Question

Explain the following statement with reason.

The League of Nations failed.

Answer 1

1. World War I left a significant impact on various fields including production of war supplies, civil industries, trade, economic policies, sea and land transportation, farming and agricultural production, fuel supply, defence systems, etc.
2. All the nations who were involved in the First World War seriously felt the need to create some solution to avoid any situation that could lead to another world war.
3. Woodrow Wilson, the American President was a peace-loving and idealistic leader. He emphasised the need for having an organisation of the leading nations, finding peaceful solutions for conflicts between nations and establishing peace in the world.
4. An organisation is known as the ‘League of Nations’ was established with this objective. Germany, Austria and other defeated nations were not allowed to become members of the league.
5. The concept of the ‘League of Nations’ was deliberated by America and yet it did not become a member of the league. As a result, England and France retained their dominance in the league.
6. There had to be unanimity for decisions that were taken. Unanimity made it really hard for the League to do anything. The League suffered big time from the absence of major powers - Germany, Japan, Italy ultimately left.
7. The League didn’t have its own armed forces and depended on members to act, but none of the member countries was ready for another war and didn’t want to provide military support.
8. Therefore, the lack of participation of major powers, economic turbulence and countries having a weak stance on world politics made the “league of nations” too weak to function and thus it failed miserably to stop World War II.