PAPER 1 - THE SUCCESS OF THE LEAGUE
Use sources A-E to answer the questions
Source a
THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES, In order to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security
by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war,
by the prescription of open, just and honorable relations between nations,
by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among
Governments, and
by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty obligations in the dealings of
organised peoples with one another,
Agree to this Covenant of the League of Nations
Article 8: The Members of the League recognize that the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations.
Article 16: Should any Member of the League resort to war in disregard of its covenants...it shall ipso facto be deemed to have committed an act of war against all other Members of the League, which hereby undertake immediately to subject it to the severance of all trade or financial relations...
It shall be the duty of the Council in such case to recommend to the several Governments concerned what effective military, naval or air force the Members of the League shall severally contribute to the armed forces to be used to protect the covenants of the League.
- Preface to the Covenant of the League of Nations and article 8 and 16 of the covenant, signed in Versailles in 1919-1920, it was part of the peace settlements of the First World War
by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war,
by the prescription of open, just and honorable relations between nations,
by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among
Governments, and
by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty obligations in the dealings of
organised peoples with one another,
Agree to this Covenant of the League of Nations
Article 8: The Members of the League recognize that the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations.
Article 16: Should any Member of the League resort to war in disregard of its covenants...it shall ipso facto be deemed to have committed an act of war against all other Members of the League, which hereby undertake immediately to subject it to the severance of all trade or financial relations...
It shall be the duty of the Council in such case to recommend to the several Governments concerned what effective military, naval or air force the Members of the League shall severally contribute to the armed forces to be used to protect the covenants of the League.
- Preface to the Covenant of the League of Nations and article 8 and 16 of the covenant, signed in Versailles in 1919-1920, it was part of the peace settlements of the First World War
Source B
Unification of human affairs, to the extent at least of a cessation of war and a worldwide rule of international law, is no new idea; it can be traced through many centuries of history. It is found as an acceptable commonplace in a fragment, De Republica, of Cicero. It has, indeed, appeared and passed out of the foreground of thought, and reappeared there, again and again.
Hitherto, however, if only on account of the limitations of geographical knowledge, the project has rarely been truly world-wide, though in some instances it has comprehended practically all the known world. Almost always there has been an excluded fringe of barbarians and races esteemed as less than men.... It cannot be claimed that history shows any continuously progressive movement of human affairs from a dispersed to a unified conditions. Rather it tells a story of the oscillating action of separatist and unifying forces.
- "The Idea of a League of Nations" written by Herbert George Wells published on January 1919 in "Atlantic Magazine"
Hitherto, however, if only on account of the limitations of geographical knowledge, the project has rarely been truly world-wide, though in some instances it has comprehended practically all the known world. Almost always there has been an excluded fringe of barbarians and races esteemed as less than men.... It cannot be claimed that history shows any continuously progressive movement of human affairs from a dispersed to a unified conditions. Rather it tells a story of the oscillating action of separatist and unifying forces.
- "The Idea of a League of Nations" written by Herbert George Wells published on January 1919 in "Atlantic Magazine"
Source c
The League was not allowed to become the great agency hoped for by President Wilson to correct the
undesirable conditions that inevitably crept into the Versailles Treaty and other post-war treaties …
Nearly every assessment of the League of Nations made in the past twenty years points out that the first
and principal difficulty was the failure to achieve a universal or near-universal membership. This fateful
decision of the United States, which deprived the League from the beginning of a very great moral and
material influence, was accompanied by an equally fatal decision in Paris in 1919 which kept Germany and
the Soviet Union out of League membership until 1926 and 1934 respectively. The psychological effects
of these decisions doubtless went very far in poisoning the atmosphere in which the infant League was
intended to grow and prosper.
Membership alone, of course, was not enough. To be effective it had to be coupled with wholehearted
cooperation. But failure to agree on major political questions, like disarmament and security, together with
the League’s condemnation of specific acts of aggression, led to the successive withdrawal of Germany,
Japan and Italy from the League. Later still, the Soviet Union was expelled for her aggression on Finland.
- Extract from Reconstituting the League of Nations, by Julia E. Johnsen, published
by the H. W. Wilson Company, New York, 1943.
undesirable conditions that inevitably crept into the Versailles Treaty and other post-war treaties …
Nearly every assessment of the League of Nations made in the past twenty years points out that the first
and principal difficulty was the failure to achieve a universal or near-universal membership. This fateful
decision of the United States, which deprived the League from the beginning of a very great moral and
material influence, was accompanied by an equally fatal decision in Paris in 1919 which kept Germany and
the Soviet Union out of League membership until 1926 and 1934 respectively. The psychological effects
of these decisions doubtless went very far in poisoning the atmosphere in which the infant League was
intended to grow and prosper.
Membership alone, of course, was not enough. To be effective it had to be coupled with wholehearted
cooperation. But failure to agree on major political questions, like disarmament and security, together with
the League’s condemnation of specific acts of aggression, led to the successive withdrawal of Germany,
Japan and Italy from the League. Later still, the Soviet Union was expelled for her aggression on Finland.
- Extract from Reconstituting the League of Nations, by Julia E. Johnsen, published
by the H. W. Wilson Company, New York, 1943.
source d
[French delegates] Were in the ridiculous position of an Assembly which considers what steps should be taken, though it is perfectly aware that it is impossible for them to be carried out.
- Remark of a French delegate criticizing the Assembly of the League
- Remark of a French delegate criticizing the Assembly of the League
Source e
MORAL SUASION
The Rabbit. "MY OFFENSIVE EQUIPMENT BEING PRACTICALLY NIL, IT REMAINS FOR ME TO FASCINATE HIM WITH THE POWER OF MY EYE."
The Rabbit. "MY OFFENSIVE EQUIPMENT BEING PRACTICALLY NIL, IT REMAINS FOR ME TO FASCINATE HIM WITH THE POWER OF MY EYE."
Paper 1 tasks
1. a. According to Source D, what do the opinions of the delegates illuminate about the League? (3 marks)
b. What is the message of the cartoon in Source E? (2 marks)
2. To what extent do the beliefs regarding the creation of world peace expressed in Source C differ from what is being
expressed in Source B? (6 marks)
3. With regards to their origin and purpose, what are the values and limitations of Source A and Source C for a historian studying the successes of the League of Nations in the interwar period? (6 marks)
4. Using the sources and your own knowledge, how successful was the League of Nations at creating and
maintaining peace for its member states in the interwar period from 1920 - 1933? (8 marks)
b. What is the message of the cartoon in Source E? (2 marks)
2. To what extent do the beliefs regarding the creation of world peace expressed in Source C differ from what is being
expressed in Source B? (6 marks)
3. With regards to their origin and purpose, what are the values and limitations of Source A and Source C for a historian studying the successes of the League of Nations in the interwar period? (6 marks)
4. Using the sources and your own knowledge, how successful was the League of Nations at creating and
maintaining peace for its member states in the interwar period from 1920 - 1933? (8 marks)