THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 17
CANADA
GREENLAND
CHINA
INDIA
AUSTRALIA
USA
MEXICO
CUBA
ICELAND
SIAM
SOUTH-WEST
AFRICA
ALGERIA
LIBYA
MONGOLIA
FRENCH
INDOCHINA
TIBET
SYRIA
IRAQ
PERSIA
DUTCH EAST INDIES
FRENCH WEST AFRICA ANGLO-EGYPTIAN SUDAN PHILIPPINES
BRITISH
TOGO
NIGERIA
ANGOLA
MOZAMBIQUE
ETHIOPIA
KENYA
TANGANYIKA
EGYPT
BECHUANALAND
PALESTINE
LIBERIA
BRAZIL
ARGENTINA
BOLIVIA
CHILE
PERU
ECUADOR
COSTA RICA
EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
MOROCCO TRANSJORDAN
NICARAGUA
PANAMA
HONDURAS
URUGUAY
HAITI
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
VENEZUELA
COLOMBIA
PARAGUAY
RUANDA-
URUNDI
BELGIAN
CONGO
FRENCH
TOGO
BRITISH
CAMEROONS
SOUTH
AFRICA
NORTHERN
RHODESIA
SOUTHERN
RHODESIA
FRENCH
CAMEROONS
FRENCH
EQUATORIAL AFRICA
PACIFIC
OCEAN
M
A
DA
G
AS
CA
R
JA
PA
N
IN
D
IA
N
U
S
S R
OC
EA
N
192
0 –
33
1931
1920–
1924–
1920–
1920–
1937
1923–
1934–
1920–
1920–
1920–
1934
1924
1920–
1920–
1920–
UGANDA
NYASALAND
The name “League of Nations” was coined in 1914 by the British
political scientist and pacifist Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson, who
drew up a draft diagram for its organization. As World War I progressed,
leaders of the eventually victorious Allies began to clarify their war
aims, agreeing that there should be some form of international
organization created to prevent future wars. This idea was made
explicit by American president Woodrow Wilson who, in January 1918,
included in his Fourteen Points that were used to negotiate the end
of the war a “league of nations to insure peace and justice.”
The founding covenant of the League was written by the British
diplomat Lord Robert Cecil and the South African statesman Jan
Smuts, and was agreed during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. To
achieve world peace, the covenant pledged the League’s support
for disarmament, and it stated that its aim was to prevent wars
through collective security, in which member states would respond
collectively to any threats to world peace. The League would also
extend international relations in the fields of finance, trade, and
transportation, and help promote health and the struggle against
drugs, prostitution, and slavery. Many of its lofty ambitions were
thwarted, however, by member states acting in their own interests.
THE LEAGUE
OF NATIONS
After the horrors of World War I, a group of countries
conceived the idea of a League of Nations, the world’s
first-ever international organization whose primary
mission would be to maintain world peace and avoid
another catastrophic global war.
1919 Japan acquires
a mandate over
former German
islands in Micronesia.
1920 Australia acquires a mandate
over former German New Guinea
and the island of Nauru.
Territorial conflicts judged
by the League of Nations
TERRITORIAL DISPUTES 1921–
A key role of the League was to intervene in
disputes between members. Many national
boundaries remained to be settled after World
War I, while new wars broke out in South
America, Africa, and China. The League also
had some success in tackling the opium trade
and sexual slavery, and in helping refugees.
4
1939 The USSR is the first
and only country expelled
from the League, after its
invasion of Finland.
1933 The League heavily
criticizes Japan’s invasion
of Manchuria; in response
Japan leaves the League.
THE MANDATE SYSTEM 1919–
After the defeat of Germany and Ottoman Turkey
in World War I, their possessions in Africa, the
Pacific, and the Middle East were ceded to the Allies
under the authority of the League. Legal mandates
allowed these lands to be administered on behalf
of the League by member countries. The British
mandate of Iraq became independent in 1932; the
rest gained independence after World War II.
3
KEY
Founder members
and states
Subsequent members,
with dates of membership
Territorial conflicts
judged by the League
of Nations
States and their
possessions that
withdrew or were
expelled
Borders, 1930
BELGIUM
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
DENMARK
EAST
PRUSSIA
GREECE
NETHERLANDS
UNITED
KINGDOM POLAND
ROMANIA
N O R W A Y
PORTUGAL
S W E D E N
SWITZERLAND
I T A L Y
FRANCE YUGOSLAVIA
SPAIN
ALBANIA
1920
AUSTRIA
1920
BULGARIA
1920
TURKEY
1932
ESTONIA
1921
FINLAND
1920
GERMANY
1926–
HUNGARY
1922–
IRELAND
1923
LUXEMBOURG
1920
LATVIA
LITHUANIA 1921
1921
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