League of Nations Peacekeeping

1. The Aims of the League

The main goal of the League of Nations was to maintain peace all over the world. It therefore undertook some activities to make the world a safer place. It established various agencies and commissions in order to achieve this goal. These organisations worked to address social and economic problems such as disease, poverty, exploitation, prisoners of war and refugees. In doing so, the League wanted to show the world how much could be accomplished through cooperation, and especially that it was possible to maintain peace by successfully managing these issues.

2. The International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization (ILO) was created in 1919 as an agency focused on social justice in labour relations. It fought to secure safe, fair and healthy working conditions for people. Some of the issues it addressed included the number of hours of work someone did in a week and the protection of mothers, children and the elderly. It would compile reports and present them to governments in an attempt to influence policy.

Though slowly, the ILO started to create a network of international labour laws and regulations. It convinced the Persian carpet industry to restrict child labourers to 8 hours of work per day and to give them properly ventilated rooms. It also restricted the addition of lead to paint, since lead is a toxic substance that can cause extensive damage to the human body. Furthermore, it advocated for an 8-hour work day and 48-hour work week, which several countries adopted due to its efforts. Other issues it campaigned on include ending child labour and women's rights in the workplace. The ILO still exists today as an agency of the United Nations.

3. The Slavery Commission

This Commission aimed to eradicate the enslavement of and trade in people across the world. It also challenged sex trafficking. It mainly succeeded in ending enslavement in the mandates, i.e. those territories that had been taken from Germany and the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and given to other countries, in particular the great powers. When Abyssinia joined the League in 1923, it did so on the condition that it end enslavement. The League also worked with Liberia to abolish forced labour and enslavement. It kept records to track enslavement and the trafficking of women and children. Partly due to the pressure from the League of Nations, enslavement was abolished in Afghanistan in 1923, Iraq in 1924, Nepal in 1926, Persia in 1929, Bahrain in 1937 and Abyssinia in 1942.Activities of the League4. Commission for Refugees

In June 1921, the League established the Commission for Refugees led by Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer, scientist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. The goal of the Commission was to advocate for the interests of refugees, including helping them return to their home country or resettling them if necessary. This work became necessary after World War I, since many people in Europe fled the war and sought refuge in other countries. There were more than two million former prisoners of war from various countries in Russia alone.

Within two years the League had helped almost half a million refugees return to their home countries. It established camps in Turkey in 1922 to assist with the refugee crisis, helping to prevent hunger and disease. Nansen and his team created innovative solutions to these problems with a very small budget, establishing refugee camps where they were most needed, teaching people skills and providing them with identity documents to help them travel across borders. These documents were known as Nansen passports.

Before the war, most countries didn't use passports and allowed people to travel with relative freedom across national borders, but this had changed during the war and people needed documents in order to be able to travel. The United Nations gives an annual Nansen Award to people who have done outstanding work assisting refugees.5. The Health Organization

The end of World War I coincided with the 1918 influenza ("Spanish Flu") pandemic, making the spread of disease a global issue. The war had done massive damage to public health systems and soldiers travelling to and from the front had carried disease with them. Food shortages during the war had also affected people's nutrition, which affected their immune systems and left them without the natural defences to fight disease.The Health Organization, led by Ludwik Rajchman, became one of the League's most successful agencies. It provided information, technical assistance and public health advice to countries, including those that were not members of the League such as Russia, the US and Germany. In the early 1920s it supported the Soviet Union in preventing a typhus epidemic through a public health information campaign. The Health Organization also helped to reduce the incidence of leprosy and ran a campaign to eliminate mosquitos in order to reduce malaria and yellow fever. It also established research institutes in London, Copenhagen and Singapore to develop vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus and tuberculosis. The Health Organization continues to exist today as the World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations. Case Studies How successful were the League's attempts at peacekeeping in the 1920s?1. The Åland Islands

The Åland Islands is a collection of small islands (an archipelago) in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden. Most of the people who live there (about 95% of the population) speak Swedish. During the height of the Russian Empire in the early 19th century, the islands and Finland were taken by Russia, but after the Russian Revolution in 1917, Finland declared its independence from Russia. The people of the Åland Islands, being majority Swedish, wanted to join Sweden, but Finland laid claim to it, considering it a part of their territory. By 1920, the dispute was on the brink of war and was therefore referred to the League of Nations for arbitration. It was one of the first disputes that the League had to deal with. The League launched an investigation to look at the claims and counter-claims. In the end they determined that the islands should remain part of Finland, otherwise it would risk setting a dangerous precedent; other minority ethnic groups in Finland and elsewhere might bring similar disputes to the League, threatening to reshape European borders. The recommendation of the League was therefore that the Åland Islands should remain a part of Finland but that the Swedish people living on the islands should be given autonomy and the right to follow their own customs and traditions. This included that their language ought to be taught in schools. The islands were also to be demilitarised. Sweden reluctantly agreed and a formal international agreement was drawn up. It was the first agreement signed under the guidance of the League of Nations.

