GCSE · History · AQA · Spec 8145

League of Nations

The states that signed the Covenant promised that an attack on any one of them was the business of all of them. Nobody gave the League an army.

How the League was organised

The League's machinery, as the Covenant built it
THE COVENANTthe agreement the Members signed, and the source of everything belowTHE ASSEMBLYevery Member · one vote eachARTICLE 3THE COUNCILgreat powers · four elected MembersARTICLE 4THE SECRETARIATa Secretary General and staffARTICLE 6THE PERMANENT COURTjudges, hearing what is brought to themARTICLE 14

View: The four bodies. Showing 1 layer: The four bodies

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tap a body to see what the Covenant made it for

The Covenant set the League up and gave it four parts: two that took decisions, one that kept the League running, and one that judged.

Article 2: the action of the League was to be effected through an Assembly and a Council, with a permanent Secretariat.

The enforcement ladder

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Reason it through

Why did the Covenant mean that one Member starting a war had to answer to every other Member?

Link 1 of 4

First link · your turn

Every Member signs the same promise about every other Member's land and independence. What has each of them undertaken?

2
Locked — reveal the link above first
3
Locked — reveal the link above first
4
Locked — reveal the link above first
UK note

A question on 'the powers of the League' is asking for this ladder. Naming the rungs in order, and saying which part of the last one was automatic, is what turns a description into an explanation.

The two deciding bodies

The AssemblyvsThe Council

Read the third row twice: the Covenant gives both bodies their remit in identical words.

Focus

Who sat in it

The Assembly

Every Member of the League, each Member having one vote however large or small the state, and up to three representatives.

The Council

The principal Allied and Associated Powers, together with four other Members selected from time to time by the Assembly.

The insight

One is the whole membership; the other is a small group the Assembly itself helps to compose — which is why the Assembly is the larger body but not the powerless one.

How often it met

The Assembly

At stated intervals, and at other times as occasion required.

The Council

As occasion required, and at least once a year.

What it could deal with

The Assembly

Any matter within the sphere of action of the League, or affecting the peace of the world.

The Council

Any matter within the sphere of action of the League, or affecting the peace of the world.

Its part in a dispute

The Assembly

A dispute before the Council could be moved across to the Assembly, and had to be if either party to it asked.

The Council

Took the enquiry, reported on the dispute, and recommended what armed forces Members should contribute if a Member went to war in breach of its covenants.

Predict, then check

Think about the rule, not about any particular country.

A fully self-governing state that was not named in the Covenant's Annex asks to join the League. Under Article 1, what had to happen before it became a Member?

The League's record in the 1920s

The tag on the left is not about who was right — it is about whether the League's ruling was obeyed.

UK note

These five are the cases named for the League's record in the 1920s. Take one settled case and one defied case that you can describe in detail, rather than half-remembering all five.

The vocabulary you need cold

Cover the definitions and say each one in your own words first.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

The machinery the Covenant built, the powers it carried, and what happened when they were tested.

What you need to know

  • The League was created by its Covenant, which was written into the peace treaties of 1919 and 1920 — so a state that signed one of those treaties signed the Covenant along with it.
  • Two of the four parts took the decisions — the Assembly and the Council. The Secretariat served the League and the Permanent Court judged; neither of them decided policy.
  • Every promise in the Covenant was a promise between Members. The League had no territory, no citizens, no army and no police of its own — only what its Members were willing to do.
  • A Member that accepted an award or a Council decision was protected by it: the others agreed to carry out an award in good faith and not to go to war against a Member that complied.
  • The United States never joined. Its Senate refused to ratify the treaty, so the world's largest economy stayed outside the trade sanctions the Covenant depended on.

The big picture

How the League of Nations was built, what its Covenant allowed it to do about a dispute, and how far that machinery held in the 1920s.

