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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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