad, The frontiers of new states thus becamethefrontiers of
the pe.fecm whkh Russia was ex1:lded. R.ussia was not invited to theVersailles
Conferenee was not a member of the League of.Natons until 1934.
e new Europe remained divided not only between the 'victors' and the 'defeated~ bm
between those who wanted to maintain the peacesettlement and these who wa,nted to
it revised, Not only Getn1any, but also Hungary and ltaly, were active in putsuing theit
s of getting the treates changed. Despite Wilson's hopes to the contrary, international
s' developed, such as thatformed by the Little Entente. The peacemakers had hoped

ot an:d. encouraged democtaq in the new states, Yet the people in Central Burope had only
erience with autocraey, and governments were undermined by the rivalry between the
'fferent ethnic groups and by the economic problema that they faced,
ough Britain and France still had their empires.and continued ther same colonial
des, the. war saw the startofthe decline of these powers on theworld stage. The role
of eriea in the war had made it clear that Btitain and Ftance were going to find it hard
to on their own to deal with Internarcnal disputes; the focus of power in the world had
d away from Enrope, Furthermore,
the war encouraged movements for
independence

ench and British colonies in Asia and Africa, As P.M.H. Bell writes, 'Empires were
widet

nomic issues
h~rve seen, the wat caused severe econemic disruption in. Europe. Germany
suffered ady badly, but all couritries>ofEurope faeed rising prices, 'the i:hlpact
ofinflation ations whch had grown accustomed to stable prces anda reliable'
currency was
s. and was as much psyt:hological as econornic. The lost landmark of a

stable

much harder
to restore.
than the ruins 9ffarnilies.
mwnsand
vilfages' (~M.H.
Rell,
, proved
which destroyed
the wealth.
of manybourgeois
In GermaJ,ly,
for example,
oollapse of the currency rneant thatthe.savings of nriddle-dass famlies were made
Jely worthless.

and South~Eastern Europe, the new fra.gmentation of the area.h.indered

e recovery. There was now serious disruption in what had been a free trade atea
of rnillion inhabit<Jnts.,From 1919, each country tried to bl1H<f up its econ()my,
which rce tompetition and high tariffs .. Atte:rnpts at economk
coopetationfundered

c:cess was wrecked by the Gr~t.Depr~siQl'l.. As note<l, only Af]lerka and

Ja.pan
econrnically fro'11 thewat, and theywent on. to experien~ economic prosperity
:'.etJ:'<ld~tional structuresin stiety. Aro5s.Europe, thelanded
.01nentbefore 1914,lstmuch ofits power and
>JTidthe countty ofits atstoctacy completely. fo the
tates were hroken up; many
govemments,sch and distributedland
outtothe peasants. In
lands butlostmuch of their ......,'""''"',..

1'111111

".

!HE RESULTS OF WORLD WAR 1 -~~. --~---

France, standards of'health and welfarealso rose during thewar, thus.mprevingthe lives of
the poorest citizens. Measures were introdueed to i.mprove the health of'children. In Britain,
social legislaton eontinued after the war with the Housing.Act of 1918, whidr snbsidzed
the building of'hceses, and the Unemploymertt Insurance Acts ef 1920 and 1921, whieh
increased benefits for unem.ployed workers an.d their-families,
After the war, women gained rights in society to which they had prevously been denied.
Such changes were reflectad in a growing fernale cenfidence and changas in fashion and
behavieur, In Britan and.America the so-called 'flappers' wore plain, short dresses, had
short hair, srnoked cgarettes and drank cocktails, This kind of behaviour would have
been considered unacseptable before the war. In Britain, sorne professions also epened up
to women after the war; they could now train to become archtects and lawyets and were
allowed to serve on a jury.
The endof thewar also saw women gettingthevote in a number of countries;Russia in 1917,
Austria and Britain.in 1918, Czechoslovakia, Germany, theNetherlands, Poland and Sweden
in 1919 and Ameriq. and Belgium in 1920. The role thatwomen played in the war effort
was a contributory facterm this shift in sorne countries, though irwas not the only factor,
In Britain, for instance, the pre-war work of the suffrage movements in raisingawareness of
womensrightsissues was also importan t. Yetthe new employment opportuntes that wornen
had experienced duting: the war did not continu after the war, with mest women giving up

their work and returning to their more traditional roles in the home.