Key points

1The Covenant is the League's rulebook. Its Members agreed to it to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security — by accepting obligations not to resort to war, by keeping open, just and honourable relations between nations, and by making international law the actual rule of conduct among governments.
2The League's action ran through four parts: an Assembly of every Member with one vote each, a Council of the principal Allied and Associated Powers plus four Members the Assembly selected, a permanent Secretariat under a Secretary General, and a Permanent Court of International Justice.
3Unless the Covenant expressly said otherwise, a decision of the Assembly or the Council needed the agreement of every Member represented at that meeting — so one state at the table could stop it.
4Article 1 governs membership: the states named in the Annex were Members from the start, any other fully self-governing state could be admitted by a two-thirds vote of the Assembly, and a Member could withdraw after two years' notice once its obligations had been fulfilled.
5The powers over a dispute form a ladder: the mutual guarantee of territory and independence (Article 10), any war being the whole League's concern (Article 11), compulsory referral to arbitration, the Court or a Council enquiry with no war until three months after the award or report (Articles 12 to 15), and severance of all trade and financial relations by every other Member against a Member that wars regardless (Article 16).
6Article 16's economic weapon was automatic; its military one was not. The Council could only recommend what forces Members should contribute, and the League never had an army of its own.
7The 1920s record splits by who was defying the League. Sweden and Finland, Germany and Poland, and Greece all accepted its rulings; Poland kept Vilna and Mussolini got his way over Corfu.

Worked example

Problem

Explain why the League was unable to make Poland give up Vilna in 1920–21.

⚠ Watch out

Writing that Article 16 meant war on an aggressor. Only the economic half was automatic: every other Member undertook to sever trade and financial relations at once. Armed force was merely recommended by the Council, and no Member could be made to send any.

🧠

Memory hook

ALL, FOUR, ONE. ALL the Members sat in the Assembly. FOUR of them were chosen to join the great powers on the Council. And ONE Member at the table could stop a decision, because unless the Covenant said otherwise, everybody present had to agree.

✓

Check yourself

Cover the page. Name the four parts of the League's machinery, say which two took decisions and the rule that bound them, then say which half of Article 16 was automatic.

Flashcards

(14)
What did the states that agreed the Covenant say they were setting the League up to do?
To promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security — by accepting obligations not to resort to war, keeping open, just and honourable relations between nations, making international law the actual rule of conduct among governments, and respecting treaty obligations.
Through which bodies did the Covenant say the League's action would be carried out?
An Assembly and a Council, with a permanent Secretariat — and the Council was told to draw up the plans for a Permanent Court of International Justice.
Who sat in the Assembly, and how did voting work there?
Every Member of the League, each with one vote however large or small the state.
Who sat on the Council?
The principal Allied and Associated Powers, together with four other Members selected by the Assembly.
What was the unanimity rule?
Unless the Covenant expressly provided otherwise, a decision of the Assembly or the Council needed the agreement of every Member represented at that meeting.
What was the Secretariat, and what did it do?
The League's permanent staff at its Seat, headed by a Secretary General. It kept the work going between meetings, and a state that wanted a quarrel taken up gave notice of it to the Secretary General.
What could the Permanent Court do — and what could it not do?
It could hear and determine any international dispute the parties brought to it, and give an advisory opinion when the Council or the Assembly asked for one. It could not summon a state that refused to come.
Under Article 1, how could a state join the League, and how could a Member leave?
Join: any fully self-governing state, dominion or colony not named in the Annex could be admitted by a two-thirds vote of the Assembly, on guarantees that it would keep its international obligations. Leave: a Member could withdraw after two years' notice, provided all its obligations had been fulfilled.
Which great power never joined the League, and why does that matter?
The United States. Its Senate refused to ratify the treaty, so the world's largest economy stood outside the trade sanctions the Covenant was counting on.
What did Members promise one another in Article 10?
To respect and preserve one another's territorial integrity and existing political independence against attack from outside; where aggression threatened, the Council would advise on how that undertaking should be fulfilled.
What did Articles 12 to 15 require Members to do with a dispute likely to lead to a rupture?
Submit it to arbitration, to judicial settlement or to enquiry by the Council — and not resort to war until three months after the award or the report.
What happened under Article 16 to a Member that went to war in breach of its covenants?
It was deemed to have committed an act of war against every other Member, who undertook immediately to sever all trade and financial relations with it. Armed force was not automatic: the Council could only recommend what forces Members should contribute.
Which 1920s cases went the League's way, and which did not?
Settled: the Åland Islands between Sweden and Finland, Upper Silesia between Germany and Poland, and the Greek invasion of Bulgaria. Defied: Vilna, which Poland simply kept, and Corfu, where Mussolini's demands were met after the case left the Council.
What did the League's agencies work on?
The causes of human misery rather than wars — labour conditions, health and disease, refugees, slavery, and the traffic in drugs and in women and children. The International Labour Organisation is the best known, and it outlived the League.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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