1.1 Results

Think about whether the League of Nations achieved its goals in this dispute.

• What did the League want to achieve? The primary goal of the League was to resolve international disputes peacefully. In the case of the Åland Islands, they did manage to do that.

• However, President Wilson's Fourteen Points also stated that all people should have the right to self-determination, i.e. to make decisions for themselves. In this case, was that principle followed? The short answer is no, because the Swedish people living on the islands wanted to join Sweden, but the League denied their request. In order to exercise the principle of self-determination, the people would have had to vote in a process called a plebiscite (a vote by ordinary people on an important policy issue). However, no such vote was called.

• Finland preserved its borders, setting a precedent for other cases in which ethnic minorities might claim the right to self-determination.

• On the other hand, Swedish people living on the Islands retained a lot of autonomy. They were allowed to practise their customs and traditions and speak their language. Finland therefore only technically controlled the islands.

2. The Corfu Incident

Corfu is an island off the western coast of Greece close to the border with Albania. In 1923, the two countries were in a dispute about the border and an Italian General, Enrico Tellini, was dispatched to help resolve the issue on behalf of the Conference of Ambassadors, an organisation that was also formed as part of the Versailles Settlement. However, in August 1923 Tellini and four of his assistants were murdered. Even today it's not clear who exactly ordered the assassination. As a result, a lot of finger-pointing followed, with Albania claiming Greece did it, Greece claiming Albanian bandits did it, and Italy ultimately blaming Greece. Thus, Italy's leader, Benito Mussolini, sent a list of demands to the Greek government, which they refused to accept. Mussolini then ordered Italian troops to occupy Corfu to force the Greek government to apologise and compensate them for Tellini's death.

Greece appealed to the Council of the League of Nations to resolve the matter, but Italy insisted that the Conference of Ambassadors handle the matter and threatened to exit the League. Italy argued that the occupation of Corfu was not an act of war, but Robert Cecil (the British representative on the Council) disagreed and wanted to impose sanctions on Italy as well as send the British navy to Corfu. However, the British government did not want to damage its trade relationship with Italy. The Council sent a commission to the Albanian-Greek border to investigate what had happened to Tellini and determine who was responsible. The commission reported that Greece had done everything it could to investigate the death of Tellini and referred the matter to the Conference of Ambassadors. The Conference of Ambassadors met in September to consider the report and made its recommendations, amongst which:

Greece should offer a salute to the British and Italian fleets. Greek officials should attend a funeral service to pay their respects. Greece should pay 50 million lire (a form of currency like the dollar and the pound) as compensation for Tellini's death. Both Greece and Italy accepted the terms of the recommendation, and Italy started evacuating Corfu two days later.

2.1 Results

Let's consider whether the League of Nations was successful in resolving the Corfu Incident. What kind of questions can you ask to form a judgement? When you ask these questions, also consider the consequences of your answers.

Was the murder of Tellini an act of aggression? Yes. However, nobody knows who committed the murder, so it is not really fair to blame Greece without any evidence. Did Italy commit an act of war when it occupied Corfu? Yes. A forceful invasion or occupation of another country's territory is by definition an act of war. However, Italy faced no repercussions and in fact managed to get compensation out of the situation. Greece argued that the rules seem to be different for great powers than for less powerful countries. Do you think this was fair? Was a war successfully avoided? Yes. Even though the situation became extremely tense, both Greece and Italy showed a measure of respect to the commission appointed to investigate the issue. Despite Italy's occupation of Corfu, the matter did not escalate any further and Italy evacuated again within a relatively short span of time. What role did the League of Nations play in resolving the dispute? This is a complicated question, because the League in fact let the Conference of Ambassadors handle the matter. The League was not involved much in the final settlement, so even though the issue was resolved without resorting to war, the League cannot really take all the credit.

3. The Greco-Bulgarian Confrontation

Greece and Bulgaria had been in conflict since the early 20th century, in particular over areas in Macedonia and Western Thrace, which both of them claimed. They came into direct conflict during the Second Balkan War and later again during the First World War. In 1925, soldiers posted at the border came into conflict over a minor transgression, which almost caused another war. So, what happened?

