The League Of Nations Essay Research Paper

The League Of Nations Essay, Research Paper

The League of Nations and It’s Impact on World Peace Through my studies and research I have come to the

following conclusion about the League of Nations: despite

all of President Woodrow Wilson’s efforts, the League was

doomed to fail. I feel this was so for many reasons, some

of which I hope to convey in the following report. From the

day when Congress voted on the Fourteen Points, it was

obvious that the League had a very slim chance of being

passed in Congress, and without all of the World powers, the

League had little chance of surviving.

On November 11, 1918 an armistice was declared in

Europe. Wilson saw the opportunity to form an international

organization of peace to be formed. He acted quickly. On

January 18, 1919 he released his fourteen points. The

Fourteen Points consisted of many things, but the most

important was the fourteenth-the establishment of a league

of nations to settle international disputes and to keep the

peace. After congress had voted, only three of Wilson’s

fourteen points were accepted without compromise. Six of

the others were rejected all together. Fortunately the

League was compromised.

Wilson then went to Europe to discuss the Treaty of

Versailles. Representatives from Italy, France, and Britain

didn’t want to work with the nations they had defeated.

They wanted to hurt them. After much fighting and

negotiating, Wilson managed to convince them that a league

of nations was not only feasible, it was necessary. The Senate supported most of the Treaty of Versailles

but not the League. They thought it would make the U.S.A.

too involved in foreign affairs. Wilson saw that the League

may not make it through Congress, so he went on the road and

gave speeches to sway the public opinion. Unfortunately,

Wilson’s health, which was already depleted from the

negotiations in France, continued to recede. Wilson’s battle

with his health reached its climax when Wilson had a stroke

on his train between speeches.

After Wison’s stroke, support of the League weakened,

both in Congress and in the public’s opinion. In 1920 G.

Harding, who opposed the League, was elected as president.

The League formed but the U.S. never joined.

The first meeting of the League was held in Geneva,

Switzerland on November 15, 1920 with fourty two nations

represented. During twenty-six years the League lived, a

total of sixty-three nations were represented at one time or

another. Thirty-one nations were represented all twenty-six

years.

The League had an assembly, a council, and a

secretariat. Before World War II, the assembly convened

regularly at Geneva in September. There were three

representatives for every member state each state having one

vote. The council met at least three times a year to

consider political disputes and reduction of armaments. The council had several permanent members, France,

Great Britan, Italy, Japan, and later Germany and the Soviet

Union. It also had several nonpermanent members which were