Success+and+Failures+of+the+League+of+Nations

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 * __Upper Silesia (1921)-Success__**
 * 1921: League was equally successful in Upper Silesia
 * Treaty of Versailles had given the people of Upper Silesia the right to have a referendum on whether they wanted to be part of Weimer Germany or part of Poland
 * In this referendum, 700,000 voted for Germany and 500,000 for Poland
 * After a six-week inquiry, the League decided to split Upper Silesia between Germany and Poland


 * __Memel (1923) Success!!!__**
 * · Memel was a port in Lithuania.
 * · People who lived in Memel were Lithuanians
 * · Government of Lithuania decided that Memel should be governed by them
 * · Treaty of Versailles had put Memel and the land surrounding the port under control of the League
 * · A French general acted as a governor until 1923 when Lithuanians invaded this port
 * · League then gave the surrounding area to Lithuania but made Memel an international zone
 * · Lithuania was happy
 * · Can be seen as a success because the issue was settled, but can also be seen as a failure because the League basically just gave up


 * __Greece and Bulgaria (1925)- Success__**
 * Greece and Bulgaria share a common border.
 * In 1925, sentries guarding said border engaged in rifle fire resulting in the fatality of one Greek soldier. Bulgaria was invaded by the Greek army because of the incident.
 * The Bulgarians contacted the League in need of assistance and the League ordered both armies to cease fire and ordered the Greeks to pull out of Bulgaria.
 * Experts were sent to the conflict and they determined that Greece was to blame and fined the country £45,000.
 * Both nations accepted the decision and the league proved worthy!

__**Turkey (1923)--Success/ Failure**__ False dilemma in regards to success and failure - The League of Nations did both positive and negative things within Turkey o Negatives o Positives
 * Failure to prevent a bloody civil war, ending in the establishment of a New Turkish Republic out of the former Ottoman Empire and territories created by the Treaty of Sevrés-Lorraine
 * 1,400,000 refugees were created by the war, 80% being women and children
 * Typhoid and cholera were rampant
 * The League of Nations reacted quickly to the humanitarian needs as a result of the war.
 * £10 million was spent on humanitarian efforts, especially concentrated in building farms, homes, disease prevention, etc.
 * Money was invested deeply in seeds, wells, and digging tools.
 * Work was found for 600,000


 * __Italy (1919-- Failure__**
 * · First crisis of the League in north Italy (1919)
 * · Italian nationalists claimed that promises were broken
 * · As a result, they captured Fiume
 * · ToV (Treaty of Versailles) had given Fiume to Yugoslavia despite an nationalist of Italy had governed it
 * · League never intervened
 * · Issue was solved by Italian gov’t by invading the port and ordering a surrender
 * · The League never intervened, but its essence was to maintain peace

Ruhr · What is the Ruhr Crisis o Because of The Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to pay reparations (either in money or in good). However, in 1922 Germany didn’t make its payment (it was unable to) o The next year, France and Belgium chose to attack and invade Germany (Ruhr, which is the industrial heartland of Germany) · Failure? o The main purpose of the Legend of League was to stop war and keep peace under control, but it fails to stop the Ruhr Crisis. o The action of attacking and invading the Ruhr was a violation of the League of Nation’s rules; however, since France was a major player in the League of Nation, Britain was hesitant to take action on its ally. (No sanctions were forthcoming) o This show that the League of Nation rarely acted against the major power, and sometime will break its own rules.
 * League of Nation failures: The invasion of the Ruhr Area

· Originally, the countries belonged to Finland, but after the war, the residents wanted to be under Sweden’s government. · The two countries couldn’t make a decision, so they called in the League of Nations to decide for them. · The LofN decided that the Islands should stay Finland’s but that no weapons should ever be kept there. · The countries accepted this judgment, and it is still in effect today. · The decision guaranteed the autonomous status of the islands and confirmed their demilitarization.
 * The Aaland Islands (1921):**

League of Nations: The Teschen Failure (1919) · Claims over Teschen, a small town between Poland and Czechoslovakia, were highly disputed between those two countries, mainly because of the rich coal mines therein. · In January 1919, men from each country fought to the death in the streets of Teschen. · The League was asked to help, but their solution (given below), didn’t satisfy Poland or really resolve the matter: o The bulk of the town would go to Poland while Czech would get one of Teschen’s suburbs—the area with the most valuable coal mines. · Though no more onslaughts of violence occurred, the area continued to cause anger and disagreements between the countries for the next twenty years. · Irony—When the Little Entente was formed, the primary reason why Poland did not join was because of this dispute over the Teschen area. Had Poland joined, then the Little Entente would have been much stronger; furthermore, all the small, weak nations in that general area would have been much stronger, and perhaps they would not have so quickly fallen when Hitler set out to conquer the world.

**__Polish-Soviet War 1919-1921 (Failure)__**
 * Poland and Russia both wanted to control the territories that lay between them,
 * Russia had occupied them prior to WWI
 * Poland had occupied them in its previous incarnation.
 * War ensues
 * Poland was expected to be quickly overrun by Russia
 * Received little international help. France sent a few training officer and a diplomat.
 * Russian forces are crushed by Poland at the Battle of Warsaw, leading to a Polish victory (!??!?!?!?!?!).
 * League of Nations failure
 * Ambigious Polish borders
 * Diplomacy didn't stop war.
 * Was willing to led Poland fall to avoid war.