Question

The league of Nations was established to prevent war, but it failed to avoid war. What measures should the league have taken to prevent the war???

Answer 1

League of nations was built in 1919 to protect the world from the huge massacre and human loss the world faced in WW-I. But from the very beginning it faced his hands and legs tied up as the globe’s dominating forces were more concerned about their own interests rather than a common one.

The history of the league of Nations says that it was based in Geneva, Switzerland. This choice was natural as Switzerland was a neutral country and had not fought in World War One. No one could dispute this choice especially as an international organisation such as the Red Cross was already based in Switzerland.

If a dispute did occur, the League, under its Covenant, could do three things – these were known as its sanctions:

1. It could call on the states in dispute to sit down and discuss the problem in an orderly and peaceful manner in the League’s parliament which would listen to disputes and come to a decision on how to proceed. If one nation was seen to be the offender, the League could introduce verbal sanctions – warning an aggressor nation that she would need to leave another nation’s territory or face the consequences.
2. If the states in dispute failed to listen to the Assembly’s decision, the League could introduce economic sanctions. This would be arranged by the League’s Council. The purpose of this sanction was to financially hit the aggressor nation so that she would have to do as the League required. The League could order League members not to do any trade with an aggressor nation in an effort to bring that aggressor nation to heel.
3. If this failed, the League could introduce physical sanctions. This meant that military force would be used to put into place the League’s decision. However, the League did not have a military force at its disposal and no member of the League had to provide one under the terms of joining – unlike the current United Nations.

The league of nations was set up with no teethe to the organization, they had no ability to raise troops, the most they could do was condemn, without the ability to use force you can’t achieve peace, for many times peace is brought about by the show of overwhelming force.