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Task

Research:
"Why did the League of Nations fail?"
The creation of the League of Nations

The League of Nations was set up after the Treaty of Versailles.  It was the idea of US President Woodrow Wilson.  The aim of the organisation was for all countries to work together to solve problems by discussion rather than by war.

Wilson hoped that the League would create Collective Security for its members.  If a country attacked a member, all the others members would stop trading with the attacker.  Collectively (together) they would stop trading - this was known as taking sanctions.

Key Terms

Covenant - the rules of the League of Nations, which member countries had to obey.
Sanctions - preventing or stopping trade - they way the League punished countries who broke the Covenant.

The LON was also set up to help refugees, stop slavery and drug addiction.  Specific areas of the League of Nations were established.

The League of Nations was a very good idea.  However it depended on every nation obeying the Covenant.  It was very successful in the 1920s, especially in settling European disputes.  It was unsuccessful in the 1930s when dictators deliberately broke the Covenant.
 
Timeline of major failures

1920s All of the league's decisions were accepted except for two (Vilna and the Corfu incident)
1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria - to try and revive the depressed economy, Japan invaded Manchuria, part of China.  Other countries were unwilling to get involved because of the world depression. The LON's solution was to establish a commission.  Japan soon left the League.  Japan, a LON member, had invaded another member, China, and the LON had been powerless to change the situation.  
1935 Italian invasion of Abyssinia - in 1935 Italy invaded Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia).  The LON introduced sanctions, but these didn't include coal, oil or steel (vital to warfare).  Italy easily completed invasion and LON was no longer taken seriously. 
See these links for further detail:
Failures of the League
A Canadian site explaining the failures of the LON in useful detail.  Further information also available. 
Brief Timeline
From the History Channel, this timeline lists the changes in the League of Nations.
League of Nations quiz
Have some fun in this GCSE quiz from WGShistory which allows you to take decisions and find out what really happened.
So why did the League of Nations fail?

Not all major countries joined
The United States never became a member.  The League was flawed from the start - without every powerful nation being a member it would lack importance.
Members preferred to look after their own interests
Britain and France were often unwilling to get involved in League affairs, preferring to make sure their national interest was defended.
It had no armed forces
With member states unwilling to provide soldiers, the LON never had an army - its only weapon was sanctions.
It was unable to stop aggression by major powers
Japan, then Italy were able to get away with invasions of other countries.  This made the League appear powerless.  This meant Germany could consider breaking the Treaty of Versailles.
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Page updated 23 January 2003

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