According to one version of the incident, a Greek soldier crossed the border into Bulgaria in pursuit of his dog. Bulgarian soldiers responded by shooting the Greek soldier and a sentry. Bulgaria tried to explain that the incident was the result of a misunderstanding and offered to endorse a Greco-Bulgarian commission to investigate what had happened. Greece, however, was under the impression that the incident was a deliberate invasion and issued an ultimatum to the Bulgarian government demanding a formal apology and punishment of those responsible, as well as two million French francs to compensate the families of the two victims. Bulgaria did not respond, so Greece sent troops into the Bulgarian town of Petrich near the border to enforce their demands. Fighting between Greek and Bulgarian troops soon broke out. This incident at Petrich is also known as the War of the Stray Dog.

Bulgaria called on the League of Nations to resolve the dispute, and the League responded by sending an order to both countries to end the fighting. The Council of the League met and decided to send an order that both countries should withdraw their troops to within their own borders. They then sent British, French and Italian officials to the site to confirm that their orders had been obeyed. In less than three days, fighting had started and stopped. The League sent a team of investigators to determine what had happened. The commission found that Greek troops had taken crops and cattle as they retreated and 50 people had died, most of whom were Bulgarian civilians. As a result, the Council ordered Greece to pay 3 million Bulgarian levas in compensation.

3.1 Results

At first glance, the Greco-Bulgarian Confrontation was a great success for the League, but it is important to understand some of the context before you make a judgement. Let's consider the issue in a bit more detail.

Both Greece and Bulgaria obeyed the Council of the League of Nations' order to cease fighting. This could be considered a success. The Council's investigation and recommendations resulted in an agreement between the two nations without resorting to war. On the other hand, war between the two nations was never very likely in the first place. Greece was dealing with a million Turkish refugees in the country and did not have the resources to spare to launch a full-scale war, and Bulgaria had been demilitarised and so did not have the troops or equipment to go to war. Neither Greece nor Bulgaria was allied to one of the great powers, which meant that even if a war between them broke out it was unlikely that many other countries would be dragged into the conflict, which was the League's main focus. Greece complained about the fact that it had not received the same treatment in the dispute with Bulgaria as Italy had received when it occupied Corfu in 1923. This pointed to a weakness in the League: great powers were treated differently to smaller powers.4. Vilnius

The end of World War I and the Versailles Settlements resulted in the creation of a number of successor states, countries that were formerly part of empires that now no longer existed. Lithuania is one of these countries, having formerly been part of the Russian Empire. The city of Vilnius, which is today the capital of Lithuania, became a site of contention between Poland and Lithuania because it was inhabited by a mixed population of Jews, Poles and Lithuanians. Fighting between the two nations carried on periodically. After World War I, Vilnius was officially recognised as part of Lithuania, but the Treaty of Versailles hadn't clearly demarcated the border between Poland and Lithuania, so Poland brought the issue before the League of Nations in 1920. The League negotiated an agreement between the two countries establishing a ceasefire and demarcating a boundary.

Just when it seemed like the issue might be settled, a Polish general (Lucjan Żeligowski) marched into Vilnius with his soldiers on 8 October 1920. There is a possibility that he was secretly ordered to do so by the Polish Chief of State, but the truth remains unclear. Whatever the case may be, the incident caused an uproar because Vilnius had been recognised as a part of Lithuania but was now being occupied by Polish troops. The mixed population within the city further complicated the matter. On 12 October 1920, Żeligowski proclaimed the independence of the Vilnius region under the name Republic of Central Lithuania; it was essentially a puppet state of Poland. The League of Nations attempted to resolve the matter. At first they wanted to send an international police force to Vilnius, but Switzerland (which had been neutral in all wars since 1515) refused to allow troops to cross its territory. Furthermore, Żeligowski consistently ignored the League's attempts to intervene and refused to negotiate on numerous occasions. The League's final effort came in the form of the Hymans Plan delivered to the Council on 21 September 1921. The Hymans Plan recommended that both Polish and Lithuanian languages be given official status, that all minorities in Lithuania should have equal rights, and that an attempt should be made align the economic and foreign policies of the two countries. Both Poland and Lithuania rejected the Hymans Plan. In January 1922, the League of Nations issued a statement saying that they had done all they could. The occupation continued until March 1923, when the Conference of Ambassadors officially recognised Vilnius as part of Poland.

