The League of Nations

  • David Armstrong
  • Lorna Lloyd
  • John Redmond
Chapter
Part of the The Making of the 20th Century book series

Abstract

At one level, the history of the League of Nations is synonymous with the often-told story of the failure of the Western democracies to oppose the aggression of the Fascist regimes and prevent world war. The international order established at Versailles was inherently unstable because the temporary weakness of Germany and Russia meant that the balance of power upon which it was founded was essentially artificial and impermanent and would come under increasing strain as those two states regained their strength. In so far as the League was associated with that order, it too would come under threat. Since the founders of the League always saw it as, above all else, a provider of collective security, there can be no real objection to an assessment of the League in these terms. However, at another level — the one with which we are most concerned here — the League was also an episode in the history of international organisation. Viewed in this light, what is most remarkable is that, far from the disastrous failure of the League leading to a hiatus in the growth of international institutions, it was followed by an unparalleled increase in their number and range of functions. So, while an organisation was discredited between 1919 and 1939, international organisation as a significant process in the relations amongst states may be said to have become firmly established during the same period.

Keywords

Small State Foreign Minister Peace Treaty High Commissioner Economic Sanction 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes and References

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Copyright information

© David Armstrong, Lorna Lloyd and John Redmond 1996

Authors and Affiliations

  • David Armstrong
  • Lorna Lloyd
  • John Redmond

There are no affiliations available

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