Examine,;s hint
lt is very easy wth the scond
essay queston at the bottcm to
be too \i~e br general in
your ansvvec The probern with
soci:al, politltaf and econornk
effects is that it is hard'to make

sweeping generaliz9~ions; they

varied from country to

tuntry

and riot ali were cau?ed by

the: waronly. Yothsneed

to ensure tha.t
ve!)!

y6 gi\ie

spectc examples frm

range of coutrtrles
{Europeanand

he causes of World War II are complex, and so we have divided the key themes into two
hapters. In this chapter we will look at the failure of collective security in preventing the
outbreak of war, along with the impact of the Great Depression in Europe in the l 930s. In
the next chapterwe will look more specifically at Hitler's policies as a cause of war, and how
the European powers responded to the threat that Nazi Germany posed to Europe.

e faUure of 'ccllective security'

e have seen, one ofWilson's Fourteen Points Ied to the creation of the League of
911s, an otganizatior1 that sought to prevent another war breaking out between states.
aJriye writes:

he Lea~eofta[~~n$Covenant] proposedanalternative to the conventionai

internaiional
r, _which 'Wi~f1I'!!f4SfnV-inced, had been sustained by force.
This had created a
dangerous
Srace
a..fl~J"
.~f;iC(Jl,f,tivities abroad. Now military power and expansionism were
. ',~n;'l1/hich 'world pubfic opinion' rather than alliances and
repla._ceq)'
o int rnattonal order:

a11enges. Altlougliit was success

w()rk collctl:y~lythfough
cause ofWorld War IL

tJ:i~

---

'THE CAUSES OF WORLD WAR 11 IN EUROPE: THE FAILURE OF OOLLEOTIVE SECURITY ~.......,...,,..~

Collective security and the League ot

Natons
The principle of eollective security was theidea thatpeace could be presetved by
countties acting tQgether- c-0llectively- to prevent one country attacki11g am:ither.
Collectivesec(
was to be made practkally possble by the machnery of the Leage of Natiens, When there
.
was a dispute between cmmt;ries theywald refer the iSsue( s) to the League's Asserl)bly.
If thatbodycouldnot fiad a resohrtion, the Councl could then apply'collective security:te.

The Covenant of the League of Nations

"

The League met for the firsttime in Geneva in December 1920. Its key objective was to
keep the peace and avoid roture conftict by advising on and settlng international disputes.
It also amed to premote disarmarnent, supervise the mndated territeries nd pr:om.ote
international good will and soeperation thtough.its varens otganizaons dedicated to
soci\tl and ecenomic.develepment, 'Ihe initial membership ef'the League was 32 Allied
states.and 12 neutral states; however, by 1926 all ex-enemj' states had jeined, The USSR
was
notadtPitted t.liltl 1934, and the USA neverjome.d.
There were 26 articles inthe League's Covenaet (induding amendments made in December

1924), which prescribed when and how the League was to oprate.
. Artklesl~7 were concemed
and orgariization oftheLeague, its
withthememhership
Assembly, Council and Secretarat,
ofwar.
Artides
8-17
were
<;:o,~tcrne4
with
t.he
preventon
Artitles 1s~21 concerned treaty obligations and the League's e}t}'ectations of itll

member

states,
Arde 22 eoneemed the mandated trritores,
Attide ~3 cencemed humantaran issues such as labour conditions,the trafficking of
wornen. chldren and dn1gs, health Issues and the affu tra(ie,
Artide 24 eoncerned the cornmissions,
Artide 25 promoted the .Red Cross,
Artide 26 s.etdown how amendments to the Covenantwere made,

Deafing with international disputes

lt was set clownin the Covenant that member states should refer theit disputes to one of
the
following:
..
The PermanentCourtofinternation~ Jtistice
Arbittation (having a neutral pers.on or group of people listi;ning to and judging
a
dispute)
Art.investigation
or enquiry
by thedispute
Council.
Ifmember
states failed
to refer their
to the League, or failed to follow its
recommendations, the League could then impose economic si'j.nctions., the maintool
for the League against aggtess<lts. In the aftetmath ofWotld War I, in whkh the
econoi:uic blockade of GermanY had been effective, this economk weapon appe(lred to
have the potential to be effective in fo.rdng compliance with fe Lea.gu.~'s decisions.
In theory, the League could call for milita:ry ction as a last restt a.gainstan aggressot. Yet
the Le~e did .not have it.s own armed forces, and in. re.Uity memberstates <lid no~
wantto put theit sovereign forces under international .con.trol. In addition, the
Covena:ntwas rather a!albigu(n.ts as to when andl1ow such anned forces should be used ..
Francehad wanted