4.1 Results

Do you think the League's intervention was successful in the case of Vilnius? Let's consider the facts:

Vilnius was officially part of Lithuania after World War I, but because many of the people living there were Polish, Poland wanted to incorporate it into its own territory. Now consider the resolution in the case of the Åland Islands. The dispute there was similar in the sense that two countries laid claim to the same territory. However, the results were different. The Åland Islands remained part of Finland because the League didn't want to set a precedent. Vilnius, on the other hand, did eventually become a part of Poland. The League of Nations tried to resolve the issue in different ways, but none of them had the desired outcome. Expressing moral disapproval and sending strongly worded admonitions were ineffective, because for these steps to work, the other party must have the same morals. In cases where there is an ethical conflict, moral disapproval is much less effective. Even after they negotiated a ceasefire and a truce, fighting broke out sporadically. Although a war didn't break out over the territory, Vilnius was occupied by Polish troops for two years before ultimately becoming part of Poland. Although the League had recourse to economic sanctions, they did not take this step. The League could have sent troops from France and Britain to intervene, but France didn't want to antagonise Poland and risk losing an ally in a future war against Germany, and Britain didn't want to act alone. In the end, the League had no choice but to accept the status quo in 1923, recognising that Vilnius was now part of Poland. 5. Other Disputes

The League of Nations was also involved in a number of other disputes(opens in a new tab) in the 1920s and 1930s. Try to exercise your judgement on the outcome of these disputes.

Upper Silesia: in the 1920s there was a dispute between Poland and Germany regarding the region of Upper Silesia, which had been part of Germany in the past. It is an important industrial region. The Treaty of Versailles recommended that there should be a plebiscite to determine whether Upper Silesia should be part of Poland or Germany. The plebiscite was held in March 1920 in a tense atmosphere. The result was that 59% voted in favour of joining Germany. However, Poland refused to accept the results and claimed the vote was unfair. This led to a popular uprising, the Third Silesian Uprising (the first two had been in the tense period just before the plebiscite. The League sent a commission of international representatives to investigate. They recommended that upper Silesia be divided between Poland and Germany based on the distribution of votes. A conference was held in November 1921 to decide on the details. Germany got the largest part of the area, but Poland got the part that contained most of the industry and resources. Germans were very upset about this outcome, but accepted it nonetheless. Memel: The port city of Memel had a mostly German population but the Allied powers wanted to make it an international city separate from any country. However, Lithuania claimed the city as part of its territory. In January 1923, Lithuania invaded the city and claimed the port. The Allies failed to resolve the issue with an agreement and referred the matter to the League of Nations. The League sent a commission to investigate, which recommended that Memel be ceded to Lithuania. Germany was very upset by the outcome, which prompted Hitler to retake the city at the start of World War Two in 1939. The League was unable to stop him. Mosul: The region of Mosul was part of the former Ottoman empire. Both Iraq and Turkey laid claim to it. Iraq had been placed under British control, and the Brits insisted that Mosul should be part of Iraq. The League was called in to settle the dispute in 1924. They sent a commission to investigate, which found that the people of Mosul didn't want to be part of either country, but if they were forced to choose, they would rather be part of Iraq. As a result, the commission recommended that Mosul remain part of Iraq. The final decision was made in December 1925, but Turkey rejected it and referred the Matter to the Permanent International Court of Justice. In June 1926, the court ruled that the League's decision should be accepted. Columbia and Peru: There was an ongoing border dispute between the South American countries Columbia and Peru, which they tried to resolve with a treaty in 1922. In 1932, business leaders who had lost land as a result of the treaty forcefully took the town of Leticia, which Peru had ceded to Columbia in 1922. The Peruvian army got involved, leading to several months of conflict between the two countries. Columbia and Peru accepted the League's intervention into the dispute, which concluded in 1934 that the town should be returned to Columbia, the area should be demilitarised, and the countries should make a pledge of non-aggression (agree not to fight each other). The Chaco War: In 1932, a war broke out between Bolivia and Paraguay over the Grand Chaco region. This arid region was important because the Paraguay River ran through it, which would give both landlocked countries access to the Atlantic Ocean, and both thought there would be huge oil reserves there (there wasn't). Paraguay appealed to the League of Nations, but the League let the Pan-American Conference take on the mediation instead. Nearly 100 000 people died in the war and both countries faced economic disaster. A ceasefire was negotiated in 1935, with Paraguay officially taking control of the region in 1938. Several important international agreements were made without the involvement of the League of Nations, like the Locarno Treaties and the Kellogg-Briand Pact.